Jazz Beat Pelicans In Second Meeting Of Back To Back

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Jazz made sure they wouldn’t be swept at home by the New Orleans Pelicans, winning the second game of their two-night matchup 127-105.

Donovan Mitchell led the Jazz with 21 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists after Friday night’s disappointing outing.

Meanwhile, the Pelicans were led by Jaxson Hayes who had 15 points, all of which came in the fourth quarter after the game had been decided.

First Quarter

After Friday night’s debacle, but team’s seemed to recalibrate their performances to match how they are expected to play.

The Jazz jumped out to a 30-14 lead thanks to strong performances from Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley, while the Pelicans struggled to shoot the ball and had five first quarter turnovers.

Mitchell, who had been particularly bad each of the last three games took a 60 footer after being fouled that found the bottom of the net and seemed to calibrate his shot for the rest of the quarter.

in our hearts, this half-court heave counted 🖤❤️🧡💛#TakeNote | @spidadmitchell pic.twitter.com/Jb53CDZzMK

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 28, 2021

The Jazz also got good outings from the bench as Jordan Clarkson and Rudy Gay combined for 11 first quarter points.

After one, the Jazz led the Pelicans 37-23.

Second Quarter

Gay continued to give the Jazz an excellent boost when he looked for his shot, and he may need to adopt that as his persona going forward.

The veteran is comfortable navigating around screens near the perimeter, and his ability to stretch the floor on above the break threes opens up driving lanes for his teammates.

.@RudyGay from DEEP 🏀💦#TakeNote #NOPvsUTA https://t.co/KcoC0cwtqn

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) November 28, 2021

He’s also a good enough passer to find anyone cutting the basket, and as a result, had nine points, three rebounds, and two assists midway through the second quarter.

At the break, the Jazz led the Pelicans 64-45.

Third Quarter

After a clunky finish to the first half, the Jazz jumped on the Pelicans and rebuilt their lead to nearly 30 points.

Much of the success in the game was predicated on shot making as the Jazz were a red-hot 15-28 from three over the first 36 minutes of the game while the Pelicans were a brutal 1-24.

HIGH. FLYING. SPIDA. ✈️🕷💪#TakeNote #NOPvsUTA https://t.co/EzOBwN2vXr

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) November 28, 2021

That included a perfect 4-4 outing from Gay while the Pelicans had three players who were 0-4 or worse heading into the final period.

As a result, the Jazz led the Pelicans 96-67 through three quarters.

Fourth Quarter

Quin Snyder had the benefit of playing the end of his bench for the majority of the fourth quarter, and to the Jazz’s credit, they didn’t see a major drop off in performance.

The Jazz deep bench protected their 30 point lead for most of the final frame due to scrappier defense than they’d shown earlier in the season.

After Friday’s disappointing outing, the Jazz answered back with a strong performance and defeated the Pelicans ——-

 

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