Jazz’s Rudy Gobert has left knee sprain and will not return
Not what Utah Jazz fans wanted to see, but their star center Rudy Gobert went back to the locker room after colliding knees with the Clippers’ Luc Mbah a Moute.
The Utah Jazz were in the playoffs for the first time since 2012. They were looking to make some noise against the red-hot Los Angeles Clippers.
Less than 17 seconds into the game, the Jazz fans’ worst nightmare came true. One of their stars, Rudy Gobert was on the ground in pain.
Gobert banged knees with Clippers forward Luc Mbah a Moute and immediately went down.
Gordon Hayward had to intentionally foul so that they could carry Gobert off the court. The Frenchman was unable to place any weight on the knee and was carried off.
Here's the play where Rudy Gobert injured his knee, banged with RMAM pic.twitter.com/2e8ebIl7w1
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) April 16, 2017
According to ESPN’s J.A. Adande on the broadcast, Gobert will not return to the game with what Utah is calling a left knee sprain.
The Jazz will now immediately turn to backup centers Derrick Favors and Jeff Withey. Utah will definitely miss Rudy Gobert, whose defensive intensity and rebounding were desperately needed in this series.
Favors is an absolute stud, but doesn’t have the size to compete with the Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan. Withey may have the size, but isn’t as skilled as the other big men.
Over the course of the season, the 7-foot-1 center from France averaged 14 points, 12.6 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game.
Gobert is in the mix for Defensive Player of the Year, along with the Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard and the Warriors’ Draymond Green.
Next: Bucks upset Raptors in Toronto to kick off series: 3 takeaways from Game 1
The Jazz were looking to make a run in the playoffs, but the challenge becomes that much more difficult without Gobert.