Deron Williams stars as the Jazz rout the Magics 117-105
Deron Williams prevailed over Dwight Howard, as the Utah Jazz romped to a 117-105 victory over the Orlando Magic, to send them crashing to their biggest defeat this season.
Howard and Williams, who were both been named as November’s best players in their respective conferences, carried the flag for their franchises in the crucial encounter. But it was the man from Utah who held his nerve on the night.
Deron Williams reserved his best for the game against the Magic, as he notched up a season high 32 points, and nearly missed a double-double with nine assists. C.J. Miles came off the bench to complement Williams’ efforts with a season high 26 points, while
Paul Millsap finished with 22 points and 5 assists, as the Jazz cast a spell over the Magic defence with an excellent conversion rate of 53.9 percent.
The match that promised to be a thriller lived up to its expectation in the first half, as both the teams ran riot in each other’s defence. In a high scoring encounter, Orlando made the early push as they reeled off an early 7-2 spurt. The Jazz though were
in no mood to be dictated, as they leveled the score at 10 inside four minutes.
Orlando slightly maintained the upper hand in the first quarter, but every time they went into the lead, the Jazz responded to slash the deficit. The topsy-turvy first 12 minutes ended with the scores at 31-30 in favour of the Magic, and the trend continued
into the second quarter.
With a minute to go until the break and the score at 54-55, Utah got two free throws and Paul Millsap slipped in both, as the Jazz took the lead for the first time in the match.
That was just a sign of things to come.
Williams entered the second half with all guns blazing, as he ripped through Orlando’s defence pushing the ball up further, as he scored 11 straight points to give his team a much needed spark. Millsap then followed up with a jumper, as the Jazz increased
their lead to 71-63.
Orlando showed some resistance to slash the deficit to four points at 67-71, but Williams nailed a three-pointer to spark another 11-2 run, that completely knocked the steam out of the Magic.
The Jazz dominated Orlando in the fourth quarter as well. C.J. Miles scored 19 points and Utah nailed five three-pointers, as they outscored their counterparts 35-33 to seal a 117-105 win.
Jameer Nelson and Dwight Howard combined for 33 points but shot at a 10-for-31, as four other Orlando players also got into double figures. Orlando also struggled with 15 turnovers, compared to Utah’s seven as they slumped to their fourth defeat in a row.
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