Gordon Hayward and Al Jefferson help Utah Jazz outgun Memphis Grizzlies 98-88: NBA Recap
Led by Gordon Hayward, Utah Jazz banked their third road win of the season, as they out gunned Memphis Grizzlies 98-88 on Sunday night.
After a tight game, Utah shot 12 of 19 from the field and forced 6 turovers from Memphis in the final stanza to take away their 14th win of the season.
Gordon scored a season high 23 points and dished out 5 assists, while centre Al Jefferson came up with a double-double scoring 21 points and had 15 rebounds. Forward Paul Millsap netted 16 and Raja Bell was also in the mix with
10 points.
"When we make some stops on the defensive end, we're able to push it a little bit more and get into our offense, instead of just walking the ball up the court and being stagnant," said Gordon Hayward. "That's really where we turned
it around."
Memphis, who were on a 2 game winning streak before this game, failed to display any resilience. They had an average shooting night netting 43.6% off the floor and 78.3% from the free throw line.
With 22 points Rudy g*y was the highest scorer for Grizzlies. He also had 6 rebounds, while Marc Gasol netted 17 and had 9 rebounds. Mike Conley scored 17 and Tony Allen was the last player with a notable score for Memphis, 12.
O.J. Mayo, who has averaged 12.4 points per game so far, couldn’t do any good in this match as he recorded only 2 points on a pair of free throws.
Utah had an early 9-2 run in the opening period. They scored 22 points by the end of segment, while Memphis managed 18 points only. Devin Harris was on song as he recorded 7of his 9 points in the opening quarter.
Jazz kept their strong hold in the 2nd segment with a 6-0 run at the beginning. The Grizzlies failed to scratch off the deficit and trailed throughout the 2nd quarter as Utah were up with 46-40 lead before
halftime.
Until 5:04 mark of the 3rd quarter things remained gloomy for Memphis, but at that point with a 3-point play by Mike Conley, Grizzlies took a 61-59 lead. Afterwards that was neutralized with a 10-2 run by Utah and Memphis never
led again in the game. By the end of 3rd stanza Utah were up by 69-66.
Utah pulled away in the 4th frame as they forced the rivals into turnovers; Derrick Favors was on song as on three occasions as he bombed alley-oop dunks out of the half court set.
With Howard’s consistent outside shooting which helped Utah to regain its 96-84 lead and finally with Hayward’s successive 2 free throws Utah netted their 98th point with 01:18 left on the clock.
Memphis could only score 88 points in the game as they embraced their 14th loss of the season.
The Jazz were in the ascendency for most of the game as compared to the Memphis and their low 45 percent shooting rate didn’t inflict any worries in the end.
"People were aggressive, like controlled aggressive," Bell said. "We were moving the ball, and there were times when people were getting double-teamed, and the ball swung around the perimeter and we found an open look."
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