NBA Update: Utah Jazz vs. Indiana Pacers (Recap)
Stadium: EnergySolutions Arena, Salt Lake City
Final Score: Jazz 110 vs. Pacers 88
Player of the Game: Utah’s Point guard, Deron Williams “D-Will” (24 points and 6 assists)
Highlight of the Game: The Jazz were in control early in the game (19-point lead in first)
Review:
The sizzling Utah Jazz picked up their seventh straight victory with a 110-88 rout of the Indiana Pacers, in the presence of 18,732 basketball fans.
It was not really a thrilling tussle but a 22-point win is exactly what Jazz needed. Its games like this where advanced stats can really tell us a lot.
The first aspect that jumps out is the pace. Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers began the game at a crisp pace; somehow, the Utah managed a huge lead of 18 points in the opening quarter.
The pace stalled more and more as the second half wore on. The Utah has not been particularly efficient offensively under slower paces this season, but the efficiency seemed to pick-up on both ends in this as things slowed down.
The primary reason the Utah pulled this one out at such a significant margin were the turnovers committed by the opponent. The Pacers committed 18 turnovers, which were excessively many against a team as hot as the Jazz. Utah turned those 18 turnovers into
26 points.
The jump shot numbers are not entirely indicative of the teams' aggression levels in the game. In particular, the Pacers attacked the rim hard and often. However, Utah's eight 3-pointers played a huge role in denying post points and jump shots.
After a bad stretch of rebounding, the Jazz got back on track. They collected majority portion of all Pacer’s misses.
High-Flying Players for Utah
Deron Williams led with 24 points dished a season-high 16 assists and committed no turnovers to lead the Utah Jazz. The coach Jerry Sloan was been greatly inspired by the outstanding performance of Deron,
"Deron is playing terrific. This stretch is probably as well as I have seen him play. He has just had some tremendous games for us, almost like you expect every one of them to be that way."
Andrei Kirilenko posted 18 points and seven rebounds for the Jazz. "It's a great record. I want to give credit to our team," "We're playing well, and we're playing very concentrated and focused. Again, it is not over yet. There are many many games in
front of us, so we have to pay attention and keep playing the same way we're playing now." - - Kirilenko
Al Jefferson was hot as he had his eighth double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Paul Millsap tallied 16 points and eight rebounds.
High-Flying Players for Pacers
Darren Collison finished with 16 points, five assists, and five rebounds for the Pacers in the defeat.
Brandon Rush and Roy Hibbert each contributed 15 points apiece.
Danny Granger had 14 points and seven rebounds for Pacers.
Moment of Silence
The crowd at EnergySolutions Arena observed a moment of silence before the start of the game in the honour of Sherry Black, the mother-in-law of Jazz CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Greg Miller. She was been found stabbed to death in her bookstore on Tuesday.
Interesting Figures of the game
The victory extended the Utah’s current winning streak to seven while on the other hand; Indiana had its four-consecutive win break at four.
Deron Williams of Jazz was nine-for-nine in two-point attempts.
Indiana’s leading scorer, Danny Granger missed eight of his first 10 shots.
It was the first time this season the Pacers were outrebounded by more than 10 boards.
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