Four-Point Play: Utah Jazz Outlast Indiana Pacers In OT

The Utah Jazz withstood Paul George’s career night with the help of Derrick Favors and strong inside play to defeat the Indiana Pacers 122-119 in OT.

Following a difficult loss to the Orlando Magic last Thursday, the Utah Jazz were staring a potential losing streak in the eye when the Indiana Pacers visited Vivint Smart Home Arena on Saturday. With Rudy Gobert out indefinitely and the team struggling, a Jazz win looked to be a tall order against Paul George and company.

Enter Derrick Favors.

The big man had career-high 35 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and made key plays down the stretch to secure the win and bring the Jazz back to .500 once again. Gordon Hayward added 22 points, five rebounds and five assists and Trey Burke chipped in with 19 points and seven assists.

Indiana was paced by Paul George’s career night (48 points), as well as a season high 23-point performance from Rodney Stuckey. The Pacers also shot 42 percent from three-point land, but missed critical free throws during last two minutes to let Jazz back in the game.

Here’s the Four-Point Play for the Jazz OT win over the Pacers.

1) Derrick Favors is growing before our eyes. Before this year, it was rare to see him carry the team on his shoulders. He would have the occasional big games, but mostly scored in bunches and often in the early quarters. He was rarely the go-to man.

However, since late last season, he has been the team’s rock and improved in late-game situations. Jazz coach Quin Snyder is now more than happy to get the ball to him in the fourth, and Favors repaid that faith in a major way in wins against Atlanta, Toronto and now Indiana. Against the Pacers, he carried the Jazz in the fourth quarter and OT.

It was a performance one would expect from a team’s star player–something that Favors is quickly becoming.

But don’t take my word for it–

2) Recent struggles aside, Trey Burke has been a revelation this season. He’s gotten a lot of flak from both Jazz fans and writers over the years. However, I feel like he has turned a corner this season. He has always been a consummate professional and a team player and he is letting his game do the talking this season.

Through 18 games, he is averaging 10 points, 2.6 assists and 2.2 rebounds per game, while shooting an incredible 41.5 percent from three-point land. He has also been the best pick-n-roll partner for Favors, with his pocket passes (although he is second this year with 19.3 percent of passes going to Favors coming from him – Neto is first with 21.8 percent of feeds to Favors).

However, Burke’s primary responsibility this year is to be an assassin off the bench–something he got back to against Indiana.

He deserves some props for his work so far this season.

3) Trevor Booker was tremendous the entire game. He came in with a lot of energy and made several key plays that didn’t show up on the stat sheet. He was the Trevor Booker the Jazz expected this season and it was the kind of effort that energized the rest of the team.

Unfortunately, those kinds of performances have been few and far between this season. Hopefully, we get to see more of this from Booker.

4) Paul George was unconscious and infectious. His bold approach in the third quarter seemed to spark the Pacers; they were able to erase a 17-point lead before the Jazz could understand what was happening. He bludgeoned any and all defenders that the Jazz threw on him.

Hayward–and, to an extent, Millsap–did their best to make life difficult for him. However, the Jazz were switching on most possessions and George was able to get those two defenders off of him whenever he wanted.

Despite the problems it caused the Jazz, it’s always good to see someone find success after a seemingly devastating injury.

Next: Can the Utah Jazz Survive Without Rudy Gobert?

That’s the Four-Point Play for Jazz-Pacers. Next up for the Jazz is a trip to Sacramento to take on DeMarcus Cousins and Kings on Tuesday. Keep an eye on the Cousins-Favors match-up. Cousins has mostly outplayed Favors in the past; their battle could dictate the game’s final result.