Charlotte, N.C. • As bad as the Jazz’s defense was in the first half Saturday afternoon, it was that good after the break.
And that, combined with a post-halftime 3-point blitz, proved enough to rally Utah to a 114-107 victory over the Hornets at the Spectrum Center.
Rudy Gobert racked up 17 points and 19 rebounds, but more importantly, proved an absolute wrecking ball on the defensive end, disrupting star guard Devonte’ Graham and Charlotte’s isolation-based offense in the final period with his perimeter switching and interior contesting.
After shooting 57.8% and scoring 64 points in the opening half, the Hornets managed just 43 points on 32.5% shooting thereafter.
“I thought in the beginning of the game we were executing well, and we were actually defending pretty well, we just had some breakdowns on each possession — going under on really good shooters, and then we started making mistakes on offense, and it snowballed,” said coach Quin Snyder. “In the second half, we were really good defensively and we added focus, and that started everything.”
Meanwhile, the Jazz made the Hornets pay for it by ramping up their own offensive efficiency.
Utah shot 52% from the field for the game, made 19 of 20 free throws, and — most importantly — drilled 17 of 34 from 3-point range.
Snyder said he felt the team was overpassing early, and he and the staff made it a point to show some video clips at halftime illustrating players open in the corners that could be better utilized thereafter.
Safe to say, they took heed.
Bojan Bogdanovic made 4 of 9 from deep en route to a team-high 26 points. Joe Ingles was 4 of 8 beyond the arc in contributing 14 points and 17 assists. And while Donovan Mitchell had 20 points, his bigger contribution came in moving the ball to open shooters, to the tune of nine assists.
Gobert, who had a double-double in the game’s first nine minutes, said that once the Hornets adjusted their scheme to limit his looks at the rim, his teammates took advantage.
“We did a great job moving the ball,” he said. “They really, really took away my rolls in the second half; every time I rolled to the basket, there was like two or three guys there. So we moved the ball and then knocked down a ton of 3s. The guys did a great job making shots.”
Snyder added his familiar refrain that sometimes passing up a good look to make an extra pass isn’t the right play.
“We have an unselfish team, we just have to be aware of what the defense is doing and where the rotations are and how to find people,” he said. “When we have that awareness, we’re a team that’s willing to move the ball. And that’s what happened — the ball started moving, and guys got open looks.”
Still, the biggest improvement came on the other end. Charlotte had but four turnovers in the entire first half. They had five alone in the third period — a 12-minute stretch that also saw them hit just 6 of 20 shots.
“A lot of it was taking them out of their stuff, defensively,” Mitchell said. “Royce [O’Neale] was guarding his ass off the whole game. … Shout-out to Royce and Rudy — those two were really locked in from the start.”
As a result, Utah won its fifth consecutive game, and improved to 18-11 on the season.
Still, the Jazz aren’t coming away feeling too full of themselves. They recognize there’s plenty yet to improve upon, especially given the number of rallies they’ve had to pull off against sub-.500 teams of late.
“Our energy — we didn’t start the game in the right way,” said Bogdanovic. “When they punched us in the mouth, we responded. … That’s the way we have to play from the jump.”
Mitchell was even more blunt.
“This win feels good, obviously, but as much as it feels good, we gotta be able to lock in from the start. We can’t let teams that — no disrespect, but teams that we should beat, stick around,” Mitchell said. “That’s when they get confident. Shout-out to all those guys, they played confident, they played freer — but we let them do what they want to do.”
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