SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah Jazz used some timely 3-point shooting and got a strong effort in the paint as they took the home an important 96-87 early-season win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night.

Joe Ingles sparked the Jazz with 19 points while making five 3-point shots. It was his third straight game where he had made a big impact from beyond the arc.

"I got a couple good looks early and just wanted to stay aggressive," said Ingles, who attributed his hot start to feeling comfortable with his teammates and in the system the Jazz are running. "Obviously I'm shooting the ball every day in practice and feel like I'm in a pretty good groove. Just trying to take good looks and it's working."

As key as his shooting was, it was the play on the defensive side of the ball that was the catalyst for the Jazz in the Northwest Division win.

"We talked about trying to have energy tonight, in the second night of a back-to-back," said Jazz coach Quin Snyder. "I was happy with how we came out and played defensively. Obviously, we had a really good night. The score reflected that."

While they made some big plays, Snyder knows that the defense doesn't always matter against team's like the Thunder.

"We were fortunate that they had some shots that didn't fall," Snyder explained. "I thought when we didn't give them second shots our defense was pretty solid.

"That's who we are. That's who we want to be. We want to be a defensive-minded club and we try to have our play reflect that every night. It gives us a chance to stay in games if we play good defense."

That's exactly what the Jazz did as they held a cold-shooting Thunder team to 34 points during the first half while making just 2 of 14 shots from beyond the arc.

But it didn't start out that way for the Thunder, who got off to a quick start before things went south.

"I thought we got off to a really good start offensively and then from there we had a hard time," said Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan. "I thought we had some fairly decent looks. We didn't shoot the ball particularly well. Give them credit, but I also thought that we had some shots that we are certainly more than capable of making and finishing and we didn't."

Thunder forward Paul George acknowledged the rough shooting night.

"It was just missed shots," said George. "I thought we got a lot of great looks. I thought we could have done a better job getting ourselves in a better rhythm, but I thought offensively we were fine."

Just two games into an 82-game schedule, he knows there will be some hiccups along the way, but it will only help his new team.

"We're great," said George. "This is good for us. This will build a lot within this locker room. Good thing about it is we got another game tomorrow. We'll go out and we'll execute. We will pick up the pieces and clean some things up and we'll be ready for tomorrow."

George finished the night with 22 points, five rebounds and five steals while Carmelo Anthony added a game-high 26 points as the Thunder dropped to 1-1. Reigning MVP Russell Westbrook finished with six points, 13 rebounds and nine assists.

For the Jazz, four other players scored in double figures, including Rudy Gobert who totaled 16 points and 13 rebounds. Ricky Rubio also had a strong floor game with 16 points, six rebounds and five assists as the Jazz improved to 2-1 on the season.

The Thunder are back on the floor on Sunday as they return home to play the Minnesota Timberwolves while the Jazz have two days off before facing the Clippers in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

NOTES: The Thunder scored just 34 points in the first half, besting their season low of 35 points in 2016-17. ... Thunder G Russell Westbrook had a big first half on the backboards with 10 rebounds. No other Oklahoma City player had more than three. ... Jazz SF Joe Ingles made five of his nine attempts from 3-point range, pushing his season numbers to 12-for-18 from distance. ... After 58 double-doubles a season ago, Jazz C Rudy Gobert finished with his third in as many games.