And the streak is over.
An uninspired start left the Jazz playing from behind the entire game, and the result was a 100-81 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers Friday night in Salt Lake City.
The loss, which snapped an 11-game winning streak, was Utah's first since January 22 in Atlanta.
Donovan Mitchell led the Jazz (30-29) with 21 points on 8-for-20 shooting, while Rudy Gobert (15 points), Joe Ingles (12 points) and Jae Crowder (11 points) also scored in double figures.
Ricky Rubio (hip soreness) returned to action for the Jazz after missing the past three games, though he had a tough night with four points (on 2-for-6 shooting), four rebounds and two assists in 20 minutes.
Portland's backcourt duo of Damian Lillard (24 points) and CJ McCollum (26 points) dominated the game, combining to score 50 points on 18-for-39 shooting (including 6-for-14 from beyond the arc).
Center Jusuf Nurkic added 15 points and seven rebounds in the win for the Blazers (33-26).
Friday's Best
Gobert was a force on both ends of the court, finishing with a well-rounded line of 15 points (on 6-for-9 shooting), nine rebounds, three assists, two steals and four blocks in 34 minutes. It was the sixth time this season that he's blocked at least four shots in a game.
Key Stretches
The Jazz trailed 21-11 midway through the first quarter before they got going with a 12-2 run. Mitchell scored eight straight points—he hit a teardrop runner and then canned two straight 3-pointers to force a Portland timeout. After the break, Mitchell found Gobert for an alley-oop layup, and then Jonas Jerebko grabbed a steal and made two free throws to tie the game. Gobert blocked two shots during that stretch.
Portland opened the second half on a 13-4 run and eventually built a 19-point lead. The Jazz, though, reeled of six straight points—on two buckets from Alec Burks and a layup by Derrick Favors—to build some momentum early in the fourth quarter. Four points by Crowder pulled Utah within nine with just over three minutes left, but three straight buckets by McCollum sent the crowd scurrying out the exits and into the cold, snowy night.
Significant Stats
20
The Jazz weren't careful with the ball, turning it over five times in the first five minutes and 20 times by the time the final horn sounded. The Blazers, who committed only 12 turnovers, turned Utah's miscues into 22 points.
Zero—that's how many lead changes there were as Portland led from wire to wire. The Jazz fought back to tie the game four times, but they were never able to take the lead.
Coach's Quote of the Night
Jazz head coach Quin Snyder
Notable
Mitchell (4-for-10) and Ingles (2-for-5) were the only Jazz players to make a shot from beyond the arc. ... The Blazers scored 14 second-chance points to Utah's six. ... Crowder has now scored in double figures in each of his four games with the Jazz. ... Gobert picked up a technical foul midway through the third quarter. ... Utah shot only 42.3 percent from the field and 24.0 percent (6-for-25) from 3-point range. ... Mitchell scored at least 20 points for the fifth straight game and 29th time this season. ... Royce O'Neale struggled from the field (1-for-8 shooting) but managed to dish out a game-high four assists.
Up Next
The Jazz will be back in action Saturday night when they host the Dallas Mavericks. Tipoff is set for 7:00pm MT.
(function ($) { $(document).ready(function () { game = { "league": "nba", "year": "2017", "divID": "article_game_stats" } getGameDetails(game, loadGameDetail); }); })(jQuery);