Math problem for you: You’re on the road, with thousands of fans cheering against you. You’re missing your leading scorer and his 24.2 points per game. And you find yourself trailing by 15 in the second half.
Add it up.
What do you get?
That’s right. Your ninth-straight win.
Behind 31 points from Bojan Bogdanovic and another dominant performance from Rudy Gobert, the Utah Jazz rallied to beat the Washington Wizards 127-116 on Sunday afternoon. It was the 14th win in 15 games for the Jazz (27-12), who at least momentarily moved into second place in the Western Conference.
“This is a tough game,” Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said. “It’s your first game of an East Coast road trip. It’s a matinee game. … Donovan’s one of our key guys, so there’s always a little bit of an adjustment when he’s out. I thought our guys did a really good job of absorbing that collectively.”
Things looked shaky early for the Jazz, as they tipped off the first contest of this three-game road trip. Guard Donovan Mitchell (24.2 points per game) was ruled out prior to game time due to illness.
The Wizards, meanwhile, came out hot. Washington went on a 10-2 run in the final 2:45 of the first quarter, building a 34-23 lead. The Wizards shot 62.5 percent (16-of-25) in the first quarter.
Bogdanovic carried the scoring load in Mitchell’s absence. The forward had 22 points by halftime, hitting on nine of his 14 attempts. But as a team, the Jazz went just 4-for-18 from beyond the arc and couldn’t keep pace with their opponent.
“I think it was a little bit of everything. We were a little slow, especially defensively,” Gobert said. “We gave up a lot of back-cuts and layups and they got confident.”
By halftime, Utah trailed 66-55 and the deficit would grow to 15 early in the third quarter.
“We had to react,” Gobert said.
That they did. Royce O’Neale and Joe Ingles hit back-to-back 3s. Emmanuel Mudiay converted an and-1. And when Gobert rocked the rim with a put-back dunk, the score was tied at 77.
Behind 23 points from Jordan Clarkson, the Jazz took an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter.
“Jordan made some huge plays throughout the whole game, but especially at the end,” Gobert said.
Gobert finished the game with 21 points, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots. Ingles had 20 points and nine assists.
Friday's Best: Rudy Gobert
The two-time Defensive Player of the Year turned the tide in the second half. Gobert finished the game with 21 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks. And he helped close things out in crunch time while playing with five fouls.
Highlights
Significant Stats
8
Bojan Bogdanovic score 31 points—the eighth time this season he has gone for at least 30 points. The Croatian forward went 12-for-23 from the field on Sunday.
17
Jordan Clarkson got going in the second half, scoring 17 of his 23 points after the break. The guard also found Rudy Gobert twice for crunch-time dunks and finished with three assists.
24
The Jazz assisted on 24 of their 48 made field goals. Joe Ingles led the way with nine dimes.
Notable
• Donovan Mitchell wasn’t at his best in Friday’s win over the Charlotte Hornets. The Jazz’s leading scorer on the season had just four points. The reason? The star guard was under the weather.
That illness sidelined Mitchell completely on Sunday afternoon against the Wizards.
“The thing [Donovan] did last game was he really defended,” head coach Quin Snyder said. “You look at how we started and a lot of that was Donovan’s activity on the ball. That says a lot about him that when you’re not 100 percent, you still come in and focus on defending—because that’s focusing on the team winning. Obviously if he or we felt like he could be effective today he would play. That’s what happened last game. Hopefully he’s going to make his way back quickly.”
• Emmanuel Mudiay got his first start of the season with Mitchell inactive.
• The Wizards have waived former Jazzman C.J. Miles. The 32-year-old, who was drafted by the Jazz out of high school in 2005, played in 10 games, averaging 6.4 points before having season-ending surgery.
“I spoke to him last night,” Wizards coach Scott Brooks said Sunday. “He loved everything about what we were doing. I loved what he was bringing as a veteran. But, unfortunately, he only played a handful of games for us.”
• Wizards guard Bradley Beal returned to Washington’s lineup after missing five games with a leg injury.
Up Next
The Jazz head to Brooklyn for the second game of this three-game road swing. Tipoff is set for Tuesday at 5:30pm MT.
Utah's next home game is on Saturday, January 18 against the Sacramento Kings at 7:00pm MT.
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