Jazz Get Routine Victory over Charlotte… Hrnets?

It wasn’t a brilliant performance by the Jazz, but it was enough for a 111-102 win on Monday Night. It helped that Charlotte played their 3rd game in 4 nights, but it appeared, tonight, that the Hrnets left their “O” in California.

(Kent Smith via Hornets.com)

The Hornets were unofficially eliminated from playoff contention this weekend when they lost to both the Lakers and the Warriors, so instead of a desperate team trying to make the playoffs, the Jazz faced a team that looked short on hope. Charlotte was 1 of 16 from 3 point land at halftime and 1 of 21 after 3 quarters. That pretty much sums up the night. Kemba Walker put up a Devin Bookeresque 47 points, while impending free agent Jeremy Lamb put up an efficient 23. Fortunately the game was aesthetically pleasing with the Jazz in their classic purple uniforms and the Hornets in their white outfits with the classic turquoise pinstripes. It was hard not to reminisce about the 90’s Hornets teams that featured Muggsy Bogues, Larry Johnson, Kendall Gill and Alonzo Mourning.

The Jazz didn’t light the world on fire with their play, but are simply a better team than the Hornets with a much clearer goal in mind at the close of this season. Even without key players, Derrick Favors and Kyle Korver, the outcome of this game was never in doubt. Rudy Gobert’s numbers (18 pts, 18 rbds on 8 of 10 shooting) were fairly routine on paper, but he put so much pressure on the rim, and therefore the Hornets, on both sides of the floor all game. Charlotte was helpless to stop him. Donovan Mitchell added a ho-hum 25 points on 22 possessions.

Gobert and Mitchell led the charge on both ends (especially Gobert).

KEY STATS OF THE NIGHT

Charlotte finished 7 of 30 from distance tonight and that just won’t win anybody many games.

Charlotte finished with a 100.4 offensive rating, but most of that was in meaningless garbage minutes. The Hornets had an offensive rating of 84.5 after 3 quarters.

Jae Crowder put up a bagel (0 points on 0 for 6 shooting) in Favors’ absence, but Thabo Sefolosha had 14 points while making 4 of 5 three pointers.

The Jazz had only 2 midrange points, while the other 109 points came from threes, free throws and points at the rim.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE

The Hornets gave Jazz fans a peek into what the Jazz would be like without Rudy Gobert on the team. In fact the Hornets are a case study on what happens when a team is on the wrong side of several small, bad decisions. They drafted Malik Monk instead of Donovan Mitchell. They turned down a treasure chest of picks in 2015, in order to draft Frank Kaminsky. They are paying Nic Batum and Bismack Biyombo a combined $41 million this year. If the Hornet’s 2 best players leave in free agency this summer, they could quickly become the worst team in the league that they were in 2012.

For the Jazz, they continued to beat inferior opponents and although wins like this don’t predict how the Jazz will perform in the playoffs, they are part of the 82 games that will determine their seeding and opponent in the playoffs, no matter what any national media guy tells you on social media.

Sorry Matt.

NEXT GAME

Jazz @ Suns, Wed 8PM MST