NBA scores 2016: These are the Jazz we’ve been waiting for

Utah is on a tear despite their injuries, instead of suffering from them like years past.

Dec 15, 2016, 1:00 PM UTC

Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

This is the Utah Jazz team we’ve been waiting for. After crushing the Thunder on Wednesday, a decisive 109-89 win, the Jazz have won nine of their last 11 games. And while they’re sitting at 16-10 this season, the truth is they could be even better right now.

The Warriors, the Raptors, the Clippers and then the Jazz. Those teams boast the four best net ratings this season, meaning they win big (plus-14.5) and lose much smaller (minus-8.7). Utah has the sixth-best offense and the third-best defense, and Wednesday was more of the same — they held the Thunder to 37-percent shooting while hitting 58 percent themselves.

Utah is always a terror when they’re healthy, and even more so this year. The arrival of George Hill has completely unlocked this offense, turning a squad with talented players and a lack of direction into a razor-focused machine. Gordon Hayward is playing the best basketball of his career, averaging more than 23 points while maintaining his career efficiency and even reducing his turnovers. Both have missed time, but when Hill is healthy, the team is 8-3. With Hayward, they’re 13-6 and combined, a perfect 5-0.

As you can see, they’ve both missed time. So has Dante Exum, Boris Diaw, Rodney Hood and Derrick Favors, plus another game lost here or there for the others. Injuries wrecked the Jazz last year, which we all thought might be their coming out party. They couldn’t survive the early season loss of Rudy Gobert and spent the rest of the season playing catch up. But last year’s fatal flaw that left them just a game out of the playoffs looking in has been conquered, even. They’re winning without those people, and they basically haven’t lost with a full roster intact.

The Gobert-anchored defense is as scary as ever, but a Hill and Hayward led attack is proving to be one of the league’s most potent combinations, too. That they can get by missing one or two of them is encouraging that Utah can withstand just about anything.

We’ve been waiting a few years for this. Now the Jazz really are here.

Russell Westbrook has zero triple-doubles in two games.

In the NBA, it’s news when you have a triple-double — except for Westbrook, who has made it news when he doesn’t have one. He’s a mad triple-double fiend this season, and he’s coming off streak where he recorded seven in a row, the longest streak since Michael Jordan in 1989. In two losses, Westbrook put up 20-6-6 and 27-6-5 with 32-percent shooting — both bad games, but further proof that Oklahoma City lives and dies with Westbrook.

Good news: Westbrook is still averaging a triple-double, which is still absolutely absurd.

Whew. We aren’t headed towards an NBA lockout.

If you missed it, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association has agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement, pending ratification from both sides.

We have a run down of the biggest changes — special six-year extensions and two new roster spots for D-League players — and what stayed the same, namely the revenue split and the one-and-done rule. You can also read about how avoiding a lockout this early hasn’t happened in the NBA in two decades.