Jaren Jackson Jr.’s scoring – not his elite defense

All of a sudden, Jaren Jackson Jr. found himself on an island.

It was midway through the third quarter on March 18, and after Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry had used a pump fake to get Memphis Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks to fly by him on the right wing, Jackson was alone against one of the greatest scorers of this generation.

Jackson bit on the pump-fake too, the 23-year-old big man lunging to contest a shot that hadn’t come, opening a lane for Curry to penetrate. But such advantages disappear quickly against Jackson, who closed to within inches of Curry’s right hip as he dribbled down the middle of the lane. Curry contorted his body, creating just enough space for a righty scoop off the glass.

But Jackson pounced, swatting the ball off the glass to start a Memphis fast break.

That’s the sort of sequence that Jackson, who Caesars Sportsbook has established as the Defensive Player of the Year favorite over Milwaukee Bucks center Brook Lopez, hopes voters have in mind as they punch their award ballots this week.

“I definitely think I’m Defensive Player of the Year,” Jackson told ESPN. “I just think I put together something special, and I want it bad.”

Jackson’s case includes:

• Leading the league in blocks for the second consecutive season with a career-best 3.0 per game.

• Blocking 9.7% of opponents’ field goal attempts when he’s on the floor, the sixth-highest figure since blocks became an official stat in 1973-74.

• Anchoring the third-ranked defense in the NBA, as the Grizzlies allow only 110.6 points per 100 possessions. Memphis ranked 20th in defensive efficiency when Jackson made his season debut in mid-November after recovering from offseason surgery on his broken foot. (The Grizzlies have allowed 106.5 points per 100 possessions with Jackson on the floor.)

• Averaging 1.0 steals per game. Since the Defensive Player of the Year started being awarded in 1982-83, the only other players to average at least three blocks and one steal for a top-five defense are Ben Wallace, Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson. That trio combined to win seven Defensive Player of the Year awards.

The blemish on Jackson’s case is that he has played 612 fewer minutes than Lopez, due to his early-season injury absence and occasional bouts with foul trouble. He’s made a point to prioritize positional defense instead of “chasing” blocks or swinging for…