New Orleans • On Monday night, the Jazz’s lead got as high as 17 points, then the Pelicans went on a 22-2 run in the fourth quarter to take control and, eventually, win the game.
In the rematch Wednesday at a half-filled Smoothie King Center, Utah’s lead got up to 18 in the third quarter, only for a stretch of turnovers to derail the momentum, as New Orleans went on a 14-4 run to claw back within four.
Déjà vu all over again? Nope, not this time.
Powered by a dominant offensive effort down low, the Jazz went on a 13-2 blitz of their own spanning the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth quarters to gain just enough breathing room to finally hold on for a 114-104 victory.
“We understood that we had to punch right back. They came out with a big punch; we just had to be able to withstand the run,” said Donovan Mitchell. “It happened to us last game and we kind of faltered. We let them get back into it. And now, it happened two days ago, so it’s fresh on our mind, and we knew what we had to do in order to pick our intensity back up.”
Derick Favors powered much of that key run. After a layup, two free throws, a putback dunk and another layup from the big man, the advantage was back to 15.
Still, it wasn’t over, as the Pelicans rallied once again down the stretch.
With Utah’s lead just seven, the Pelicans’ Julius Randle — who went at Gobert and scored 30 on Monday — challenged the Frenchman in the lane and had his shot swatted away. As Utah made its way downcourt, Joe Ingles took a screen from Gobert, drove the lane, drew the defense, flipped the ball to the center, who was slicing through the paint, and Gobert threw down an exclamation-point dunk on Randle to finally seal the deal.
The Jazz are now 37-27 on the season.
“I’ve been yelling at big fella to dunk on somebody for the past week, and he finally got one,” Mitchell said, his voice growing animated.
And suddenly the excitement was contagious.
“He’s pumping me up a little bit,” Gobert agreed with a smile. “Every time we get to the basket, he wants me to dunk on everyone. That’s good — I’m kind of feeling the extra motivation.
“Sometimes I just gotta stop overthinking and just try to jump over someone or go through someone. … That’s what we needed, just for the momentum, just to show we’re here to win,” he added. “They never give up, they fight — the whole season they’ve been fighting. They’ve got a lot of things going on, but they keep fighting. We’ve got to keep fighting, too.”
Gobert dominated inside, making 10 of 12 shots for 22 points, to go along with 13 rebounds and four blocks. Favors, meanwhile, cut to the hoop time and again for one easy shot after another, and wound up making 9 of 11 from the field for 25 points. Utah, as a whole, got 70 points in the paint.
Favors was typically low-key about his effort: “Just try to get easy shots. Our guards did a great job of finding us in positions to score. And me and Rudy did a great job finishing.”
Mitchell, however, was again a bit more demonstrative.
“Fav is just … he’s the Hulk. That’s his new nickname. He doesn’t fear anybody down there,” he said.
Of course, Mitchell himself contributed plenty in the victory, hitting 10 of 18 shots and totaling 22 points and seven rebounds (though he did commit eight turnovers). Ingles had a near-triple-double with 10 points, 10 assists, and eight boards. Ricky Rubio also contributed 10 dimes, as the Jazz finished with 31 overall.
Despite all the gaudy stats, though, coach Quin Snyder said the big difference between Monday’s result and Wednesday’s was improved efficiency in more unheralded areas, especially on defense.
“Our guards defending the ball, we did a better job on the defensive glass, we did a better job in transition. We played better,” he said. “… We’re capable of [playing great defense] when we stay focused. We’ve got to play every possession with our hearts and our minds.”
Gobert, meanwhile, said it was even more simple than that: Monday’s loss wasn’t just fuel for a revenge game Wednesday — it was a much-needed reminder that, favored or not, allegedly inferior opponent or not, the Jazz can’t afford to take anyone or anything lightly.
“After getting slapped in the face last game,” he said, “it was a wake-up call for us that no game is gonna be easy.”
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