Pelicans Stun Cocky Jazz 115 – 112

Story of the Game

The Utah Jazz swaggered into tonight’s game after impressive wins at Denver and against the league leading Bucks, commanded the game for 44 minutes, only to watch the gutsy New Orleans Pelicans sock them with one of their worst losses of the season.

On paper, this shouldn’t have been a contest. Where the Jazz entered eyeing a climb up the playoff ladder, the lottery-bound Pelicans continue to deal with the Anthony Davis travesty, playing a top five NBA player some twenty odd minutes a night in a doomed attempt to pretend some normalcy exists in the franchise after Davis’s grotesquely public trade demand. 

For pretty much the entire game, it didn’t look like a legitimate contest. Utah jumped out to a 12 to two advantage and kept control of the game for quarter after quarter. The Pelicans played with gumption and guts, particularly Jrue Holiday, who single-handledly kept his team in the game with 18 first-half points. (He ended the night with a game-high 30.)

But every time the Pelicans narrowed the lead, the Jazz fought them off, building back a double digit advantage. They did so comfortably. Too comfortably, it turned out.

New Orleans closed the deficit to a single point in the third quarter after a blistering 10 of 12 spurt of shooting that coincided with eight straight missed shots by the Jazz. Utah then calmly made its first six shots to open the fourth quarter, building the lead back to a seemingly insurmountable 14 with just over eight minutes to play. Anthony Davis was subbed out after his standard token twenty two minutes, and Holiday even joined him on the bench down the stretch in a bald play for ping pong odds. 

Yet Utah’s comfort obscured that this was the Pelican’s style of game, offensive and up-tempo, with the Jazz’s vaunted defense exerting little influence. New Orleans would end the night shooting 49 percent from the field and 45 from three while coughing up only eight turnovers. The Jazz’s seeming ease was the product of their own offense humming — until it stopped.

A 22 to two Pelicans run stormed them back from what looked like a certain loss to give them their first lead with 4:07 left in the game. They ballooned the lead to six with 3:06 left. In front of a shocked crowd, Utah finally showed some urgency. Gobert blocked shots on back to back plays, leading to two layups and a free throw by Donovan Mitchell, which combined with physical tip in by Gobert earned the Jazz back a one-point advantage.

It looked like Utah would escape their careless end to a gimmie game when Holiday, inserted back into the game in the closing minutes, missed a shot and Joe Ingles grabbed the rebound. Only Elfrid Payton grabbed away the rebound and laid in the ball for what proved to the game-deciding shot. 

When Mitchell missed a contested midrange jumper, reality struck the Jazz: they had lost a game they had no excuse losing.  

Stars of the Game

Superstar: Kyle Korver (20 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 5 threes) and Jae Crowder (20 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 4 threes)

Korver and Crowder combined for 40 points on 15 of 27 shooting including nine threes on 18 attempts. The Jazz have been bulletproof when they get anything resembling that type of firepower off the bench, particularly from long range, which only reinforces just what a travesty this loss is.

Secondary Star: Derrick Favors (16 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 4 of 4 free throws, +9)

Favors quietly contributed another strong game, shooting 60 percent from the field, scoring 16 on only 10 shots, and blocking a pair of attempts. He went on a personal seven-point run to start the fourth quarter, and it looked like that burst had put the game away for good. 

Secret Star: Royce O’Neale (4 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, +6)

O’Neale was solid, contributing across the board, though he did miss both his three point attempts. His plus-six plus-minus was the second best for Utah on the night. 

Stats of the Game

28 percent — Combined shooting percentage by Mitchell, Ingles, and Ricky Rubio.

Plus-20 — The plus-minus of Julius Randle, a standout game high.

10 — Jazz turnovers in the fourth quarter.

62 percent — Field goal percentage by the Pelicans in the second half, including 57 percent from three.

Sundries

• While Utah’s victories over Denver and Milwaukee were exciting, the Jazz are in position to rise as high as third in the West because they’ve feasted on teams they should beat. Drunk on their own recent play, they forgot that importance of not playing down to competition. Tonight’s loss essentially erases the benefit of one of those unexpected wins against top teams. To give up that advantage down the playoff stretch, against an over-matched team, because of lack of intensity is inexcusable.
• I’ve long been a Randle believer, ever since he slid to the Lakers in the 2014 draft. Even so, the Jazz should be embarrassed that they gave up 28 points and five assists to him. He offers very little offensive punch outside five feet or so of the rim. With the best rim protecting rotation of bigs in the NBA in Gobert and Favors, no team in the league should be a worse match up for Randle than Utah. That they couldn’t handle him tonight is purely the result of lack of focus and energy. He outworked them.  
• Jrue Holiday is so underrated. An all-league defensive point guard in a 6’5″ body who gets you 20-plus points while running a controlled offense? Jazz fans freaked out when the Jazz couldn’t pull off a trade for Mike Conley at the deadline. Conley’s a good player but wouldn’t be a genuine difference maker for the Jazz. Holiday, on the other hand, is the type of player who would be exactly that. Given the current drama in New Orleans, there’s good reason for them to consider moving Holiday, and team that might land him would get a great, great piece.
• The Jazz had 35 assists tonight, tied for second most on the season. This makes them 11 and four in games where they dish out at least 30 assists. All three other losses are to the Thunder, interestingly. These are games where Utah’s defense is failing them, plain and simple, against determined and gutsy teams. When the Jazz share the ball that well, they should win. Every time. They have the defensive capability where that should be the expectation.
• While it may not be completely fair — Utah’s ball handlers shot 28 percent after all — I’m a little disappointed in Gobert right now. He’s Utah’s heart, their competitive conscience. Yet after an 11 point, 12 rebound first half where it looked like he may approach a 25/25 game, his second-half presence was largely absent until the very final minutes where Utah finally realized they could lose this game and desperation set in. He was a game worst minus-18 in a second half where Davis played less than nine minutes. Randle scored 20 points in the half against the defending Defensive Player of the Year. Not good enough, Gobert, and I have no doubt he completely agrees with me.

Hopefully the Jazz won’t be quite so impressed with themselves on Friday when they visit the Grizzlies. Embarrassed and pissed off would be completely appropriate though.