Utah Jazz vs. Sacramento Kings, 11/7/09

Kings rookie Evans comes up big in victory over Jazz
Andrew Aragon, for NBA.com

SALT LAKE CITY (NBA.com exclusive) -- All it took for Sacramento Kings rookie Tyreke Evans to get in a rhythm was a couple of easy baskets.

In the second quarter of the Kings' shocking 104-99 win over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night, Evans made two dunks in transition in a span of 15 seconds. He gained some confidence from the easy baskets and Utah paid the price.

Evans scored a career-high 32 points to lead Sacramento to its second win of the season. He scored 12 of his points in the second quarter when the Kings completely erased a 15-point deficit. A switch to playing zone defense that led to several Sacramento fast breaks, with Evans leading the charge, changed the momentum in the game.

"That's the style of play I always liked to play at Memphis - up and down the court, fast breaks," Evans said. "Once I got that going, I got into a rhythm. Once I get a rhythm going I think I'm unstoppable."

The Jazz could hardly dispute how tough Evans, who played one season at Memphis, was to guard on Saturday. He displayed an arsenal of post moves, jump shots and an ability to finish in transition. He made a couple of 3-pointers. He had 19 free-throw attempts, after taking just 20 foul shots in Sacramento's first five games.

"What took him so long?" joked Kings coach Paul Westphal. "It's only his sixth game [as a pro]. He's a very special player."

He'll also be one that the Kings rely on. Sacramento played its first game without leading scorer Kevin Martin, who suffered a wrist fracture and will have surgery on Monday to fix it. Martin will be out of action for about two months. He averaged 30.6 points in Sacramento's first five games.

Beno Udrih started in Martin's place and scored 15 points. He made a couple of layups in the final minute to help the Kings hold off a late charge by the Jazz.

"It shows a lot about the heart of our team," Westphal said of beating the Jazz. "It's really hard for anybody to come in here and get a win and after the week we had and we get off to a bad start and still found a way to win that game against a very good team. It makes me feel very proud of those guys."

Without Martin, the Kings will have to scrap together enough offense and defense to be successful like they were against the Jazz. Things looked grim early in Saturday's game when Utah jumped out to a quick 15-point lead in the second quarter. A suggestion by Kings assistant coach Jim Eyen to start playing zone defense helped turn the tide in Sacramento's favor.

The Kings quickly got back into the game, tying it at 43-43 after trailing 39-24. Evans scored eight points during the run and assisted on another basket.

"We went to it and it kept working and all of the sudden we were back in the game," Westphal said. "We just kind of fed off the momentum of what we got off that decision."

Jazz guard Deron Williams said Sacramento's switch to zone was the turning point.

"That's where it started," he said. "When they went zone, our offense got a little stagnant which is what they were trying to do. They forced a couple turnovers and they got some confidence and started hitting some shots."

The Kings took control in the third quarter. After falling behind 60-55, they scored 19 consecutive points, holding Utah scoreless for 6 full minutes. The Jazz shot 6-for-17 while scoring 13 points in the third quarter.

Offensively, the Kings had great ball movement, opening things up for their shooters on the perimeter. Sacramento was deadly from 3-point range, draining 11 of 19 3-point attempts. Andres Nocioni made four of the team's 3-pointers.

For the Jazz, the loss was a major setback. They were coming off an impressive 14-point win over San Antonio on Thursday, and looked to be building off of that victory in the early going against the Kings. But that wasn't the case, and the Jazz fell to 2-4 on the season, the same record Sacramento now has.

"I thought we'd come with a lot more energy," said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan. "We had energy there for a little bit, it looked like we were going to be in pretty good shape, and then all of the sudden we started taking shots and not executing our offense, and pretty soon they put some guys out there that we didn't defend well."

BOXSCORE

POSTGAME QUOTES

Notes: This is the first time the Jazz has started a season 2-4 since the 2002-03 season … The Jazz is 85-71 all-time against Sacramento and 55-23 at home … Utah had won its last four home games against the Kings as well as the last four overall … Utah is 2-0 when Carlos Boozer scores 20 or more points and 0-4 when he scores under 20 … Utah scored a season-low for points in a quarter with 13 in the third … Deron Williams ended a streak of four consecutive games without having 10 or more assists, his longest since a six-game streak in November 2007 … Williams also notched the Jazz season-high for points with 29.

Jerry Sloan – Head Coach (2-4 this season) On the game
“I think you have to obviously give these guys credit for the way they came out. We came out strong, and we played for one quarter, it looked like, we thought we had the ballgame won, and then they came back and had a great second quarter, and really put us on our heels. I don’t know where all of our energy went, but it went away quickly.”

