SALT LAKE CITY -- Strong defense is a definite trademark for the Utah Jazz this season. Against the Atlanta Hawks, they unveiled a whole new level of stinginess.

For four quarters, the Hawks were flummoxed by tenacious on-the-ball defense from Utah. The Jazz blocked shots, stole passes and disrupted rhythm in every other way possible in a 95-68 victory over Atlanta on Friday night.

The Hawks became the eighth opponent that Utah held under 90 points this season. Atlanta scored the fewest total points of those eight teams.

“We want to be a really good defensive team,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “We knew we were playing against the best defensive team in the league. We were focused on being disciplined and that was the main thing.”

Utah got it done on the defensive end in every phase imaginable. The Jazz finished with a 55-40 advantage on the glass and held Atlanta to just 31.3 percent shooting (26-of-83) from the field. Utah also blocked nine shots, had nine steals and forced 14 total turnovers.

In the end, it proved more than enough to help the Jazz (9-8) earn their first home victory over the Hawks since the 2008-09 season.

“They beat us in just a lot of different ways,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Collectively, we’ve got to play better.”

Gordon Hayward scored 24 points and George Hill added 23 to lead Utah. Rudy Gobert added 10 points, 10 rebounds and a season-high five blocked shots, while Trey Lyles chipped in 13 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.

Dennis Schroder scored 16 points to lead Atlanta while Paul Millsap and Thabo Sefolosha chipped in 11 apiece. The Hawks (10-6) lost for the fourth time in five games. This loss stung worse than the previous ones because of its one-sided nature.

“It was an ugly game for us,” Sefolosha said. “I don’t know. Too much turkey.”

Hayward kept Utah going early with his superb first half shooting. He made his first six baskets and shot 85.7 percent from the field (6-of-7) before halftime. It helped the Jazz weather a typically stout defensive effort from the Hawks.

The Jazz jumped out to a 11-4 lead behind a pair of 3-pointers from Hill. Schroder drove for a layup, then promptly stole an inbound pass from Trey Lyles and fed Kyle Korver for a go-ahead 3-pointer to cut the Jazz lead to 15-14.

Atlanta twice took a one-point lead before the end of the quarter. Hayward answered with a dribble drive dunk to close the first quarter and buried a jumper to open the second quarter, putting Utah back in front at 26-23.

The Hawks briefly went back ahead in the second quarter when Taurean Prince buried a 3-pointer to make it 29-28. Utah answered with an 8-0 run, culminating in layups from Shelvin Mack and Boris Diaw off back-to-back Atlanta turnovers, to reclaim a 36-29 lead.

Utah eventually built up a 16-point advantage in the quarter, going up 48-32 behind back-to-back 3-pointers from Hill and Joe Ingles. Atlanta shot just 19.0 percent from the field (4-of-21) in the quarter. The Hawks scored just 11 second-quarter points -- the fewest by any Jazz opponent this season.

Defense also ruled the day for Utah in the third quarter. The Jazz held Atlanta to just 14 points in the quarter -- just two shy of matching yet another season low for a Utah opponent -- to offset their own shooting struggles. Utah shot just 23.8 percent from the field (5-of-21) in the quarter.

“We try to approach every game like that defensively,” Hayward said. “We haven’t been as successful as we were tonight. We knew it was going to be tough to score against them. We were able to get stops, so we did want to make sure they weren’t locking in and going against half-court defense all the time. They’re pretty good when they get to set up like that.”

The Hawks cut the deficit to 57-48 on a jumper from Millsap late in the third quarter. That’s as close as Atlanta could get in its comeback efforts. Lyles and Joe Johnson scored back-to-back baskets to restore a double-digit lead before the quarter’s end.

Utah blew the game wide open with a 23-4 run in the fourth quarter. The Jazz scored on eight of 10 possessions during that stretch, culminating in four straight baskets from Hayward and Hill, and took an 87-56 lead with 5:18 remaining.

“I’m pleased with the way my teammates played,” Gobert said. “I try to push them to focus on defense. When we’re playing good defense, it’s hard to beat us. Tonight, we did our best defensive game of the year.”

NOTES: Atlanta dished out at least 20 assists in 12 games this season. The Hawks ranked third among NBA teams in assists before Friday’s games, averaging 24.6 assists. Utah held them to 11. ... G George Hill led all NBA point guards in field goal percentage (.550) entering Friday’s game. Additionally, C Rudy Gobert leads the league in field goal percentage (.634). ... C Dwight Howard is the active NBA leader with 624 career double-doubles. Howard is fourth in the league this season with 11 total double-doubles. He finished with four points and seven rebounds against Utah. ... G Rodney Hood scored in double figures in 12 straight games before finishing with eight points on Friday -- the longest stretch of his NBA career.