The Roundup—Jazz stun Nets with come-from-behind victory

It would have been easy to mail this one in.

Less than 24 hours after a late-night victory over the Warriors in San Francisco, the Utah Jazz were clearly tired as they dug themselves a 15-point hole in the first half against the Brooklyn Nets in Salt Lake City Tuesday night.

But then the second half started, and everything changed.

The Jazz came roaring back with 13 straight points to start the third quarter, and then they ran off a 13-4 run to take back the lead early in the fourth. From there, Utah held off a last-minute charge from Brooklyn to seal a thrilling 119-114 victory.

"I think the biggest thing was being honest with ourselves and figuring out, as a group, why we were playing the way we were playing," Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said. "These guys have a lot of character. I think it's a competitive group. ... There was no way we were going to shut down, but the resolve they showed and to carry it forward, it was a really good win."

Donovan Mitchell led the way with 30 points, while Rudy Gobert stuffed the stat sheet with 18 points (on 8-for-10 shooting), 15 rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks.

Mike Conley (18 points, five assists), Emmanuel Mudiay (15 points, 7-for-8 on free throws), Jeff Green (13 points, 3-for-5 from three) and Bojan Boganović (12 points) also scored in double figures for the Jazz (8-3), who have now won four straight games.

All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving led the Nets (4-6) with 27 points, though he shot just 10-for-30 from the field, including 2-for-11 in the fourth quarter.

"I thought defensively, down the stretch, Joe did an unbelievable job guarding Kyrie," Snyder said. "Royce started on him, and we planned on having multiple guys guarding him. He's hard to guard, especially for 48 minutes. It's a luxury we have, that a couple of guys can take on that challenge defensivley."

Spencer Dinwiddie added 21 points off the bench in the loss.

On a night filled with tired legs and jumpers that bounced harmlessly off the front of the rim, Mitchell was a steadying presence throughout the game for the Jazz. Utah's young star finished with 30 points on 13-for-26 shooting, and he added six rebounds, two assists and a steal (plus a game-high net rating of +16) in 38 minutes. Mitchell is now averaging 25.1 points per game this season.

Known for his defense, The Stifle Tower put on a show on the other end of the court against the Nets. In the first half he spun gracefully through an up-and-under for a layup, drawing faux comparisons to Hakeem Olajuwon on Twitter in the process. And then in the final minutes, Gobert dropped in two key layups—one after he cleanly snagged a bullet pass from Conley in between two defenders—to help keep Utah on top.

"Rudy made a heck of a catch on that pass from Mike," Snyder said. "I don't think he'd know who Julio Jones is, but that's who he looked like."

After a cold-shooting first half, the Jazz began the third quarter on a 13-0 run. Royce O'Neale canned a three, and then Mitchell put in two acrobatic layups to force a Brooklyn timeout. Conley beat the shot clock with a long jumper after the break, and then Mitchell made two free throws and Bogdanović dropped in a transition layup.

The Nets pushed their lead back to eight before the Jazz opened the final period with an 8-0 run—behind two threes by Green and a bucket by Mudiay. After a jumper by Irving, Green canned another three to give Utah the lead with just over nine minutes left to play. Two free throws by Mudiay and a driving layup by Mitchell put Utah up by five.

Joe Harris scored eight straight Brooklyn points in the fourth to put the Nets back up by two, but Conley answered with a three-point play. With the Jazz down by two, Mitchell got inside for a layup and, after a steal by Ingles, Conley rifled a pass through traffic to Gobert, who dropped in a layup to give Utah a two-point lead with 1:31 remaining. DeAndre Jordan and Gobert exchanged layups and then, after Conley went 1-for-2 from the line with 3.8 seconds left, Bogdanović tipped the rebound out to Mitchell, who was fouled and hit two freebies with a second remaining to seal the dramatic victory.

+20

It was a tale of two halves for the Jazz, who shot 40.4 percent before halftime (including only 1-for-13 from 3-point range) and 53.3 percent after the break as they outscored the Nets 66-46 in the final 24 minutes.

6-0

The Jazz are now 6-0 at home this season, making them one of only five teams who haven't lost on their home court. The Celtics, Heat, 76ers and Raptors—all Eastern Conference teams—are each 4-0 at home.

16

The game featured 14 ties and 16 lead changes, including seven lead changes in the final eight minutes alone.

Danté Exum (knee rehab) and Ed Davis (leg) did not play for the Jazz. Caris LeVert (thumb) was out for Brooklyn. ... The Nets were whistled for 29 fouls, and Utah shot 27-for-35 (77.1 percent) from the line. ... Brooklyn has lost two straight games. ... Jordan finished with 15 points, 17 rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks in 30 minutes off the bench for the Nets. ... Taurean Prince also scored 15 points in the loss. ... Utah shot only 6-for-26 (23.1 percent) from beyond the arc.

The Jazz will hit the road to face the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night. Tipoff is set for 6:00pm MT, and the game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

Utah's next home game is Monday night at 7:00pm MT against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

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