The Utah Jazz rebounded from one of their worst losses of the season with a shootout win over the Dallas Mavericks.
This was the game fans wanted to see from the Utah Jazz. If for no other reason than to erase the memory of that ugly loss to the Atlanta Hawks. After struggling offensively and making mistakes down the stretch in that game, the Jazz notched shooting splits of 53-41-94 and made the plays they needed to as they secured a 119-112 win over the Dallas Mavericks.
The Jazz clearly learned from their mistakes and were able to get back to the way they like to play ball.
The presence of Derrick Favors, who missed Utah’s previous game (knee), had a major impact on the contest. After the Jazz gave up 41 points to the Hawks’ Dennis Schröder, with the brunt of those points coming in the paint, Favors helped prevent lightning from striking twice.
His defense gets overlooked occasionally because of Rudy Gobert‘s huge defensive impact on the game, but against the Mavs it was apparent how much better the Jazz D plays when both Gobert and Favors are healthy and on the court together.
On the whole, Favors had a nice all-around game, stringing up a stat line of 19 points, seven rebounds, five assists, one steal and one block. The Jazz outscored Dallas by 12 when he was on the floor, which was second only to Joe Ingles‘ big plus-20.
The Jazz were also able to get back into their shooting groove, knocking down 12 3-pointers and connecting on 53 percent overall from the field. This was aided in large part by Jinglin’ Joe, Tricky Ricky, and Spida Mitchell all shooting the ball above 50 percent overall.
In fact, all five starters for the Jazz scored in double-digits and shot over 50 percent from the field.
Play of the game
Will someone please check and see if this guy is human? 🕷️#KiaROY https://t.co/h06SRS3Cjp
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) March 23, 2018
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Stat of the game
32 total assists. It seems there is a common occurrence when the Jazz share the ball well — they win.
Player of the game
This was tough because there were so many great performances, but I have to give it to Ingles. He had a near triple-double tonight, putting up 18 points, 10 assists and six boards, while making 10 of his 15 shots. His plus/minus number speaks volumes about his impact on the game.
Up next
The Jazz will head to San Antonio for a back-to-back showdown against the Spurs, who are right there with them in the playoff hunt. It should be a fun one to watch; a veritable must-win for both teams.