National Basketball Association
Utah 112, Brooklyn 97
When: 9:00 PM ET, Friday, March 3, 2017
Where: Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah
Officials:
#31 Scott Wall, #60 James Williams, #4 Sean Wright
Attendance:
19911
By The Sports Xchange
SALT LAKE CITY – Measuring his most recent game by his own personal standards, George Hill came away feeling dissatisfied with his performance. Hill did not feel like he was doing enough to get involved in the offense.
He embraced a simple goal to foster a bounce-back game: get teammates more involved and turn up his own aggressiveness. Mission accomplished.
Everything Hill did in leading Utah to a 112-97 victory over Brooklyn on Friday night lifted the offense to untouchable heights. He scored a season-high 34 points while making a season-high 10 field goals on 12 attempts.
Hill also went 11 of 12 from the line. He was just the ninth NBA player in the last 50 years with at least 34 points on 12-or-fewer field goal attempts.
It helped the Jazz (38-24) snap a two-game losing streak at the expense of the Nets.
"As a competitor, you always want to play well," Hill said. "Then when you play like some horse poop like I did last game, that's in the back of your head to do a lot better.
"The worst thing to do is to take that into the game and put a lot of pressure on yourself to try to just think offensively. My thing is just to go out there and have fun, play with a smile and let everything take care of the rest."
Utah had plenty to smile about as a team. In addition to Hill's offensive outburst, Derrick Favors added 19 points and 12 rebounds for his second consecutive double-double. All five Jazz starters scored in double figures.
Utah totaled 25 assists on 38 baskets. The ball movement and well-timed passes helped the Jazz never trail from the opening tip. The Jazz starters combined to make 31 of 44 shots from the field (70.5 percent) in both halves.
"The emphasis wasn't so much sharing the ball as much it was having each other's backs and helping each other and trying to figure out ways to do something for your team," Utah coach Quin Snyder said. "That was the net result. I was really happy to see that."
Quincy Acy scored 18 points off the bench and Brook Lopez added 17 to lead Brooklyn.
The Nets (10-50) lost for the 33rd time in their last 36 games.
Brooklyn made runs here and there to threaten Utah in the first half. Then things quickly unraveled after halftime.
"I thought they really overwhelmed us physically," Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. "They're a big, strong team. George Hill was fantastic. They're a very good team and we just didn't have the requisite energy, the requisite juice to be able to compete with them tonight."
Utah scored on its first five possessions of the game and staked a 19-7 lead early in the first quarter. Hill facilitated the hot start. He fed Favors to set up a pair of baskets, scored two baskets of his own and also added four free throws to fire up the Jazz offense.
Brooklyn chipped away at the lead and cut the deficit to 27-22 on back-to-back baskets from Trevor Booker. The Jazz responded with three straight baskets from Alec Burks, Favors and Boris Diaw and built the lead back to a dozen, going up 38-26 by quarter's end.
Favors and Hill combined to hit all eight of their shots from the field in the first quarter. Hill also went 7 of 7 from the free throw line in the first 12 minutes. The duo scored a combined 25 points in that stretch.
As a team, Utah shot 65 percent (13 of 20) from the field in the first quarter.
"Everybody was involved," Favors said. "Everybody was making plays. Guys were making shots. We were playing together as a team. We're going to need (extra) effort the rest of the year, especially going into the playoffs."
Amid the torrid shooting from the Jazz, the Nets stayed within striking distance in the second quarter. Brooklyn cut Utah's lead to four, making it 53-49 after Carris LaVert hit a jumper, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson drove for a layup and Brook Lopez threw down a fast-break dunk on three consecutive possessions.
Hill buried a 3-pointer and Gordon Hayward scored on a running dunk to keep the Nets from getting closer before halftime. Then Utah slammed the door shut in the third quarter.
Back-to-back dunks from Favors and Hayward fueled a 19-3 Jazz run that gave Utah an 82-61 lead with 3:49 remaining in the third quarter. Hayward scored on a reverse layup and Gobert threw down a dunk on the following possession to finish off the run.
"They absolutely had energy from the get-go," Lopez said. "But I think we were smart for a little bit. Again, they did a great job doing what they do defensively and they just executed the heck out of us repeatedly. They worked and worked to get a lot of easy looks."
NOTES: F Joe Johnson (left groin soreness) and G Rodney Hood (right knee soreness) did not play for the Jazz. ... Nets G Joe Harris left midway through the second quarter after showing concussion symptoms and did not return. ... Jazz C Rudy Gobert finished with two blocks and passed Paul Millsap for seventh place on the Jazz blocks list. Gobert now has 521 career blocks. ... Brooklyn C Brook Lopez passed Richard Jefferson for third place in career minutes played for the Nets. Lopez has played 17,522 minutes in nine seasons with the franchise. ... Utah F Gordon Hayward had six assists to pass Adrian Dantley for eighth place in Jazz history. Hayward has 1,703 career assists.
Top Game Performances
Brooklyn |
|
Utah |
Quincy Acy 18 |
Scoring |
George Hill 34 |
Spencer Dinwiddie 3 |
Assists |
George Hill 7 |
Trevor Booker 11 |
Rebounds |
Derrick Favors 12 |
Quincy Acy 6 |
Free Throws Made |
George Hill 11 |
KJ McDaniels 2 |
Steals |
Gordon Hayward 2 |
Brook Lopez 2 |
Blocks |
Rudy Gobert 2 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Brooklyn
|
97 |
40.4 |
7-30 |
18-24 |
12 |
42 |
3 |
6 |
12 |
Utah
|
112 |
51.4 |
12-26 |
24-34 |
25 |
45 |
5 |
7 |
14 |
Upcoming Games
-
Utah will play their next game on the road against Sacramento. The Jazz have a W/L % of .649 after a win and .560 after a loss.
-
Brooklyn will play their next game on the road against Portland. The Nets have a W/L % of .000 after a win and .200 after a loss.