This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Las Vegas • The first summer league win for the Utah Jazz came because of ball movement.
It came because the Jazz played their best defensive game of the summer. It came because they didn't turn the ball over. And it came because rookie forward Joel Bolomboy had his best game in two weeks.
Mixed in with each other, Utah came away with a 79-72 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night, breaking what had been a four game losing streak going back to the Utah Jazz summer league.
In defeating the Pelicans, who featured star rookie Buddy Hield, Utah turned the ball over just seven times. The Jazz placed six players in double-figures and were able to win despite not having Trey Lyles, their best overall summer league player.
"We really moved the ball on offense," Jazz coach Mike Wells said. "Guys got open looks. We were very good defensively in transition. I thought we controlled the pace of the game with our defense."
That the Jazz were able to control Hield in large part was a big key. The shooter out of Oklahoma led all scorers with 21 points, but he shot just 7-20 from the field. He did get hot late in the fourth quarter, hitting three consecutive 3-pointers to cut a sizable Jazz lead to 71-70. But Utah point guard Aaron Craft hit a runner on the next possession for the Jazz, and Utah went on an 8-2 run to end the game.
Tyrone Wallace led Utah with 15 points. Spencer Butterfield scored 11 points. Quincy Ford, Tibor Pleiss and Marcus Paige scored 10 points each.
Utah is off on Monday and will return to action on Tuesday afternoon against the Portland Trail Blazers.
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