So, it turns out that an Orlando Magic team depleted by trades and further decimated by injuries and a Utah Jazz team enjoying arguably its best shooting game of this season is a historic combination.
Per the Elias Sports Bureau, Utah set an NBA record with 18 made 3-pointers in a half (the first) Saturday night at Vivint Arena
And honestly, the only thing keeping them from breaking the single-game record of 29 mades 3s (set by the Milwaukee Bucks earlier this season) is that the Jazz were decimating the Magic too much to justify keeping the rotation guys in that long.
In previous years, this might have been a game the Jazz did not take seriously, and which could have seen a plucky, scrappy underdog Orlando team hang in far longer than they had any business doing.
Not this year. Not this time.
Jazz 137, Magic 91.
And it could have been much, much worse.
Donovan Mitchell toyed with the Orlando defenders, calmly stepping into one open 3 after another and making 6 of 7 for 22 points in his 17 first-half minutes. Joe Ingles was 4 of 6. Jordan Clarkson 3 of 6. Georges Niang 2 of 3. Bojan Bogdanovic 2 of 4.
All. Before. Halftime.
The only regular long-range sniper who didn’t get in on the fun in the first half was Royce O’Neale, who shockingly went 0 for 4 from deep before the break.
The Jazz led by as many as 42 points and went into the break up 78-40. And the only reason it was that close is because they did the Magic a solid and turned it over a few times and went 1 for 5 beyond the arc in the final few minutes.
There was more obliteration coming out of halftime, too.
O’Neale got in on the long-range party when he drilled one with 8:51 left in the period.
And when Bogdanovic buried another a mere 45 seconds later, it was not only Utah’s fourth 3 of the quarter already, but enabled the Jazz to double the Magic up at 92-46.
Orlando coach Steve Clifford was going to call a timeout, but realized he was down to only two remaining for the rest of the game already.
Then Quin Snyder did him a solid — instructing Mitchell to commit an intentional foul, calling a timeout himself, then subbing out every starter of his but Bogdanovic, while throwing the non-rotation likes of Miye One and Trent Forrest out there.
And so it was that bench stalwart Georges Niang found himself directing traffic for much of the third alongside the likes of Oni, Forrest, Ersan Ilyasova and Matt Thomas.
By the start of the fourth, second-year two-way forward Jarrell Brantley had replaced Niang, as the Jazz led by 35.
Oni got a chance to reiterate that he’s an über-athletic wing with great defensive skills, and potentially a long-term future as a rotation piece — if he can ever get his outside shot going consistently.
Forrest got a chance to show that he can be a competent floor general — if he can ever get his outside shot going — as he finished with eight points and six assists.
And so it was that the Jazz “settled” for “just” 26 made 3s on the evening, after going 3 for 15 in the fourth.
No, they didn’t wind up with the single-game record — not that Snyder will lose any sleep about it. What they did come away with is knowledge: that the starters were laser-focused on the second night of a back-to-back … that the end-of-bench guys have some defensive work to do after allowing Orlando to drop 32 points in the third …
Oh, and that if they want to get to 30 made 3s in a game, it’ll probably have to come against an opponent that can hang with them for a little bit longer.
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/3cO6FKs
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