After five defeats in a row, mainly away, the Jazz, still deprived of Rudy Gobert, finds the pleasure of playing at home with a third consecutive victory in the Vivint Smart Home Arena. A few days after exploding the Nets, they had to fight more to push back the New York neighbors.
After a perfectly balanced first quarter (28-28), a second very slightly favorable to the Jazz (59-57), the visitors dug the first significant gap in the third. But when he had just offered himself a ten-point lead (68-58), the Jazz experienced a huge offensive air gap of about seven minutes.
Still carried by the Julius Randle – Mitchell Robinson duo, the Knicks took the opportunity to catch up and take their distance from the score by passing a terrible… 24-2 (70-82). Finally led by four points at the start of the last quarter, Utah was able to count on a good offensive boost from Jordan Clarkson, as well as the most unexpected Royce O’Neale who converted two consecutive winning shots six minutes from time. term.
More struggling in attack, the Knicks were also unable to contain Donovan Mitchell, author of a solid end to the game in creation and finishing.
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– A story of “runs”. While neither team managed to get away with the score in the first period, the Knicks went through this huge 24-2 “run” in the third act, taking advantage of a Jazz offensive breakdown. The latter recovered in the last act by passing in turn a 16-6 to go back in front. The Jazz defense held the Knicks to just 18 points scored in the quarter.
– Chopped and clumsy play. 20 3-point baskets in aggregate by the two teams but on… 81 attempts. This game was marked by widespread awkwardness with Jazz shooting 42% and the Knicks just 38%. The long distance address did not exceed 25%. Also, both teams spent a lot of time on the free throw line due to a total of 49 fouls called in the game.
TOPS/FLOPS
✅ Donovan Mitchell. Like everyone else, he watered 3-pointers. But overall, the full-back signed a quality and complete game. In particular, he did a lot of fixing work in the fourth quarter, offering two balls for Royce O’Neale from afar. After his fourth interception of the match, on a cut transmission, he flew away for a beautiful “windmill dunk” to close the proceedings.
✅ Mitchell Robinson. Season record in points (19) and equal career record in rebounds (21) for the Knicks pivot who took advantage of the absence of Rudy Gobert to shine. Opportunistic, he scored the majority of his points in the first quarter before gradually dying out.
✅ Udoka Azubuike. Despite the strong performance of his direct opponent, the usual third pivot of the Jazz signed a more sober but solid match. Fortunately, moreover, he held his rank because Hassan Whiteside managed to commit his 6 faults in just 20 minutes of play. For three matches, and as many starts, the Nigerian has averaged almost 12 rebounds.
✅ Julius Randle. For the first time this season, the interior of the Knicks chained a second game in a row to 30 points or more. The left-hander did a lot of harm to the opposing defense, Bojan Bogdanovic in particular, with his shot from the periphery at five, six meters. Flat: he missed his four shots in the last quarter.
⛔ The Knicks bench. On his own, Jordan Clarkson was more productive offensively. Tom Thibodeau obtained only 11 small points from the four players mobilized from his bench. Three of them finished with at least -16 to the score when they were in play.
THE FOLLOWING
Jazz (33-21) : reception of the Warriors, Wednesday.
Knicks (24-30) : moving to Denver next night.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
