Sacramento, Calif. • When the Utah Jazz defeated the Dallas Mavericks last Saturday night, the win didn’t move the needle. Even after Friday’s victory against the Minnesota Timberwolves, it felt like something was missing.
The Jazz will never turn down a win, especially when in the tight Western Conference playoff race. But they hadn’t played well offensively since the All-Star break. They’ve been turning the ball over too much, missing too many 3-pointers and grinding out wins without much offensive rhythm.
That’s why Saturday night’s 98-91 victory over the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center feels better.
“We looked much more like ourselves tonight,” Jazz shooting guard Donovan Mitchell said. “We’re slowly getting back to where we were before the break.”
Utah played with pace, racing the ball up the floor, even off made baskets by the Kings. They ran their offense with purpose, cutting hard, and driving to the basket with the intention of finishing and making open jumpers. They kept turnovers to a minimum, which of course meant more shots at the basket.
Detractors will bristle at the competition, and they may have a point. The Kings have little interest in winning this season; as the Jazz ran play after play, Sacramento coach Dave Joerger allowed large stretches of action to progress without calling timeouts to stop Utah’s momentum.
The Jazz were playing on the tail end of a back-to-back, which meant fatigued legs. They ran out of gas a little bit toward the end of the game, and they had to stave off a Sacramento run late. Still, they were never in serious danger of losing in looking more like the team that won 11 consecutive games before the All-Star break.
“I thought there were stretches where we were that [team],” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “We had four turnovers in the first half, and I thought that was because we were playing aggressive basketball. We like to see the ball move up the floor quickly after makes. We want to make good decisions and attack. That was the mindset.”
An offense that was much better than it had been, coupled with an unyielding defensive effort, made Utah’s win as comfortable as any victory since before the break.
The Jazz twice led by as many as 18 points, with their biggest deficit being a single point. Trailing 11-10 midway through the first quarter, Utah went on a 10-2 run to take control. Jazz center Rudy Gobert shut the paint down defensively with three blocked shots; offensively, he put up 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds overall.
The Jazz put five players in double-digits by spreading the ball around and looking for the open shot. And whenever Utah needed a bucket, Mitchell was usually there to provide it. He scored a game-high 27 points, including several big shots in the fourth quarter to stave off Sacramento’s mini-runs. Mitchell had five assists and five rebounds in 38 minutes.
The overall formula was enough for the Jazz to win their 14th game in the past 16.
“I thought we did a good job offensively, but we need to be more consistent,” Utah point guard Ricky Rubio said. “We played good for stretches, but when we got a good lead we stopped playing. So, we have to show more consistency.”
With the victory, Utah moves to 33-30 on the season, but remain in the 10th place in the Western Conference. They are two games out of the eighth and final playoff spot, but are also only 3 1/2 games out of the fourth spot and homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
