National Basketball Association
Utah 92, Memphis 87
When: 9:00 PM ET, Saturday, January 2, 2016
Where: Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah
Officials:
#58 Josh Tiven, #52 Scott Twardoski, #4 Sean Wright
Attendance:
18455
By The Sports Xchange
SALT LAKE CITY -Finding the right flow on offense was not a problem for Rodney Hood this time around.
A few days after enduring one of his worst shooting nights of the season, the second-year guard responded with the finest game of his young NBA career. Hood scored a career-high 32 points - including a pair of go-ahead free throws with 29.1 seconds left - to lead the Utah Jazz to a 92-87 overtime victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night.
Hood's biggest points came late in overtime when his free throws with 29.1 seconds left put the Jazz ahead for good. Guard Mike Conley missed a floater and then guard Courtney Lee missed a 3-pointer in the final seconds that would have forced overtime.
Forward Trevor Booker iced the victory for Utah by making 3 of 4 free throws in the final 16 seconds.
Hood shot 50 percent (10-of-20) from both the field and 3-point range (5-of-10). For him, it marked a sweet turnaround from a 1-of-13 shooting performance in a loss at Minnesota on Wednesday.
"It's hard to put behind you (when) you're not used to shooting like that," Hood said. "But games like that happened. All of my teammates were really encouraging. Just to have this type of game means a lot. You trust your work and it just comes out like that."
Forward Gordon Hayward added 14 points and center Jeff Withey earned his second career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds for Utah. The Jazz (15-17) won their third straight game despite giving up 23 points on 17 turnovers.
Center Marc Gasol scored 20 points and Lee added 17 to lead Memphis (18-17). Conley scored 15 for the Grizzlies, who had a two-game winning streak snapped and lost their third straight road game.
Gasol blamed the result on Memphis struggling to figure out its offensive identity.
"It had nothing to do with energy," Gasol said. "It was more us not finding a way or the way we want to play. We still haven't decided how we're going to play. Are we going to be more of a hand-off team or pick-and-roll guys? Are we going to be more inside-out?"
Utah used a 7-0 run, punctuated by a steal and dunk from Hood, to take a 17-14 first quarter lead. Hood scored 10 points in the quarter and he Jazz shot 51 percent. It helped Utah generate a ton of momentum that carried into the second quarter.
The Jazz opened the second quarter with another 7-0 run and took a 35-25 lead when Withey capped the spurt with a hook shot and a pair of free throws.
"We were playing with a lot of flow offensively and moving the ball," Hood said. "The ball just found me and I just stepped up and knocked it down. It just flowed from there on out. They went on runs, but we responded well."
Memphis prevented it from getting out of hand. The Grizzlies chipped away at the lead and used a 12-2 run to charge back in front. Conley capped the run with a 3-pointer that gave Memphis a 45-44 lead 44.9 seconds before halftime.
Memphis kept rolling in the third quarter. After Hayward drilled a 3-pointer to give Utah a 58-57 lead, the Grizzlies answered with a 9-0 run. Gasol completed the run with a jumper, giving Memphis a 66-58 lead with 3:48 left in the quarter.
The Grizzlies' offense went cold to start the fourth quarter. Memphis made a single basket over the opening five minutes, opening the door for the Jazz to sprint back ahead.
"It was one of those nights where we shot ourselves in the foot in different areas of the game," Conley said.
Just like in the first quarter, Hood led the charge.
Hood scored 10 consecutive points for Utah, putting the Jazz ahead 78-74 after making a pair of 3-pointers, a jumper and a pair of free throws over a four-minute stretch. Memphis retook an 80-79 lead on a steal and layup from Lee with 2:34 remaining.
Hood put the Jazz back in front with a jumper and after Lee scored again with 42 seconds left, he hit a free throw to tie it at 84-84 and help force overtime.
"We played with passion," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "You go down the list and I don't think there was one guy who just didn't give every part of himself to the game. It's hard to do that all the time, but we sure did it tonight. I'm glad the result ended up reflecting that."
NOTES: Jazz PF Derrick Favors did not play for a fifth consecutive game because of back spasms. ... Grizzlies SF Matt Barnes did not play for a second straight game while serving an NBA-mandated two-game suspension. ... Grizzlies C Marc Gasol averaged 18.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in his final 16 games of 2015. Gasol shot 48.7 percent from the field and 85.7 percent from the free throw line in those contests. ... Utah has held opponents to a league-low 18.8 assists per game. Teams are scoring 97.3 points per contest against the Jazz -- the fifth fewest among NBA teams.
Top Game Performances
Memphis |
|
Utah |
Marc Gasol 20 |
Scoring |
Rodney Hood 32 |
Mike Conley 4 |
Assists |
Gordon Hayward 4 |
Jeff Green 10 |
Rebounds |
Trevor Booker 11 |
Courtney Lee 5 |
Free Throws Made |
Rodney Hood 7 |
Tony Allen 3 |
Steals |
Trey Burke 1 |
Marc Gasol 2 |
Blocks |
Jeff Withey 4 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Memphis
|
87 |
40.7 |
7-18 |
14-26 |
17 |
40 |
4 |
8 |
13 |
Utah
|
92 |
41.3 |
9-27 |
21-28 |
17 |
48 |
7 |
4 |
17 |
Upcoming Games
-
Utah will play their next game at home against Houston. The Jazz have a W/L % of .400 after a win and .529 after a loss.
-
Memphis will play their next game on the road against Portland. The Grizzlies have a W/L % of .444 after a win and .588 after a loss.