New York • New York isn’t known for hospitality, but the Knicks are trying to change that.
The Jazz waltzed into Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night and came out firing early and often, winning 137-116 in incredibly easy fashion.
The game wasn’t as close as the final score made it look. The Jazz had a lead as large as 37 points, and the Knicks had a lead only once, when the game was at 3-2. After that, the Jazz went on quick scoring spurts that the Knicks couldn’t answer: 9-0, 22-9, 19-7, 14-6, all run off at separate points of the game to make the lead larger and larger.
"We just got punched, and they did not miss a three,” Knicks coach David Fizdale said after the game. “We took a real serious right hook and couldn’t recover.”
Utah scored 74 first-half points, executing against a Knicks team that was very ready to fall bait to the Jazz’s simplest tricks. Three-point shooters were left wide open; when they weren’t, the Jazz simply went inside and scored layups and dunks. Rudy Gobert had seven such dunks in the contest, and he could have had more if he had to play in the game’s final 14 minutes.
One Jazzman who had good reason to feel at home was Donovan Mitchell, who brought 200-300 family and friends from around the New York area to the Garden. Mitchell showed off the entire package for those who know him best, finishing with 30 points in only 20 shots and 28 minutes on the floor. One remarkable dunk came midway through the first, as Mitchell’s hesitation move allowed him to get all the way to the rim and finish with authority over the hapless Knicks interior defense.
“He’s a nightmare to guard. The guy can get anywhere on the floor,” Fizdale said. “He’s so strong, he’s fast, he can shoot the three, he finishes through contact. He’s a big-time player."
Mitchell’s 3-point shot sparkled too — he went 5 of 9 from deep — but so did that of many other Jazzmen. Joe Ingles shot 6 of 9 from beyond the arc, representing all 18 of his points, while the Jazz shot 48 percent overall from there, tying a franchise-high for most deep makes in a game.
Ricky Rubio earned plaudits from head coach Quin Snyder for his contributions to the win. While Rubio shot the ball only twice, he earned 10 trips to the free-throw line thanks to his aggressive drives and intelligent foul-drawing. And his assist to turnover ratio was stellar, dishing nine assists to only one turnover in his 20 minutes on the floor.
Snyder, always the perfectionist, was happy with his team’s offense against the Knicks, but wasn’t as thrilled about allowing 67 points in the second half to the team that has taken over the “worst offense in the league” mantle from the Memphis Grizzlies in recent weeks.
“We can be better defensively," Snyder said. “I think that is what I want us to think about, and to try to get better.”
In his players’ defense, though, at a certain point, the intensity had clearly declined. The Jazz had called up Grayson Allen for this eventuality, and he played the final seven minutes and change, as did Ekpe Udoh and Georges Niang.
And the most important thing, as always, was the final result. That’s especially true on the night when fellow Western Conference foes Houston and San Antonio came away with losses. A 42-29 record, and a move up in the standings were the Jazz’s reward.
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/2Wczk0o
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