Jazz Buck Trends To Stun Nets In Second Half

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Through ten games, the Utah Jazz have been a great first quarter team. The Brooklyn Nets have not. Despite the teams trading reputations in Salt Lake City Tuesday night, the Jazz kept one trend going.

They won.

After a miserable first half that saw the Jazz trailing the Nets 68-53, the Jazz used a 31 point third quarter to cut the Nets lead to just eight, and set up a rally in the fourth quarter to win their eighth game of the season. The Jazz beat the Nets 119-114 for their fourth straight victory. 

The Jazz started the third quarter on a 13-0 run to close the lead to just two, before the Nets found their offensive rhythm and kept the Jazz at arms length. 

To begin the fourth quarter, the Jazz used a 10-2 run to tie the game at 94, and took their first lead of the second half 97-96 on a Jeff Green three point shot. The Jazz and Nets continued to exchange baskets, and the lead before finally putting Brooklyn away. 

Green made three three-point shots in the final quarter, his only made baskets of the quarter. 

J3ff 🎯 pic.twitter.com/oCIbnJVw4m

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 13, 2019

Going into the game, the Jazz were the second best first quarter team in the league, outscoring opponents by four points on average. The Nets were the sixth worst team in the league in first quarters, being outscored by 2.1 points on average. 

The roles flipped, and the Jazz were outscored 35-29 by a hot Brooklyn team. 

The Nets continued to build on their hot start.

Brooklyn had been the third best second quarter team this season, and lived up to their billing. The Nets outscore their opponents by 3.9 points on average in the second quarter, and outscored the Jazz 33-24 going into the half. 

Trailing by 15 points, the Jazz found themselves with their biggest halftime deficit of the season. 

The Jazz appeared to have tired legs, having played the night before in Golden State. The Jazz shot just 1-13 from the three point line in the first half.

Donovan Mitchell led the Jazz with 30 points, shooting 13-26, but was 0-5 from three. Mitchell also chipped in six rebounds and two assists. 

Emmanuel Mudiay had his best game as a Jazzman. He was the team’s leading scorer off the bench, shooting 4-8 from the floor, and in impressive 7-8 from the free-throw line leading to 15 points. 

.@emmanuelmudiay ➡️@unclejeffgreen pic.twitter.com/25TmVMUVaH

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 13, 2019

Mudiay returned to the Jazz lineup Monday night against the Warriors after missing three consecutive games with a hamstring strain. Mudiay had 11 points for the Jazz against Golden State. 

“We were just getting stops,” Mudiay said, “That’s when the second unit is at its best.”

Neither the Jazz or the Nets had been good fourth quarter teams this season. The Jazz are the ninth worst team in the final period, the Nets are the sixth worst. The Jazz average just 24.4 points per game in fourth quarters, but outscored the Nets 35-22 to close the game. 

Joe Ingles, who tied his career worst shooting night going 0-6 from the floor played key defense on Kyrie Irving in the fourth quarter. Irving shot just 2-11 in the quarter, and missed his final seven shots. Irving finished with 27 points, but needed 30 field goal attempts to get there. 

The Jazz were 15 points better with Ingles on the floor in the fourth quarter. 

The Nets missed nine of their final ten shots. 

The Key Moment

With under two minutes remaining, Kyrie Irving being defended by Joe Ingles gets into the paint, dishes to DeAndre Jordan who appears to have a shot at the rim. Ingles strips Jordan, moves the ball forward to Donovan Mitchell, who finds Mike Conley in the corner, who then found Rudy Gobert under the paint for a dunk and the Jazz took a 114-112 lead. 

The Nets would tie the game at 114 on the next possession, but wouldn’t score again, and the Jazz won 119-114. 

STRONG pic.twitter.com/6zPk5HHBte

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 13, 2019

Rudy Gobert followed up his 25 point outing against Golden State with another brilliant offensive outing. Gobert had his second highest scoring outing of the season, scoring 18 points on 8-10 shooting, and grabbed 15 points. 

Gobert has shot 19-22 in his last two games.

“I think we were a step slow in the first half, and they hit a lot of tough shots,” Gobert said. “We really wanted to come back in the second half and make it a little tougher on them. In the end it was the team that was going to get the stops and get the clutch buckets.”

The Jazz have two nights off before traveling to Memphis to take on Conley’s former Grizzlies team Friday night.