Jusuf Nurkic's Defensive Value Was Abundantly Clear Against The Jazz

The disparate defensive influences of Jusuf Nurkic and Enes Kanter were obvious against the league's best team.

The Trail Blazers were locked in a tight, back-and-forth battle with the Utah Jazz when Jusuf Nurkic trudged to the bench midway through the third quarter. Their two-point hole was an 18-point crater by the time he returned for the start of the fourth, Portland well on its way to yet another dispiriting loss against one of basketball's best teams.

Blame for the Blazers' collapse on Thursday night is varied and widespread. 

Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum both shot 8-of-21 from the field, at times missing open teammates by forcing the issue. Nobody could come close to stopping Donovan Mitchell. Portland's transition defense was often lazy, and on way too many occasions defenders didn't seem on the same page of strategy and communication.

Enes Kanter's team-worst 128.9 defensive rating speaks volumes, though, especially in conjunction with Utah's game-deciding run to close the third quarter coming with him in Nurkic's place. The eye test tells the story just as well.

Portland played some of its best defense of the season in the first half after a poor start, limiting the Jazz to just 41.7 percent shooting and eight assists. The Blazers' small lineup finished the second quarter strong, with activity and engagement defensively spurred on by Nurkic's prior influence.

On this early second-quarter possession, Nurkic snuffs out Utah's play call even before Joe Ingles gets into it. After ensuring Carmelo Anthony sticks with Mike Conley's decoy cut, Nurkic steps above the elbow to meet Ingles on the other side of Gobert's screen with the corner empty. That relative pressure is enough to goad Ingles into a drop-off to Gobert, the outcome Nurkic anticipates – and just as importantly, has the length and quickness to combat with a block.

No two possessions are the same. The strong corner is filled on the play below, and Nurkic had help from Derrick Jones Jr. digging down from the weak wing on the one above.

But Kanter's job on this Ingles-Gobert ball screen is the same as Nurkic's regardless. True to form for a player allowing 68.9 percent shooting at the rim, worst in the league among centers, Kanter just fails to offer almost any resistance whatsoever.

There's nothing revelatory about the notion Nurkic is a much, much better rim-protector than Kanter. Hopes of Portland emerging as a league-average defense over the season's second half hinged almost solely on Nurkic coming back from injury.

And that's what makes the Blazers' defensive straits so tough to pin down – there's mounting evidence they're significantly better with Nurkic on the floor. His defensive rating since returning late last month? 104.6, nearly nine points per 100 possessions lower than when he's on the bench, per NBA.com/stats.

It's long been clear that Portland could benefit defensively from lessening Kanter's role in the playoffs. The more comfortable Nurkic gets, the more obvious that reality becomes. Whether Terry Stotts will do anything about it when the time comes, unfortunately, is another matter entirely.

READ MORE: Damian Lillard Wants Blazers To 'Look In The Mirror' After Another Blowout Loss