Mitchell Scores 30 Through 3Qs In Front Of Hometown Crowd
Mar 20, 2019, 8:18 PM | Updated: 8:39 pm
(Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
(Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. – Donovan Mitchell scored 30 points through three quarters in front of friends and family against his hometown New York Knicks. He led all scorers in an offensive clinic over the NBA’s worst team.
He shot 12-for-20 from the field and 5-for-9 from downtown in 28 minutes.
The Jazz scored 74 points in the first half, reaching the 70-point mark in the first half for the second time this season. The last time was in their home opener against the Golden State Warriors.
It all started in the opening quarter as the team hit 65 percent on 15-for-23 shooting from the field.
In the second quarter, Utah made 13 of their 21 attempts from the field for 61 percent.
When the third quarter came around, the Jazz went 10-for-16 from the field, shooting 62 percent.
Gobert, Rubio, Favors Didn’t Miss
Rudy Gobert played 25 minutes and scored 18 points and pulled down 9 rebounds. He went 7-for-7 from the field and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.
All seven field goal attempts were dunks, he had two in the first quarter, three in the second quarter and two in the third quarter, Gobert did not play in the final period.
Rubio played 20 minutes and only shot the ball twice, going one for two. He finished with 12 points and 9 assists. Rubio scored all but two of his points at the free throw line, going a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe.
Derrick Favors had 10 points and 5 rebounds in 26 minutes of play, hitting a perfect 4-for-4 from the field.
🇪🇸➡️🇫🇷🔁💥 pic.twitter.com/LJGpfpH5Ic
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) March 21, 2019
Utah Jumps To Early Lead
The Jazz had a balanced attack early in the game as every starter scored two points with the exception of Joe Ingles with three points, giving Utah an early 11-3 lead.
Mario Hezonja brought the Knicks back into the game, scoring 5 of their next 8 points.
Mitchell dropped 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the first quarter as the Jazz took a 39-25 lead.
Utah’s lead inflated to 74-47 at the half and they didn’t look like they were going to let off the gas pedal.
They reached 100 points midway through the third quarter.
Big W in the Big 🍎#TeamIsEverything | #TakeNote pic.twitter.com/3Sk2Zo7jOj
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) March 21, 2019
Dunk Tracker
Rudy Gobert is on track to beat Dwight Howard’s record for the most dunks in a single season with 269 in the 2007-08 season.
Gobert entered the night with the highest mark in the league with 253 dunks and added 7 more slams to put his total at 260.
Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo entered Wednesday night in second-place with 250 dunks this season. He did not play in the Bucks game against the Cavaliers due to right ankle soreness.
Up Next
Utah improved to 42-29 on the season and have won five straight games. They will face the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night at 5:30 p.m. on AT&T SportsNet.
The Hawks are 24-48 on the season and have lost three straight games. Utah won the previous meeting in Salt Lake City on February 1 with a 128-112 victory.
