From Punchline to Hero: Utah’s Joe Ingles Has Proved Me and Everyone Else Very Wrong

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When Joe Ingles came into the NBA, he was the punchline I would use to talk about how poor the Utah Jazz were. He was a slow white dude on a team that couldn’t score, a guy who made you think you could have made the league if you just stuck with it. And, for a few years the Australian-born Ingles didn’t do a lot to prove otherwise; he was essentially an invisible part on a Jazz team that was on the outside of the playoff race.

But what I didn’t know at that point was that Quin Snyder was busy building a winning culture in Salt Lake City. I didn’t know he had the chops to get an NBA team to play like a hungry college squad. Thinking back, it was an oversight on my part, although it’s hard to place a lot of blame. After all, if you didn’t have NBA League Pass, you weren’t seeing many Jazz games on national television.

Now, after two seasons on the outside of the postseason and one where he played poorly in the postseason, Joe Ingles has officially proved me wrong. More than likely, he’s proved a lot of people wrong.

Ingles, who is now a regular starter on Snyder’s Jazz team, is killing the Oklahoma City Thunder and letting them know in the process. He’s shooting 46.7 percent from three-point range (14-30), averaging 14 points per game, and annoying the absolute shit out of Paul George. And with that, the fans in Utah love him. On a smaller scale, he’s the Draymond Green of the Utah Jazz — regularly giving the team a boost when they need it, through both his shooting ability and hard-nosed play.

 

In Game 4, Ingles hit five threes and scored 20 points en route to a 113-96 win over OKC.

Per StatMuse, Ingles has a plus/minus of +61 in his last three games.

The Jazz now hold a 3-1 lead on the Thunder. Anyone who has watched the series knows it’s basically over. They just flat-out want it more and prove it with consistent hustle and grit.

Moving forward, they’ll head to Oklahoma City for Game 5. If (and when) they close the deal, the Jazz will likely play the Houston Rockets in the second round. That my friends, will be a fantastic matchup — the NBA’s best defense (Utah) against the best offense (Houston). I can’t wait, and I can’t wait to see who Ingles will piss off.

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