Utah rallied late, but it wasn't quite enough as the Jazz fell to the Spurs 127-120 Wednesday night in San Antonio.
After a slow start, Utah's offense came alive in the second half—but the Jazz simply couldn't get enough stops down the stretch to completely erase a 15-point deficit.
"They're a really good team," Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said. "There was a level we didn't have in the first quarter. We gave up a lot of points early and were playing from behind the whole game. We scored a lot of points, and I thought we did a decent job attacking. If you put up 120 points, that should be enough to win the game. We've just got to be better defensively."
Donovan Mitchell led the way for the Jazz with 31 points, while Rudy Gobert (17 points, 19 rebounds) logged his 36th double-double of the season. Jordan Clarkson (20 points off the bench), Bojan Bogdanović (17 points, nine rebounds) and Mike Conley (12 points) also scored in double figures in the loss.
The Jazz (32-15) trailed by 15 early in the third quarter before closing the period with a 9-3 run to pull within four. That's as close as they got, though, as the Spurs shot 10-for-19, including 3-for-10 from beyond the arc, in the fourth quarter.
With Utah down by five and just under two minutes left, Mitchell drove to the hoop and was hit across the arm by San Antonio's Derrick White, though no foul was called. DeMar DeRozan took the ball and hit a tough baseline jumper to all but seal the victory for the Spurs.
DeRozan scored a game-high 38 points for the Spurs (21-26), who shot 56.1 percent from the field. Patty Mills provided a spark off the bench with 18 points, and point guard Dejounte Murray finished with 17 points, four assists and three steals in the win.
Wednesday's Best
Mitchell had another efficient night, shooting 9-for-20 from the field (including 3-for-6 from three) and 10-for-10 from the free throw line. The third-year guard scored 19 of his team-high 31 points in the second half, and he added four assists in 34 minutes. Mitchell has now scored at least 30 points 14 times this season.
Top Plays
Significant Stats
69.6
The game was slowed down by 49 fouls—27 on Utah, 22 on San Antonio—as the teams combined to shoot 76 free throws. The Spurs shot 27-for-30 (90.0 percent) from the free throw line, while the Jazz shot 32-for-46 (69.6 percent). Gobert shot only 9-for-18 from the line.
-14
Despite 20 points by Clarkson and 12 by Conley, Utah's reserves were still outscored 54-40 by San Antonio's bench.
74.5
The Spurs made only eight 3-pointers but were dominant otherwise, shooting 38-for-51 (74.5 percent) from inside the arc.
Notable
The last time Utah lost two games in a row was on December 2 (76ers) and December 4 (Lakers). ... San Antonio played without star center LaMarcus Aldridge (thumb). ... The Jazz shot 14-for-38 (36.8 percent) from 3-point range. ... Utah is now 14-11 on the road this season. ... The Jazz scored only three points off nine San Antonio turnovers. ... The Spurs had lost three straight games, each by four points or fewer. ... This was the teams' first meeting of the season.
Up Next
The Jazz will stay on the road to face the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night. Tipoff is set for 8:30pm MT, and the game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.
Utah's next home game is on Wednesday, February 5 against the Denver Nuggets at 8:00pm MT.
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