After squeaking out a win on Tuesday against the Lakers, the Jazz were focused and physical against Los Angeles' other team, rolling to a 117-95 blowout win over the Clippers Thursday night in Salt Lake City.
The Jazz (46-33) have now won 26 of their last 31 games, and they maintained their hold on the fourth spot in the Western Conference standings with only three games remaining.
"Last game against the Lakers we came out pretty slow, so we just wanted to come out here in attack mode," Donovan Mitchell said after the game. "It started with Ricky pushing—we all just followed suit. Rudy was doing his thing on the boards, and we were all locked in."
Mitchell led seven Jazz players in double figures with 19 points in only 28 minutes, while Derrick Favors had 16 points and Rudy Gobert finished with 15 points in the win.
Joe Ingles added 11 points and a game-high nine assists, and Utah's bench trio of Jonas Jerebko (13 points), Alec Burks (13 points) and Danté Exum (10 points, five assists) gave the team a big boost after two key players went down.
Ricky Rubio scored nine points in the first eight minutes before leaving the game for good with hamstring soreness. Jae Crowder also had a short night, playing only five minutes before he was poked in the eye.
Austin Rivers led the Clippers (42-37) with 19 points, while Montrezl Harrell added 17 points off the bench in the loss.
Thursday's Best
Gobert held his own in a tough matchup against DeAndre Jordan, stuffing the stat sheet with 15 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, one steal and three blocks in only 28 minutes. While his numbers were impressive, it was the way Gobert made plays that was so impactful. His powerful dunks and sweeping blocked shots were visibly disheartening for a Clippers squad that desperately needed a win to keep its slim playoff hopes alive.
Key Stretches
The Jazz built a 25-16 lead midway through the first quarter behind the duo of Rubio and Mitchell, who combined to score 14 straight Utah points. Ingles grabbed two steals, which resulted in a bucket by Rubio and a transition dunk by Mitchell. Rubio made a three and sunk two free throws, while Mitchell hit nothing but net on a mid-range jumper and converted an acrobatic three-point play around Jordan.
Exum came in the game and made an immediate impact, scoring nine quick points to give Utah a 41-28 lead, and then rising up to stuff 7-foot-3 Boban Marjanovic at the rim. The Jazz pushed their lead to as many as 20—thanks in part to seven points by Jerebko—midway through the second period.
The Jazz, who led by 16 at the half, quickly extended their lead to 21 early in the third quarter and coasted from there. Gobert strolled in for a baseline dunk, Favors threw down a dunk of his own, and Ingles canned a three from the wing to force a Clippers timeout.
In the closing minutes, with Utah holding a 24-point lead, David Stockton checked in for the first time in Salt Lake City—and then promptly rolled in a 3-pointer to send the crowd into a frenzy.
Significant Stats
200
Ingles, who shot 2-for-6 from beyond the arc, became the first Jazz player in franchise history to make 200 3-pointers in a season. Ingles ranks fourth in the NBA in 3-point percentage (.441) and tenth in total 3-pointers made.
27
The Jazz dished out 27 assists, with Ingles (nine), Mitchell (five) and Exum (five) leading the way.
17.6
LA shot only 3-for-17 (17.6 percent) from 3-point range. The Clippers entered the night averaging 9.7 threes per game.
Coach's Quote of the Night
Jazz head coach Quin Snyder
Notable
Mitchell had scored 20+ points in 10 straight games, but he sat out the final 14 minutes of the lopsided victory. ... Only three starters remain from last year's playoff meeting between Utah and LA—Gobert, Ingles and Jordan. ... Raul Neto (wrist) missed his 12th straight game for the Jazz. ... Danilo Gallinari (hand) did not play for LA. ... Gobert and Tobias Harris picked up technical fouls (at different times in the second quarter) for arguing with the referees. ... The Jazz once against struggled from the free-throw line, shooting only 67.9 percent (19-for-28) as a team.
Up Next
The Jazz will travel to Los Angeles to face the Lakers on Sunday. Tipoff is set for 4:00pm MT.
(function($) { $(document).ready(function() { game = { "league": "nba", "year": "2017", "divID": "article_game_stats" } // Load Game Detail Widget getGameDetails(game, loadGameDetail);
// Single Game Settings var UJSGTSettings = { "year": "2017", "league": "nba", "seasonType": "02", "displayType": "next", // all, allFuture, home, away, next, nextHome "mode": "default", // default, promotion, govx "UJSGTgdk": "1YTWe21GWgeS4OD3dS95IAHLU6Vlk6GsTOyQ5-2x5h1A", // links "UJGIVgdk": "1lkbb8y0bZSr2uCcuqggpxwHuHvCejHRv4pdAwE-IA-A", // giveaway "UJSGPgdk": "1Z8ApD-5USWfTFXql8StC6IKaUoLGl7aTFTlNfSOI4wc", // promo "UJSGJgdk": "1CzFJe5goij43p8YP_WsA32qQGO9kScAYJl7jAGg5bFY", // jersey "bLOC": "pagesingle", // specifiy where the button appears "divID": "UJSGT" // inject into this divID };
combinedSingleGameData(UJSGTSettings, loadSingleGames);
// Promotion collapse/expand: Make sure to target the same divID passed in the single game settings. $('#UJSGT').on('click', '.jst-game-special-offer-button', function() { $(this).children('i').toggleClass('fa-flip-vertical'); $parent_wrapper = $(this).parents('.jst-game-special-wrapper'); $parent_wrapper.children('.jst-game-special-offer-details').slideToggle(); $parent_container = $(this).parents('.jst-game-special-offer'); $parent_container.children('.jst-game-special-offer-teaser').fadeToggle();
});
}); })(jQuery);