"I'm just trying to do whatever at the moment to get a win because I'm sick of losing."
Joe Ingles is frustrated. In a season that has yet again become defined by injury for the Utah Jazz, the Australian swingman has assumed more of an on-court leadership role to help stem the bleeding as the team awaits key players to return from injury.
The Jazz medical staff has been kept working overtime trying to keep players healthy or to help them recover from injuries. Just when you think the injury list can't get any longer, it does: Dante Exum, out; Rudy Gobert, out; Joe Johnson, out; Thabo Sefolosha, out; Ricky Rubio, out.
Utah is down five key rotational players, leaving teammates like Ingles to carry extra weight in their absence.
So far, Ingles has responded to the challenge. He's in the midst of a career season numbers-wise. In 30 minutes a night, Ingles is averaging 10.4 points (sixth on the team), 3.6 assists (second) and 4.5 rebounds (third). He's been required to play a little more aggressively than normal, and he has become more involved as an initiator of the Utah offense, making plays and running more pick-and-roll as opposed to waiting for the ball to come to him.
"I'm never going to force stuff -- it's not how I've ever played, but obviously with the guys we're missing right now, there's going to be more opportunities scoring-wise or with the ball," Ingles said. "I'm not going to change the way I play, but I also know on the flip side, I have to stay aggressive. You don't want to break out of what we're trying to do as a team just to get your own stuff."
Through necessity, Ingles has become the Utah Jazz's glue man -- holding the team together until reinforcements can come back.
"To use the word glue, what that does is, it binds people together," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said.
"Usually what that means is a lot of different things to help your team win. We're asking a lot of Joe right now and he's doing it, and he needs to keep doing it."
Jazz forward Derrick Favors told ESPN that Ingles had been "very big for for us as a team" in the face of adversity.
"He's really helped us a lot -- leadership, knowing where to be on the court, knowing how to get guys going," Favors said.
Given the rash of injuries, Snyder has had to improvise on the fly with different rotations, at times using Donovan Mitchell as the starting point guard, or inserting Rodney Hood into the starting lineup, and moving Ingles or Thabo Sefolosha to the power forward position when Utah goes to a small-ball lineup.
Ingles said players just had to step up and play whatever role was required until the squad got healthy again.
"I didn't go into the season thinking I was gonna play four, I'm sure Thabo didn't either. Donovan probably wasn't going to play too much point guard, then Dante [Exum] goes down," Ingles said.
"It's been the way our season's been from the start the last few years, really. We've had guys that step up in different roles, different positions, so it's definitely not how any of us saw it coming in, but it is what it is. Those guys are injured right now, and until we get them back, we've got to deal with and play with who we've got. We'll continue to fight."
Ingles added that learning to play with those different rotations has also played a factor in the team's inconsistency at times this season.
"I guess it's one of those things you don't want to overthink ... we [have] got a lot of new guys, so we're still learning our system to a certain aspect, but at the end of the day you've just got to go out there and compete as well," Ingles told ESPN. "We've been right there against great teams, we've been average against some other teams. Consistency is what we need to bring."
The Jazz head to Orlando riding a three-game losing streak. After a win against Portland on Nov. 1, the team was sitting at 5-3, but since then they've gone just 1-7 and dropped to fifth place in the Northwest Division with a 6-10 record. At their best the Jazz have looked like a leading Western Conference team; at their worst, they've looked like a team headed for the lottery.
With his cool demeanour, Ingles is a favorite within the Jazz locker room, and as a veteran surely he's given thought to how he can help boost morale during this rough stretch?
"Maybe not be so cool," Ingles wondered. "It's tough, we're missing some pretty big pieces for our team. It's frustrating because we practice our asses off, and we play our asses off. Nobody is out there not trying. It's frustrating that we can't get over that hump right now."
The Jazz have been on the precipice of greater things in the NBA for the past couple of seasons, but each time it appears they're going to get over the hurdle, the injury bug strikes. Last season the team won 51 games and a first-round playoff series -- which seemed to be the breakthrough they had been waiting for -- only for to be struck with injuries again this season.
When it rains, it pours, but the rain doesn't last forever. Ingles might be frustrated with the trajectory of Utah's season so far, but he's not despondent.
"Once we get our full team back I think we're a really dangerous team," he said. "I still think we're a good team now with those guys out, but if we can get through this rough patch of injuries, come out the other end still playing well, and then you throw Rudy [Gobert] and Joe [Johnson] back into [the mix] and it's a different team."
