Utah Jazz at Detroit Pistons: Jazz remain perfect…. in overtime

The Utah Jazz needed an impressive fourth-quarter rally and strong overtime to overcome the Detroit Pistons and Andre Drummond’s historic performance by a final score of 98-95.

The Utah Jazz did all they could to put Monday’s embarrassing 14-point loss to the Atlanta Hawks behind them last night. Despite missing Rodney Hood for the third consecutive game with a leg contusion, the Jazz relied heavily on tough half court defense and opportunistic scoring to outlast the Detroit Pistons in overtime.

Detroit dominated the paint and outscored the Jazz by a total of 58-38 down low. Despite the lopsided totals in paint scoring, Rudy Gobert, Derrick Favors and Ricky Rubio made just enough plays to keep Utah within striking distance all night.

Here are a few of my instant reactions from last night’s game that featured 12 ties and 18 lead changes in regulation…

Drummond’s statement game?

Last night’s matchup in Detroit gave old-school basketball fans a matchup that is becoming increasingly rare across the league, a head-to-head battle of two of the league’s premier big men.

Gobert vs. Drummond did not disappoint.

The duo combined for 10 total blocked shots with Derrick Favors adding three of his own.

While Gobert posted an impressive 15 points, eight rebounds and four blocks, he was bested by Drummond’s HUGE night.

Unfortunate timing may have more to do with Gobert being outplayed than anything else. This year’s All-Star lineups were released earlier this week and they did NOT feature the Detroit big man. After finding out he was not selected, Drummond tweeted this…

Drummond put the fans and the rest of the NBA world on notice last night and was largely the reason that Detroit hung with the Jazz. One thing is for sure, Drummond played like an All-Star, but fortunately for the Jazz it still wasn’t enough.

Advantage Jazz in the third

Much has been said about Utah’s third-quarter struggles this year. The same can not be said of the Jazz last night. Utah entered the second half trailing 43-49 after shooting just 38 percent from the floor in the first half.

The Jazz were able to hold the Pistons to 30 percent shooting in the third period, outscoring them 22-15 en route to taking a 65-64 lead into the game’s final 12 minutes, putting them in a great spot to seal the deal in the fourth… or so we thought.

Despite Drummond’s monster night, the Gobert-Favors combo down low helped keep Utah in the game. Favors played as hard of defense as I have seen him play in weeks.

Shooting just 4-of-11 from the field, it would have been easy for Favors to get complacent on the defensive end, however, his rebounding and second half defense on both Drummond and Boban Marjanovic helped propel Utah to their sixth road win of the season.

Late game heroics

This chart just about says it all…

The Pistons used a 14-3 run to take an 88-79 lead over the Jazz with three minutes remaining. What happened next should help dispel (for now) any “#TankNote” rumors that may have started to circulate again as of late.

Utah quickly countered with an 8-0 run of their own to close the gap to one with just under a minute remaining.

Utah had the ball with 25 seconds left, however, a seemingly game-ending turnover by Ricky Rubio gave Drummond free throws with 11 ticks left on the clock.

Drummond missed 1-of-2 which left Utah with a two-point deficit and 11 seconds left. After a failed spin move attempt by Donovan Mitchell was blocked by Drummond, Utah had the ball under the hoop with one last chance to win or send the game to OT.

Rubio, who just minutes earlier left the game with a cut on his eye, thew a perfect pass to a cutting Joe Ingles for the tying bucket. A missed Luke Kennard three meant overtime.

Back to back threes from Joe Ingles to begin the extra period helped propel the Jazz to a 98-95 victory and improved them to 2-0 on the season in overtime games.

Donovan Mitchell struggled shooting the ball last night, finishing 6-of-21 from the field. Mitchell did, however, show impressive court vision, setting his teammates up for wide open looks on a number of occasions. Mitchell finished the night with 15 points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals.

After Monday’s disheartening loss in Atlanta, this was a much-needed win for the Jazz.

What’s next?

The 20-28 Jazz are set to finish up their three-game road trip on Friday against Kyle Lowry and the 32-14 Toronto Raptors.

Utah’s 6-19 road record may not stack up well against a team that has won 17 of 20 home games, however, the Jazz have been known to win games they have no business of winning this year.

Despite their recent struggles to string together impressive wins, look for a rejuvenated Jazz team to come out loose on Friday night and give the Raptors a game.

Next: Report: Utah Jazz showing interest in Knicks’ Hernangomez

Utah can use all the confidence it can get before the matchup next Tuesday against the defending world champs at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Bring it on. #TakeNote

Follow me on Twitter @TylerDThorpe for more Utah Jazz insights and analysis.