The race for eight
The win over the Rockets saw the Jazz jump back up into the 8th seed. However, Portland beat Brooklyn last night so they're now tied for 6th with Dallas. The Kings now sit 3.5 back from the 8th spot with the Rocktes now in their way. With so much back and forth, every game counts.
That’s a stat
Gordon Hayward scored 28 points but last night’s discussion was how he went about it. Hayward scored 28 points off only seven shots. SEVEN! His only miss was a half-court heave at the end of regulation. Per our own David Locke, only four players since the 1982-83 season have scored 27 points on seven or fewer shots. Most importantly? Three of them were Jazz players: Hayward, Adrian Dantley and John Stockton.
“We just took care of the ball.” Hayward said afterwards. “We were more forceful on offense. I think we read them a little bit better. Start of the third we were still turning it over for sure, but there in the fourth and then into overtime, I thought we did a much better job.”
Well, that escalated quickly.
Last Thursday the Jazz signed Shelvin Mack. Sunday night against Portland he made his debut off the bench. Last night he started. Mack has now recorded a season-high in points in both of his first two games for Utah. So has the adjustment been difficult?
“It’s been great; it’s been a different situation going from not playing to playing. I think I played 30 minutes tonight, it’s been great to be playing and I’m just enjoying it.”
Big man, bigger play
Derrick Favors produced 19 points and 12 rebounds, but it was this putback play with 11.8 seconds remaining in overtime that helped secure a Jazz victory.
“It doesn’t matter if it was a pretty win or an ugly win. It’s a win. It’s a game that we definitely needed and we went out there and played hard. Houston is a good team but we got the win” Favors said postgame.
Tweet of the night
We are now in the throes of Jazz twitter. Be it “Mack Book Pro” or “Mack Book Air”, both of these are bound to be synonymous with emphatic Mack to Booker plays in the coming weeks. Will probably tweet this everyday, just an FYI.
What he said
James Harden is all too aware how close Houston and Utah are when it comes to contending for a playoff spot. Last night’s loss now puts them outside the 8th seed sitting in 9th. To intertwine Utah and Portland’s close seeding even further, the Rockets will play the Trailblazers tomorrow night.
“It’s not about where in are in the standings. It’s about us continuing to fight and play the right way. I don’t think we did that tonight. They made some tough shots. Rodney Hood made a couple of big tough threes, pull-up threes off the dribble. It’s a tough loss for us, but I think we played well. We competed at a high-level. Great opportunity Thursday in Portland.”
Still, Harden managed a smile whilst almost demolishing a poor cameraman.
Searching #weareutahjazz is always fun
When scouring Jazz twitter, don’t forget to search our official hashtag #weareutahjazz. How else will you stumble across posts like these?
Keep it coming!
These fans made the most of our new "Pose with the Pros" social media station.
What next?
Thanks to a previously scheduled TNT game that got retracted, tip-off tomorrow night against the San Antonio Spurs is still set for 8:30 pm on ROOT Sports. The Spurs come to us off a back-to-back after playing the Kings in Sacramento tonight. (Also worth noting, coach Popovich likes to rest his main guys on back-to-backs). On an even more positive note, the last time the Jazz beat the Spurs was March last year in Salt Lake City.
So who’s feeling lucky?