An Easy Night in the Big Apple

Gobert’s double-double powered the Jazz past New York. (Jesse D. Garrabrant via espn.com)

There is no such thing as a guaranteed win in the NBA, as the Houston Rockets learned in a Monday loss at Madison Square Garden. So when the Jazz arrived at MSG it was refreshing to see that they were not going to fall into the same trap of taking the New York Knicks lightly. The Jazz left the Garden with a 112-104 win that wasn’t as close as the final score indicates and the momentum of a 3-game win streak before they head to a rematch with the Boston Celtics on Friday night.

The Jazz controlled the game from wire-to-wire, taking an early lead in the first quarter and never giving it up. The Jazz did let the Knicks get a few runs in, including when they allowed the home team to close the first half with a 5-0 run in the last 40 seconds, cutting the halftime lead from 15 to 10. The Knicks came out of the locker room ready to play as they continued the run, adding a 9-2 surge to cut the Jazz lead to just three with 10 minutes remaining in the 3rd. After that, the Jazz got down to business and extended the lead to as much as 21 and the outcome of the game was never really in doubt.

Stats of the Game

27.8%. That was the Jazz’s 3-point percentage last night, well below their league-leading 38.5% average for the season. That the Jazz dominated a game when the long-ball wasn’t falling bodes well for this offense.

The Jazz’s 109.5 DRTG, on the other hand, shows that the defense continues to be a concern. The Knicks have the 28th ranked offense in the NBA this season and were still able to score 104 points on the Jazz last night. The good news is that the 109.5 DRTG last night is easily the best DRTG the Jazz have had post All-Star Break. At least the defense is trending in the right direction.

Line of the Game

Rudy Gobert played a great game with 18 points, 14 rebounds, two blocks and an assist. And while I’m not the official stat keeper at Madison Square Garden, I could have sworn I saw more than 2 blocked shots from Rudy.

Bojan Bogdanovic and Donovan Mitchell led the Jazz with 23 points each, and the latter had eight assists. Conley added 17 points, taking just nine shots from the field.

Decisive Moment

The Knicks closed to within three points just minutes into the 2nd half. They hung around until it was 69-72 with 7:30 remaining in the third. The Jazz went on an 11-2 run kickstarted by a Mike Conley floater. It was never close after that.

Highlight of the Game

😜 pic.twitter.com/R1ZdX09PoN

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) March 5, 2020

"Sell the team" chants break out at MSG.
No one is surprised.

— Sarah Todd (@NBASarah) March 5, 2020

Up Next

There used to be another NBA arena called “The Garden” but they tore it down. Now there’s a place called “TD Garden” instead. Anyhow, the Jazz are going from Madison Square Garden to the TD Garden as they will face a rematch with a very good Celtics team on Friday night.