Mitchell, Bogdanovic Aggressive In Jazz Victory Over Pelicans
Nov 23, 2019, 10:12 PM
Donovan Mitchell #45 of the Utah Jazz attempts to drive past Brandon Ingram #14 of the New Orleans Pelicans during a game at Vivint Smart Home Arena on November 23, 2019 in Salt Lake City, Utah. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
(Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Donovan Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanovic started the game on fire and never cooled down in Utah’s 128-120 victory over New Orleans.
It all started with the first points of the game with no Derrick Favors patrolling the paint for the Pelicans.
Mitchell got the ball at the free-throw line and was fouled dribbling hard to his left to the basket, which led to Utah taking and early 2-0 advantage. Those two free throws were not the most exciting plays by Mitchell who skied high for an amazing alley-oop slam from Joe Ingles, threw a perfect overhead pass from one end of the court to the other for a Bogdanovic dunk and even drained six 3-pointers. That simple drive showed that the 3rd year guard and the rest of the team were not going to be passive participants in this game’s proceedings.
Mitchell scored 18 of his game-high 37 points in the first quarter. He also dished out 5 assists and grabbed 7 rebounds.
❄️⛸#TakeNote pic.twitter.com/GPASQ1pcrR
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 24, 2019
Bogdanovic, who scored 28 points on 10-17 shooting, was no wallflower to start out the game. With the Jazz up 5-0, the Croatian sharpshooter grabbed the ball on the right side, dribbled a few times to get the defender off balance and then buried a 3-pointer. He canned a transition triple a few moments later with the help of Mitchell. The two personally outscored New Orleans 14-0 to start the game.
sorry, rook#MACU | @MountainAmerica pic.twitter.com/sDVw5JoN6g
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 24, 2019
The aggressive play of Utah’s high scorers seemed to spread throughout the team with no real deterrent in the middle of the lane as former Jazzman Favors sat out the contest with back issues. Mike Conley was able to dribble with no resistance into the lane and drop off beautiful passes to Tony Bradley for some easy buckets. So too was Dante Exum. The Jazz had 48 points in the paint.
Other dribble drives to the bucket led to open 3’s as Utah hit 15 of 36 shots from behind the arc.
Some drives to the basket were too audacious – attempted slam dunks by Royce O’Neale and Mitchell – that they still drew “oohs” from the crowd even though neither were successful.
44 points by the @UtahJazz in the 1st quarter are the most this season by the Jazz in any quarter.#TakeNote #NOatUTA @KSLSports
— Sam Farnsworth (@SFarnsworthKSL) November 24, 2019
The Jazz were up 74-54 at the half which was a good thing for the home team. New Orleans gave it everything they had in the 2nd half and were helped by the fact that Rudy Gobert sat out this game with a left ankle sprain. The Pelicans scored 42 points in the paint and nailed 17 3-pointers to climb back in this contest.
Utah did not abandon its push to the bucket late in the game. Mitchell scored a lay-up to restore a 10 point advantage. Jeff Green also got into the action, tipping in an alley-oop pass from Mike Conley and making a couple of free throws after a nice bounce pass from Conley as Green was going to the bucket.
Brandon Ingram scored 33 points for the Pelicans while Jrue Holiday had 28 and J.J. Redick chipped in 20.
Utah now heads out on a 5 game road trip, beginning with Milwaukee on Monday night at 6:00 pm mountain time.
