Joe Ingles Out For The Year, A Blow To The Utah Jazz Championship Hopes

By Jordan Long

The Utah Jazz stand at 30-21, 4th in the Western Conference.  They look to improve on that record tonight as they host the Denver Nuggets.  They will be missing a key player off their bench, Joe Ingles, who is out with a torn ACL.

                Ingles appeared in 45 games for the Jazz this season and saw action as a starter in 15 of them.  He was mostly a bench player.  In those appearances, Ingles brought energy to the floor averaging 24.9 minutes per game.  On offense, he put up 7.2 points and dished out 3.5 assists per game.

                On defense, Ingles wasn’t one to steal the ball.  His job was to play defense and force the player he was guarding to put up tough shots at the basket.  Sometimes that player passed the ball up or threw the ball out of bounds because of Ingles’ defense.  Ingles also boxed out to create fast break opportunities for the Jazz offense.  Ingles averaged 2.9 rebounds per game.

                Ingles was hurt during the Jazz game against Memphis on Sunday.  He was trying to drive to the basket with 5:52 left in the 2nd quarter.  The Jazz at the time were down 37-32.  Ingles went down on a non-contact play.  Before the injury, Ingles played 12 minutes and didn’t record a point but had 3 assists and 2 rebounds.  Ingles was helped to the locker room and didn’t return.  The Jazz lost the game 126-106.

                The Jazz were hoping for the best. According to ESPN, Utah Assistant Head Coach Alex Jensen said, “I feel bad for him. Hopefully it’s better than we all think.”.

                Ingles took an MRI showing he tore his ACL. He is going to undergo surgery to repair it, ending his season.  This is a big loss for the Jazz since Ingles is one of their best bench players.  They still have Jordan Clarkson on the bench.  He is well on his way to winning the NBA 6th Man Award for the 2nd consecutive year.  Clarkson averages 15.5 points, 2.4 assists, and 3.5 rebounds per game.  Another player who needs to step up his game is rookie Jared Butler.

                Butler is most likely going to take Ingles’ place on the bench. He hasn’t seen much action appearing in 22 games and averaging 6.6 minutes per game.  Mostly those are in blowout games when the Jazz clear the bench.  In those minutes he scores 3.4 points per game.  He needs to produce more since he will see more action.  If he doesn’t, somebody else on the Jazz bench will take Butler’s place.

                The Jazz still have title aspirations this year.  They are in great shape to earn a top 4 seed which will give them home court advantage  for at least the 1st-round of the NBA Playoffs.   Once the postseason begins, Utah could miss Ingles the most.  If they drop a series and the bench is outplayed, they may look back and wonder if Ingles could have made a difference.  For now, though, the Jazz are trying to win basketball games to have the best seed possible.

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