Utah Jazz Rocked By Ricky Rubio, Fall To Phoenix Suns In Third Straight Loss
Feb 24, 2020, 10:01 PM | Updated: 10:08 pm
Ricky Rubio #11 of the Phoenix Suns drives past Mike Conley #10 of the Utah Jazz during a game at Vivint Smart Home Arena on February 24, 2020 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
(Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Former Jazzman and current Phoenix Suns point guard Ricky Rubio rocked the Jazz in his first game back in Salt Lake City and handed his old team their third consecutive loss.
The Jazz hosted Rubio and the Suns at Vivint Smart Home Arena on Monday, February 24.
Rubio returned to the arena his called home for each of the past two seasons and exacted some revenge on his former teammates.
Rubio’s Revenge
The Spanish Samurai slashed through Utah’s defense and led the Suns to a 131-111 blowout victory.
Ricky with a season-high 7⃣ STLS tonight!
The most by a Sun this season! pic.twitter.com/z05OWF50LH
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) February 25, 2020
Rubio posted an impressive stat line in his revenge game. He recorded 22 points, 6 rebounds, 11 assists, and 7 steals in the 20 points win. Rubio had a +31 plus-minus rating in 33 minutes on the court.
Ricky Rubio gets his revenge.
The Spanish Samurai led the @Suns to a 131-111 win over the @utahjazz.
Tricky Ricky had 22 points, 6 rebounds, 11 assists, and 7 steals in 33 minutes. He was a +31 on the night. @kslsports#RisePHX #TakeNote #PHXatUTA
— Kyle Ireland (@kyleireland) February 25, 2020
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Scorching Suns
Phoenix All-Star guard Devin Booker scored 24 points to led the Suns’ scorching scoring attack.
Utah struggled to contain the Suns as they finished the game torching the nets for 56.3 percent shooting including a blazing hot 60.0 percent from beyond the arc. Phoenix outscored Utah by 24 points in the paint.
The Jazz committed 20 total turnovers which led to 27 points by the Suns.
“Who you are is who you are now, not who you’ve been, or what you’re gonna do, or what you can do. It’s what you do,” said Jazz head coach Quin Snyder after the loss. “What we did tonight wasn’t good. Obviously that’s an understatement on a lot of levels.”
Utah By The Numbers
Utah shot 47.1 percent from the field and 38.5 percent from three.
NBA All-Star Donovan Mitchell scored 38 points to carry the Jazz. He shot 11-19 on field goals including 6-9 from downtown. Mitchell added 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal in 35 minutes.
6-of-9 from three#PerformanceLeader | @Lexus 📊 pic.twitter.com/BXxaDqsVQ2
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) February 25, 2020
Jazz forward Bojan Bogdanovic scored 16 points on 4-10 shooting and 8-8 from the foul stripe.
All-Star center Rudy Gobert posted 13 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal. He swatted Rubio late in the fourth quarter for his 1000th career block.
Congrats to @rudygobert27 on career block No. 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣! #TakeNote #PHXatUTA
📷: Getty Images pic.twitter.com/DrhXA1psIA
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) February 25, 2020
Point guard Mike Conley recorded 8 points and an assist in 22 minutes.
Jordan Clarkson led Utah’s second unit with 14 points off the bench.
Up Next
With the win, Phoenix improved to 24-34 on the season and 13-16 on the road.
Utah suffered their third straight loss after nine days off for the NBA All-Star break and now sits at 36-21 on the season including 20-8 at Vivint Smart Home Arena.
The last 4 weeks have been rough for the Jazz.
4-8 record
-58 point differential
25th in defenseOnly the Pistons and Wolves have more losses in that span. pic.twitter.com/W9Yixb4Jiq
— StatMuse (@statmuse) February 25, 2020
The Jazz continue a five-game homestand against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday, February 26 at 8:30 p.m. (MDT). The game will broadcast on ESPN, AT&T SportsNet, and 97.5 FM.
