Utah Jazz need production from Rodney Hood
InsideHoops.com
April 20, 2017
The Utah Jazz are tied 1-1 with the Clippers in their first round playoff series. But with star center Rudy Gobert out, everyone else on the squad needs to step up. Here's the
Salt Lake Tribune reporting:
The Jazz are looking at you, Rodney Hood.
Gordon Hayward can't do it alone. Neither can Joe Ingles. Not even Joe Johnson, who boosted the Jazz so admirably in Game 1, straight into the grimace of the Gobert injury, can do that kind of heavy lifting in any consistent manner.
If all of those guys collectively pull an upward move, and Hood comes alive, that gives the Jazz their chance, even if it is a fat one.
Thing is, Hood knows this. He's been battling a bad wheel for most of the season that has for whatever reason, never healed. He's missed 23 games and played in numerous others well south of 100 percent. He said Thursday that the joint won't heal until he rests it after the playoffs, that he's in significant pain, that he does everything he can to keep the hurting and the distraction it causes him to a minimum...
In the first two games of this series, Hood's bumped and skidded, averaging just nine points on 35-percent shooting. Nowhere near good enough.
