Riding a five-game winning streak, the Utah Jazz received more good news Sunday when Rudy Gobert participated in practice for the first time since injuring his right knee in a 84-74 loss to the Miami Heat on Nov. 10.
Originally given a timetable of 4-6 weeks to recover, Gobert has been ramping up his activity and is available to play for the Jazz against the Washington Wizards on Monday night (NBA League Pass, 9 ET).
.@UofUHealth Injury Report:
– Rudy Gobert is available to play tonight.
-Raul Neto is available to play tonight.
– Rodney Hood is out.#WASatUTA
— utahjazz (@utahjazz) December 4, 2017
Eric Woodyard of The Deseret News has more:
“Well, I defer to our medical group on that,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “We’re going to confer and trust those guys to not do anything to put Rudy in harm’s way and when he’s ready to go he’ll be ready to go.”
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Jazz rookie Donovan Mitchell said he was surprised by Gobert’s conditioning in his first day back. He’s still adjusting to the new plays that Snyder has inserted during his absence but had no issues with getting back in the flow of things.
“It was good to have that rim protection,” Mitchell said. “(Derrick Favors) and Ekpe (Udoh) have been doing a great job as far as rim protection and even Jonas (Jerebko), but when you have the big fella back there it’s a little different, but it’s great to have him back. We’re excited.”
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Jazz guard Rodney Hood is still questionable Monday after missing the last three games with left ankle soreness. Raul Neto is probable against the Wizards after missing the last two games with left hamstring soreness.
Gobert has missed 11 games so far and the Jazz are 7-4 in those games.
