Game Rewind: Pacers 121, Jazz 88

The Indiana Pacers (12-8) opened a four-game Western Conference road trip in style, blowing out the Jazz (9-12) for the second time in a week to roll to a 121-88 victory on Monday night in Utah.

The Pacers defeated the Jazz 121-94 a week earlier at Bankers Life Fieldhouse and were even more dominant in Salt Lake City, never trailing on their way to a comfortable win.

Indiana shot 58.3 percent from the field, had 34 assists, and got a big boost from beleaguered sharpshooter Doug McDermott. After going scoreless and taking just one shot in a loss to San Antonio on Friday, McDermott bounced back Monday with a season-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting and pulled down six rebounds against the Jazz.

"They were headhunting me tonight," McDermott told FOX Sports Indiana's Jeremiah Johnson after the win. "I had to take advantage of that. We put in a couple more plays to get me moving and I thought that really worked."

The Pacers connected on eight of their first nine shots and forced five early turnovers as they raced out to a 20-12 lead.

Indiana finished the first quarter 14-for-19 from the field and led 33-25 after one.

The Blue & Gold got a nice boost from their bench on Monday, as Cory Joseph, Domantas Sabonis, McDermott, and Aaron Holiday combined for 27 points in the first half. They helped pushed the lead to as many as 10 points in the second quarter before the starters returned.

Myles Turner took over from there, knocking down mid-range jumpers on three straight possessions to give the Pacers a 14-point advantage and they took a 57-48 lead into the break.

"Just playing confident out there, that's the biggest thing," Turner said after the win. "I just take what's given to me as far as the matchups are concerned and just playing hard."

The Blue & Gold blew the game open in the third quarter, reeling off a 16-1 run over a 4:30 stretch to extend the lead to 24 points.

A 14-0 run early in the fourth quarter pushed the margin to 31 and sent most of the remaining fans at Vivint Smart Home Arena to the exits. McDermott racked up 13 points in the final frame alone.

Turner added 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting to go along with four rebounds, four assists, and two blocks. Bojan Bogdanovic added 15 points, five rebounds, and four assists.

Four other Pacers players scored in double figures — Tyreke Evans (14 points), Sabonis (13 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists), Joseph (13 points), and Holiday (12 points). That list omits point guard Darren Collison, who had just eight points but dished out a season-best 11 assists in just 26 minutes of action.

"Tonight was just a good, professional win by this group," Pacers head coach Nate McMillan said. "They were about business from the start. This is a tough place to play. Utah is a good team. Right from the start we established ourselves defensively. Offensively had good ball movement."

Derrick Favors led Utah with 13 points and eight rebounds in the loss. Rudy Gobert added 12 points and six boards.

Both teams were without their leading scorers on Monday, as Pacers All-Star guard Victor Oladipo missed his fourth straight game with a sore right knee and Jazz sophomore sensation Donovan Mitchell sat out his second consecutive game with a rib contusion.

The Pacers return to action on Tuesday night at 9:00 PM ET, when they head to Phoenix to face the Suns on the second night of a back-to-back.

Photo Credit: NBAE/Getty Images

The Pacers had a season-best 62 bench points on Monday and outscored Utah's reserves by 23. Indiana is 6-0 on the season when getting 50 or more points from its bench.

Indiana's 34 assists were one shy of the team's season high, set in last week's win over the Jazz.

Collison's 11 assists were the most by a Pacers player in a single game this season. He is just the second player to tally at least 10 assists in a game this season, a feat first accomplished by Victor Oladipo in a win in Miami on Nov. 9.

Sabonis collected his team-leading eighth double-double of the season on Monday.

McDermott scored 20 points for the first time since March 10 of last season, when he was with the Dallas Mavericks. He entered Monday averaging 5.7 points over his first 19 games with the Pacers, his lowest scoring average since his rookie season in 2014-15 with Chicago.

"We talked about you got to know your teammates and what they're capable of doing and Doug and Bojan are two of the best shooters in the league. As a group, you want to try and get those guys open and get them the ball. I thought we did a nice job of that tonight, finding those guys. They got themselves open and just freed up everybody." -McMillan

"I thought I did a better job yeah at just finishing my cuts tonight instead of, you know, stopping and going to the corner. I just kept going to the hoop. And credit the big guys cause they were finding me all night." -McDermott

"I think both games we did good establishing the pace, establishing the aggressiveness in terms of getting up into the ball. It started with (Collison), he did a great job of doing that for us." -Joseph

"We had some opportunities when the game was double figures early on, ten or twelve, whatever it was. We didn't make some plays that we needed to make. Indiana played well and they deserve credit for how they played. We've just got to be better and like I said, keep working." -Jazz head coach Quin Snyder

Monday's win was just the fifth time in NBA franchise history that the Pacers won by 30 or more points on the road and the first in just under 22 years. Indiana's last 30-point road win came in a 127-80 victory over the Vancouver Grizzlies on Dec. 4, 1996.

The Pacers travel to Phoenix for a showdown with Devin Booker and the Suns on Tuesday, Nov. 27 at 9:00 PM ET.

After a four-game road trip, the Pacers return to Bankers Life Fieldhouse to host the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 7:00 PM ET. Find Tickets »

Scotty's Brewhouse: When the Pacers score 99 points or more, you can buy one sandwich, get one free the next day at any Indiana Scotty's Brewhouse location! To find the Scotty's Brewhouse nearest you, visit ScottysBrewhouse.com.