Jazz Defense Smothers Pistons in Second Half of 100 – 94 Win

The Western Conference’s reigning Player of the Week, the Utah Jazz’s Donovan Mitchell, high fives fans after Utah’s 100 – 94 victory over the Detroit Pistons, capping off a perfect 4 and 0 home stand. (Rick Bowmer/AP Photo).

Story of the Game

The Utah Jazz’s 100 – 94 victory over the Detroit Pistons was a reminder that the Jazz have no qualms about winning ugly.

The Jazz victory — their second over the Motor City team in the last week — never looked assured in a contest that vacillated between odd and awkward. Utah’s strategy of not allowing Blake Griffon to beat them was thwarted in the first half by 25 points off the Pistons bench.

But in the second half, the Jazz marshaled their trademark defense to hold the visiting team to a paltry 35 second-half points.

Utah’s offense barely did enough to win even with that defensive dominance. Missing five players — including all three point guards on the roster — significantly limited Quin Snyder’s options. Jae Crowder’s frigid streak continued as he missed all six of his shots, exacerbating an already short list of useful bodies.  

The void left space for Jazz rookie Grayson Allen to fill 20 minutes, his most since November, and he rewarded his team with two huge three point shots in the fourth quarter. That was enough support for Utah’s stars, Donovan Mitchell (28 points) and Rudy Gobert (18 points and 25 rebounds) to pull the team over the finish line with a 25 to 14 advantage to close the game.

Stars of the Game

Superstars: Rudy Gobert (18 points, 25 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, +20), Donovan Mitchell (28 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 3 threes, 7 free throws, +20), and Kyle Korver (19 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 5 threes)

Gobert exerted the type of monstrous impact he’s capable of on both sides of the court, requiring only nine shots to earn his 18 points while holding Andre Drummond to 15 points on 17 shots.

Mitchell missed his fourth straight 30-point game by a single bucket and managed only a single assist, but his play was on the same stellar level that earned him conference Player of the Week honors. He produced 28 points on 21 shots on solid shooting accuracy from three (three of seven) and the free throw line (seven of nine). He would have had a higher assist total as well had Utah hit more open three point shots.

While Gobert and Mitchell were stars at full shine, Utah doesn’t win this game without Korver, period. In a shoddy and sloppy game, the league’s fourth leading three point shooter in history bailed the team out a number of times by moving himself open behind the line broken plays so the ball could find him and drilling several bail-out threes. His shooting almost single handedly salvaged the Jazz offense tonight.

Secondary Stars: Joe Ingles (13 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 threes, 5 free throws)

Ingles was only three of 10 on the night, but his passing propped up the Jazz offense through the first half, which kept the Pistons from growing their early lead too large. He also cemented the game by canning a wide open corner three late and then blowing a kiss to a Detroit fan courtside. 

Secret Star: Grayson Allen (8 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block)

Utah needed something from their bench other than Korver, and Allen gave it to them on a night where there really weren’t other options. His willingness to take and make threes in the fourth quarter really depressed the Piston’s defense, which had bet the farm on the rookie missing open jumpers. Plus, Allen had Utah’s block of the year.

Stats of the Game

48 – Points scored by the Pistons before Griffin scored his first point with 5:30 left in the second quarter.

9 – Fourth quarter points by Griffin out of Detroit’s 20. Seven of those nine came on two ridiculous threes, one of which he was fouled on for a four-point play. The Jazz could easily have held Detroit to under 15 in the quarter.

71.4 – Utah’s defensive rating in the second half.

30 – Detroit’s largest leads combined from both games versus the Jazz, 18 the first game and 12 tonight. 

Sundries

• Korver has quickly become incredibly important for this team, which is now 12 and one in games where he hits more than two threes. He got 14 shots tonight, second only to Mitchell on the team. Expect the Jazz to keep feeding him even if many of his shots are tough, because a tough shot by Kyle Korver is still a solid outcome for this offense.
• Royce O’Neale did something that’s pretty hard to manage: he didn’t take a shot in 27 minutes of play. The guy’s shooting numbers this year are dreamy compared to expectations but also highly suspect until his volume normalizes somewhat.
• Utah shot 20 more free throw than Detroit. Griffin and Drummond were clearly angry at that, and the former chewed out the officials vociferously before leaving the court.
• Crowder is REALLY struggling. His last four games — ironically all Jazz victories — he’s fallen short of double figures in scoring in each. Over that stretch, he’s managed only 25 points on seven of 39 shooting (15-percent), including two of 20 (10-percent) from three. Ouch!
• While Derrick Favors continues his steady play, his three point shot recently has looked putrid. He looks lucky to make contact with the rim right now. That combined with Crowder’s struggles has the Jazz as likely the NBA least stretchiest offense at the moment.
• Gobert did this:

The Jazz have won four in a row, six of their last seven, and are nine and two in their last 11 home games. In the last month they have wins over the Spurs, Rockets, Warriors, Blazers (twice), and Lakers, all teams they’ve been fighting to pass by in the Western Conference playoff race.

For now, the LeBron-less Lakers are looking up at the Jazz, who are in the playoffs. While Utah heads on the road to face the Clippers on Wednesday, their four games after that will all be at home, providing a chance to continue their push up the conference standings.