Jazz Fall Short To Orlando In Mexico City 96-89

MEXICO CITY, Mex. – The Utah Jazz had an up-and-down first half but played well until the fourth quarter. Orlando finished the Jazz in the final quarter with a 96-89 win in Mexico City.

Donovan Mitchell led the Jazz with 24 points on 8-of-21 shooting from the field while Derrick Favors added 21 points and 8 rebounds. Ricky Rubio chipped in 15 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists.

Evan Fournier scored 24 points to lead the Magic to go with 7 rebounds. Terrance Ross dropped 19 points off the bench and Nikola Vucevic was dominate on the boards with 19 rebounds to go with 15 points.

Needed One Quarter To Catch Their Wind

Elevation likely played a factor in the first quarter of the game for the Jazz as Mexico City is 3,050 feet higher in elevation than Salt Lake City.

The first quarter ended with a tie at 14 but the Jazz went through a five minute stretch late in the opening period without scoring a point. Their defense kept them in the game though as they held Orlando to just 14 points.

Utah adjusted in the second quarter when they outscored Orlando 21-14 late in the quarter but Fournier hit a jumper and D.J. Augustin hit a 29-foot three-pointer at the buzzer but the Jazz held a 35-33 lead going into the locker room.

Favors scored 10 points in the opening half on 4-of-7 shooting while Mitchell added 7 points on 3-of-10 shooting. Utah’s defense forced the Magic to commit 15 turnovers in the first 24 minutes of play.

Tightly Contested Second Half

The Jazz jumped out to an 11 point lead early in the third quarter but over time, the Magic crawled back to tie the game at 48 with three minutes left in the quarter.

Orlando had continued the momentum into the fourth quarter as they started the final period with an 18-10 run to lead the Jazz 73-69 with 7:08 left in the game.

The Magic had a slim three point lead, 74-71 with 6:17 left and they inflated the lead to seven with just 1:30 left.

Aaron Gordon hit a corner three-pointer with one minute left to stretch the lead to eight points. Utah couldn’t overcome the big shot and fall to the Magic.

Kyle Korver missed a wide open three-pointer with 24 seconds left in the game that would have put them within just three. But Joe Ingles was fouled on the putback and knocked down both free-throws.

Orlando pulled out the win 96-89.

Final in Mexico City pic.twitter.com/jCWzXIO6Dp

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) December 16, 2018

Next Up

The Jazz fell to 14-16 on the season and will travel north of Mexico City to Houston to face the Rockets on Monday at 6 p.m. Utah is 2-0 against the Rockets this season after they won 100-89 on October 24 in Houston and a dominating 118-91 victory at home on December 6.

Houston is 13-14 this season. The game will begin at 6 p.m. on AT&T SportsNet.