The Roundup—Jazz start hot, coast to victory in NYC

Another night, another win over a struggling Eastern Conferene team.

But you won't hear anybody on the Utah Jazz complaining after a 112-104 victory over the New York Knicks that wasn't nearly as close as the final margin indicates.

"We've lost some games to teams [like the Knicks]," Jazz center Rudy Gobert said. "It's just the schedule. You don't play a contending team every night, but contending teams lose here too. So every night is another opportunity. These guys are talented. They don't have a great record, but they came at us and gave us a challenge. It's on us to bring it every night and keep getting better."

After four straight losses coming out of the All-Star break, the Jazz (39-22) have now won three straight over the Wizards, Cavaliers and Knicks, who have a combined record of 58-126 (.315).

"We're playing with confidence right now," Jazz guard Mike Conley said. "Every now and then you have to go through the lulls of the season just to remind you of who you are. We're a very good team when we play the right way, and we've done that the last few games."

Donovan Mitchell finished with 23 points, eight assists and two steals, while Bojan Bogdanović also had 23 points. Gobert (18 points, 14 rebounds) and Conley (17 points, six assists) also scored in double figures in the win.

The Jazz shot 50.6 percent from the field and dished out 26 assists.

"I think we were unselfish," Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said. "When we're getting stops, we can get out and run and we have a chance to move it. We have a lot of guys who can shoot, so I think everybody feels comfortable making the extra pass."

Julius Randle led the Knicks with 32 points and 11 rebounds, while Elfrid Payton added 20 points, seven rebounds and nine assists. Bobby Portis scored 21 points off the bench in the loss.

The Knicks (19-43) had won two straight games, including a home victory over the Houston Rockets on Monday night.

Gobert got back on track with his first double-double in six games, finishing with 18 points (on 7-for-8 shooting), 14 rebounds and two blocks in 34 minutes. Gobert gave the Knicks fits as a lob threat in the paint, and he's now shot 23-for-25 (92.0 percent) from the field over his last four games.

The Jazz came out hot, building a 31-15 lead over the first 10 minutes. With Utah leading 12-9, Bogdanović hit a long three and Mitchell threw down an alley-oop dunk. Joe Ingles canned a three and Mitchell converted a three-point play to put the Jazz up 26-11.

The Knicks pulled back within three early in the third quarter, but Utah responded with a 27-11 run to take control. Conley got Utah going again with a three-point play, and then Mitchell converted two buckets from close range. More layups—by
Bogdanović, Gobert and Tony Bradley—kept the Jazz rolling, and then Conley and Georges Niang canned back-to-back threes to put Utah up 99-80 early in the fourth period.

The Jazz held the Knicks without a fast-break bucket, outscoring New York 9-0 in transition. The Knicks rank No. 29 in the NBA with 9.4 fast-break points per game.

26

Utah was unselfish once again, finishing with 26 assists on 41 made field goals. Mitchell (eight), Conley (six) and Ingles (six) led the way as the Jazz finished with more assists than their season average of 22.2 for the third straight game.

55.9

The Jazz shot 55.9 percent through three quarters—and then made their first two shots of the final period (both 3-pointers)—before shooting only 6-for-20 (30.0 percent) to close the game.

Utah shot 10-for-36 (27.8 percent) from 3-point range. ... The Jazz are in fifth place in the Western Conference standings. ... New York outscored Utah 62-54 in the paint. ... The Jazz led from wire to wire. ... New York played without center Mitchell Robinson (hamstring), who averages 1.9 blocks per game off the bench.

The Jazz will stay on the road to face the Boston Celtics on Friday night. Tipoff is set for 6:00pm MT.

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