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The Roundup—Cold shooting sinks Jazz in loss to Hawks

It's official—Atlanta is Utah's kryptonite.

The Jazz simply couldn't get anything going Tuesday night, falling to the Hawks 99-94 in dramatic fashion at Vivint Smart Home Arena.

Utah (40-31) has now lost to the Hawks twice this season—once in Atlanta on January 22 and then, after winning 21 of 23 games, tonight in Salt Lake City.

Donovan Mitchell scored a team-high 24 points, while Rudy Gobert had 15 points, 16 rebounds and two blocks. Ricky Rubio finished with 23 points, three rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block.

Joe Ingles contributed across the board with 16 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and a steal in 36 minutes.

The Jazz had multiple chances to take the lead in the final minutes, but they watched as shot after shot after shot clanged frustratingly off the rim.

Utah had no answer for Dennis Schroder, who went off for a career-high 41 points in the win. Dewayne Dedmon added 15 points and 15 rebounds for the Hawks (21-50).

Tuesday's Best

His shooting wasn't great (9-for-28 from the field), but Mitchell still found a way to keep things close with 15 of his 24 points in the second half. He added six rebounds, four assists and one steal, and he was one of three Jazz players (along with Jonas Jerebko and Danté Exum) who finished with a positive net rating.

Key Stretches

The Jazz fell behind 17-13, but an alley-oop slam by Gobert and consecutive threes by Mitchell and Jae Crowder kick-started Utah's offense. Mitchell canned a pull-up jumper and then grabbed a steal and put in a transition layup. Exum hit two free throws to give the Jazz a 27-21 lead at the end of the first quarter.

After a sloppy first half, the Jazz started to put things together in the third quarter. Rubio scored, Mitchell hit a jumper, and Ingles made two free throws and then put in a swooping layup. Following an Atlanta timeout, Ingles canned his only three of the night and Mitchell slashed into the lane for a three-point play to put Utah up 58-48.

The Jazz built a little momentum late in the third quarter, finishing the period on a 6-0 run to take a four-point lead into the final period. Mitchell got to the line for two free throws, Exum spun in the lane for a left-handed layup, and Mitchell bounced in a jumper.

Atlanta, though, wouldn't go away. After he made a layup to put the Hawks up by three, Schroder closelined Rubio, drawing a Flagrant 1 foul with 2:07 left in the gmae. Rubio knocked down two free throws, and Ingles followed that up with two of his own to give the Jazz a 92-91 lead. A free throw by Atlanta, an offensive foul by Mitchell, and a teardrop in the lane by Schroder (over a fully extended Gobert) gave Atlanta a 94-92 lead with 37.5 seconds left. Ingles had a wide-open look from three, but missed long, and Schroder made one of two free throws with 24.2 seconds left to push Atlanta's lead to three. Mitchell drove to the rim and drew a foul, but his layup attempt bounced three times before falling off the rim. He made both free throws with 15.9 seconds remaining. Taurean Prince made two free throws for Atlanta with 11.3 seconds left before Ingles missed another corner three. Prince then made two more free throws to seal the victory.

Significant Stats

17.6

The Jazz never did nudge their shooting percentage above 40 percent, and they were especially cold from outside the arc. Utah shot 6-for-34 (17.6 percent) from 3-point range, with Mitchell (1-for-10) and Ingles (1-for-8) struggling the most.

88.0

Utah did shoot it well from the free-throw line, going 22-for-25 (88.0 percent) as a team. Rubio (6-for-6), Mitchell (5-for-5) and Ingles (7-for-8) led the way.

36

The Hawks scored 36 points on 54.2 percent shooting in the fourth quarter. They had shot 35.7 percent from the field up to that point.

Coach's Quote of the Night

Jazz head coach Quin Snyder

Notable

The Jazz fell to eighth place in the Western Conference standings, two games ahead of the Nuggets. ... Utah played without Derrick Favors (knee soreness) and Raul Neto (wrist fracture). ... Kent Bazemore (knee) and rookie John Collins (ankle) did not play for the Hawks. ... Hall of Famers John Stockton and Karl Malone were in attendance. ... Utah outscored Atlanta 46-36 in the paint. ... Atlanta scored 26 points off Utah's 16 turnovers.

Up Next

The Jazz will begin a three-game road trip when they take on the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night. Tipoff is set for 6:30pm MT.

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