Summary: The Utah Jazz get a wire-to-wire over the Indiana Pacers. The game was not close and the Jazz led by 10 or more for most of the night. The final score was 109-100.
- George Hill — playing his first game against the Indiana Pacers after being traded — had the second highest scoring output of his NBA career with 30 points. He dominated Jeff Teague, who padded his irrelevant numbers in the fourth quarter. This was Hill’s third back-to-back since coming back from the foot and concussion injuries and the first one where he looked correct. He is getting back to being the George Hill that was dominating for the Jazz.
- The Jazz are 15-1 when Gordon Hayward and George Hill both play and the average score is 104-93. The Jazz are now 17-4 when George Hill plays. The Jazz are now tied for fourth in the Western Conference.
- Gordon Hayward completely outplayed Paul George tonight. Hayward had 27 points on 13 shots. Thurl Bailey pointed out on the broadcast that you almost never see him take a bad shot. He plays completely in the team concept and has the team’s intentions as his top concern all night.
- Paul George quit tonight with six minutes left. He went iso-ball on Joe Ingles and when he didn’t get a foul call, he committed an intentional foul on George Hill so he could argue his call and then got a tech. Moments later, he fouled out with 6:00 left in the game. The Pacers were -18 when Paul George was on the floor tonight. He is a great player but he wasn’t tonight and the Pacers are now 22-21.
- Derrick Favors and Alec Burks looked better tonight than they have all year. Favors gave the Jazz an awesome first half performance. He had 8 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists, but it was very impactful.
- Alec Burks was really good on the offensive end tonight and gave the Jazz a huge boost. He had 13 points on 5 of 8 shooting. He grabbed four rebounds; Rebounding guards are so important.
- The Jazz got 14 rebounds from Hill, Ingles and Burks.
- The Jazz played a little Burks, Hayward, Ingles, Johnson with Gobert tonight. That is another new lineup.
- The story tonight was the Jazz’s focus, attention to detail and composure against a team that didn’t have those items.
- Rudy Gobert got 11 rebounds, his 30th straight game with 10 or more rebounds. Only five players have done this in 20 years.
- George Hill had a fabulous night against his former team, hometown team, favorite team as a kid. He drilled the Pacers with 30 points and his team dominated.