On whether he expected better results coming off the win against San Antonio
“I thought we’d come with a lot more energy. We had energy there for a little bit, it looked like we were going to be in pretty good shape, and then all of a sudden we started taking shots and not executing our offense, and pretty soon they put some guys out there that we didn’t defend very well. They made some shots, got themselves going, they had confidence and got back in the ballgame. You could see it building on them, because their energy level picked up a lot in that second quarter, and that’s where they got back in.”

Andrei Kirilenko – Forward [10 points, 6 rebounds) On the game
“In the second half they played hard, even with losing Kevin Martin, they were still fighting. They really gave us some trouble, especially in the third quarter, they were making every shot. [In the fourth quarter]I am pretty happy that we fought back , but it wasn’t enough.”

Carlos Boozer – Forward [16 points, 17 rebounds) On the game
“We gave up more than 30 points in both quarters (3rd and 4th), I think in the third quarter it was 30­13…we gave up too many points and didn’t get enough stops and score enough ourselves. It’s frustrating. I thought we came out to a great start, had a let down, and tried to fight back at the end, but it was too little too late.”

“We envisioned winning tonight. We give them credit, they played a great game. We had some lapses, and it hurt us and we lost. But regardless, we have got to pick ourselves up. We’ve got four games on this road trip and we’ll try and win all four of them if we can.”
“We are a better team than we showed them in the zone…their zone stopped us from scoring in two quarters, the second and third quarters, and we did a better job of executing, but for some reason tonight we couldn’t get the ball to go into the basket in the zone. We’ve got to work that out. We’ve got to nip that in the butt right away so we can get out of it.”

Deron Williams – Guard [29 points, 15 assists) On the game
“It was a bad game for us, period. We had a 15-point lead in the second quarter and then just let it slip away. Then the third quarter was even worse.”
On playing against the zone defense
“That’s where it started. When they went zone, our offense got a little stagnant which is what they were trying to do. They forced a couple turnovers and they got some confidence and started hitting some shots.”
On the third quarter
“We got stagnant. We got away from running our offense. We couldn’t get stops and they outscored us 30-13.”

Notes: This is the first win in the last five games against the Jazz for the Kings, and the first in five in Utah … The Kings are 3-6 in their last nine games against the Jazz … Tyreke Evans scored a career-high 32 points while Donte Greene had a season-high 10 points … Sacramento went on a 30-6 scoring run in the third quarter, including a 19-0 run.

Paul Westphal – Head Coach (2-4 this season) On the game
“It shows a lot about the heart of our team. It’s really hard for anybody to come in here and get a win. The fact that we got off to a bad start and then still found a way to win against a very good team, it makes me feel very proud of those guys.”
On the Kings’ three-point shooting
“Well we had one other good game behind the line but I think we have good three-point shooters. I think that our percentage has been a bit low so tonight was a small sample of our three-point shooting.”

Tyreke Evans – Guard [32 points, 7 assists] On the game
“That’s the style of play I played in Memphis, up and down, fast breaks. Once I got that going I got a rhythm. I felt like I was unstoppable getting to the basket. I was just taking advantage of everything that was out on the court.”
On how this game compares to the other games he’s played in the NBA
“I’ve had (a good rhythm) a couple of games, but this is the best one I’ve had. Going out there against that competition, that’s what I came (to the NBA) for. I think I did a good job out there. I only had 2 turnovers.”

Andres Nocioni – Forward (14 points, 5 rebounds) On the game
“It wasn’t easy. I think we played really hard, we played really well in the second quarter and the third quarter. I think we didn’t play well in the fourth quarter, but we kept the paint tight and play good [defense] in the fourth quarter so it led us to win the game. It’s a really huge win for us, because not too many teams are going to win here.”
On the defensive effort of the Kings
“We keep the paint really tight, we control the paint, so this is what happened. We play really, really good defense, we were closing in really well, we worked really hard on the rebounds. So I think we did everything fine except in the fourth quarter we lost the control.”

Donte Green – (10 points, 1 steal) On the game
“Got guys like myself trying to step up, trying to get in there and get some minutes, you know I’ve just been trying to get myself to be ready and trying to play hard, and that’s all I did tonight.”
On what he’s been doing to get ready for opportunities to play
“Just keep working. This league is all about opportunities. You’ve just got to be ready when it’s your time, when your number gets called. So I’ve just been working out, being ready, Coach has been positive with me, just telling me, keep working and you’ll be alright.”

BOXSCORE

UPCOMING GAMES...

Stay up to date with Utah Jazz breaking news, text "NEWS" to 69882.