SALT LAKE CITY – The NBA has a new iron man. And probably nobody cares less about that than Joe Ingles.
For the first time in 384 regular season games, Ingles was not in the lineup when Utah defeated the Bucks 131-118 in Milwaukee on Friday, serving due to a painful judge Achilles. That ended what were the longest active consecutive games streaked in the league.
“He would play if he could,” said Jazz head coach Quin Snyder. “There have been a lot of times when he played through pain, and probably an injury that he sometimes hasn’t told us about.”
That is not an exaggeration either. Over the years, Ingles has played through a sprained middle finger and a sprained ankle on the left. He even continued to play after learning that his son, Jacob, was diagnosed with autism.
That’s why it was the first time Donovan Mitchell played an NBA game without Ingles being active. And yes, things were a bit strange.
“It was weird. There are a lot of things that I didn’t realize Joe is doing until he isn’t around,” Mitchell said.
Sure, that included handling the ball, giving some perimeter defense, and one more shooter, but it was the things that stood out the most outside of the game.
“Pregame warm-ups, we got a little handshake, intro we got a handshake, he was shouting certain things in a locker room at 20 minutes on the clock. There are just little things you miss,” Mitchell said.
Ingles hadn’t missed a game since December 16, 2015, a streak that spans five years and a total of 418 games, if you count the playoffs. Friday’s game in Milwaukee was only Ingles’ fifth game missed in his seven-year NBA career. He has played in every game for the past four seasons.
His streak was the longest by any jazz player since John Stockton played 442 consecutive regular season games between 1997 and 2003. Sacramento Kings’ guard Cory Joseph is now the active leader of the league with 274 consecutive games starting Friday.
“Either way, it pauses you,” Snyder said of the streak. “And you think about what a series of consecutive games like that means and what it says about Joe – his toughness, his dedication, the type of teammate he is. … You understand why you respect him the way you do.”
Ingles has often downplayed the streak’s significance over the years – and did so again Friday, Tell ESPN“I don’t know what the problem is, to be honest.”
He has always taken pride in playing the game as much as possible. When some teammates rested for the playoffs, he played. When some players needed a day off because of some pain, he trotted there. His job is to play basketball; he always felt that was what he should do.
“Because I get paid to play basketball,” Ingles said last August when most of Utah’s starters were out before the NBA playoffs. “Again, it’s my job, that’s what I love to do. When I played for lollipops as a kid – that was the first thing that ever got me on a job. … I’ve loved it ever since. I’m not playing for that. statistics or numbers or the history book … I love to play and Quin knows that. “
So expect a new streak to start once Ingles is healthy enough to come back, which Mitchell says will be sooner rather than later.
“It’s absolutely weird not having him there, but he’s coming back the next game,” Mitchell said. “He had a really, really great streak. Props for him to do that in his career. It’s pretty wild. That’s certainly impressive.”
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Ryan Miller