That's a step in the right direction.
The result might have been the same (a loss), but the Jazz rebounded from Wednesday's embarrassment in Dallas with effort and intensity as they fell 113-107 to the 76ers in Philadelphia Friday night.
The Jazz fought back from a 16-point deficit to take the lead late in the game, but they couldn't quite escape with the victory.
"We got down early—they were really shooting the ball—but we didn't get discouraged," Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said. "We continued to play and were obviously able to catch up and take the lead. It didn't end the way we wanted."
Donovan Mitchell led all scorers with 31 points, while Rudy Gobert finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds and a block in 28 minutes.
Joe Ingles (14 points, three steals), Derrick Favors (13 points on 5-for-5 shooting) and Ricky Rubio (13 points, four assists) also scored in double figures for the Jazz.
Utah (7-8) has now lost two straight games after winning three in a row.
Jimmy Butler was impressive in his first home game as a 76er, scoring 28 points (on 12-for-15 shooting) and dishing out seven assists. Joel Embiid finished with 23 points, seven rebounds, two steals and three blocks for Philadelphia (10-7).
JJ Redick added 16 points, while Ben Simmons had 10 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in the win.
Friday's Best
Mitchell was far from efficient (13-for-35 shooting, including only 1-for-11 from 3-point range) but he made play after play in the second half (when he scored 19 of his 31 points) to lead Utah's comeback attempt. It was the second time this season Mitchell has scored 30+ points, and he added two rebounds, four steals and a block in 34 minutes.
Key Stretches
With the Jazz trailing by 14 late in the first quarter, Mitchell changed the momentum with a steal and transition layup. Utah continued to chip away at the deficit, outscoring the Sixers 28-16 in the second period. Favors and Mitchell scored eight points each in the second quarter as the Jazz pulled within two points at the half.
Utah opened the fourth quarter on an 11-4 run to take its biggest lead of the game. Mitchell dribbled into the lane, drew a foul, and converted a three-point play. After a bucket by Embiid, Mitchell put in another a floater. Gobert stuffed Embiid in the lane, and Royce O'Neale raced the other way for a transition layup. And then Danté Exum found Gobert for an alley-oop slam to put Utah up 95-90 with 8:06 left in the fourth quarter.
Just minutes later, though, two questionable no-calls on Embiid led to two buckets for Butler—a 3-pointer and a two-handed dunk—that put Philadelphia up 98-95 with 5:35 left. Mitchell answered with a nifty step-back jumper, and then he pulled up and hit nothing but net on a 3-pointer over Embiid. Rubio sank a runner in the lane before Embiid tied it up with a wide-open corner three. Mitchell proceeded to hit another shot in the lane (over Embiid again). A steal by Rubio and putback layup by Jae Crowder onece again put the Jazz up by two with just under two minutes remaining.
Free throws by Redick (after a foul by Rubio), wide-open misses by Mitchell and Ingles, and layups by Simmons and Butler iced the game for the Sixers, as Phladelphia took a four-point lead with 19.4 seconds left. Embiid sealed it with two free throws in the closing seconds.
Significant Stats
56.8
The Jazz had an advantage in free-throw attempts, but they shot only 21-for-37 (56.8 percent) from the line. The Sixers shot 20-for-32 (62.5 percent) from the line as the teams combined for 52 fouls.
18.2
Ingles (2-for-5) was once again Utah's only reliable 3-point shooter as the team shot 4-for-22 (18.2 percent) from beyond the arc. Mitchell (1-for-11) and Crowder (0-for-3) were particularly cold from deep. The Sixers shot 11-for-23 (47.8 percent) from deep.
Coach's Quote of the Night
Jazz head coach Quin Snyder
Notable
Ingles passed Jazz legend Mehmet Okur into fifth place on the team's all-time list of 3-pointers made. ... . Utah outscored Philadelphia 66-52 in the paint. ... The Jazz committed only 13 turnovers. ... Philadelphia's reserves outscored their Utah counterparts 34-24. ... There were six ties and nine lead changes. ... Utah dished out only 15 assists. Rubio and Exum had four each.
Up Next
The Jazz will travel to Boston to face the Celtics on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 5:30pm MT.
(function($) {
$(document).ready(function() {
game = {
"league": "nba",
"year": "2018",
"divID": "article_game_stats"
}
// Load Game Detail Widget
getGameDetails(game, loadGameDetail);
// Single Game Settings var UJSGTSettings = { "year": "2017", "league": "nba", "seasonType": "02", "displayType": "nextHome", // 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);