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 New Orleans • Tyreke Evans, the Pelicans' point guard by default right now, came out firing Monday night against the Utah Jazz. In the first quarter, the combo guard was involved in every one of his team's first-quarter baskets. Evans' quickness gave Jazz rookie Elijah Millsap trouble, as he scored 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting, and dished out four assists. From there, Evans scored four more points in the second quarter, then two more in the third before being shutout in the fourth. What changed? "I think our bigs were up further in pick-and-roll," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "[Evans] wasn't able to have as much room in the middle of the floor, and I think Elijah picked it up. He was aggressive on the ball, but he was smart. He picked up his third foul and he's learning to play without his hands and just be physical. … I wouldn't want him guarding me." Millsap can be aggressive to a fault at times, picking up unnecessary fouls. The Jazz believe the more unpolished parts of the rookie's game can be refined with time, but Millsap possess a toughness that would be impossible to teach. "He's got a little bit of a pit bull mentality, which hopefully is going to rub off on a few other guys on our team," Snyder said. That's something that has to be honed, particularly on offense. "The thing that I know I'm very conscious of is him not trying to do too much," Snyder said before Millsap made his second start. "I really have a lot of confidence in his spot-up jump shot. But when he's on the floor with Dante, Gordon, Trey, I like him deferring to those guys, quite frankly." Snyder continued, "That's why a lot of guys don't make that jump [from the D-League to the NBA]. They don't recognize how to assimilate into a team. Sometimes we think of deferment as something bad. It's not at all. It's waiting to take advantage of a different time when you can be more successful. You defer your taxes and that's good for everybody, right?" But while Snyder would like to see Millsap pick his spots more on offense, he lauded the guard's intensity on defense. Millsap put that pit bull mentality on display as Monday's game progressed, grinding down Evans by picking him up early in the possession, sometimes deep into the back court. "The first half, I think I gave him too much space and he was able to get into a good rhythm," said Millsap, who missed seven of his eight shots but filled up the box score with seven rebounds, two assists, four steals and two blocks. "The second half, I wanted to pressure up a little bit more and try to wear him down before he got into his offense."  • It was a bad shooting night for Utah's entire backcourt and especially so for Trey Burke. The point guard went a scoreless 0-for-10 on the night and, according to NBA.com, seven of those shots were contested looks.  • Enes Kanter put up his 14th double-double of the year. Of his 11 rebounds, five came on the offensive glass. Afterward, Kanter was in good spirits, taking Deseret News reporter Jody Genessy's digital recording (because it looked so old compared to a newer, fancier recorder in the scrum) and conducting his own interview.   • The Jazz finish up this two-game road trip in Dallas on Wednesday. The Mavericks saw Tyson Chandler, Monta Ellis and Rajon Rondo all leave tonight's game with injuries. Something to watch over the next two days.  — Aaron Falk