The Utah Jazz were able to capture their first victory of the season as they faced off against the Sacramento Kings in the season opener. What did we learn from game number one?
It wasn’t pretty, but hey, that has often been the calling card for the Utah Jazz in the Quin Snyder era. They do the dirty work and they get the job done. That was the case as the Jazz were able to pull out the 123-117 victory over the Sacramento Kings on opening night.
Many expected an easy victory for this Jazz team, especially after blowing out the Kings in the final game of the preseason just one week ago. The Kings came out swinging though, jumping ahead to an 18-4 lead midway through the first quarter. Minus Joe Ingles, the starters largely underwhelmed early on in this one. Luckily, the bench came to play on Wednesday night.
Alec Burks, Dante Exum and Jae Crowder played fantastic early on, and they dragged the Jazz back to a 30-34 deficit at the end of the first quarter.
20 of the Jazz's 35 points are bench points. Alec Burks is going to work with 8 points. He's a plus-13.
— Eric Woodyard (@E_Woodyard) October 18, 2018
This should be a theme for the Utah Jazz all season long, as their elite level depth should keep them in games if they happen to fall behind early. Or, and hopefully this will be the case more often than not, help them to pull away when they jump out to a fast start.
Joe Ingles was terrific this whole game, but he exploded during the second quarter, giving the Jazz their first lead of the night on a fantastic sequence – blowing by his man for a layup, and then getting a steal which led to a pull-up three in transition. He scored 17 points in the first half alone, and finished the night with 22 points, just two shy of his career high.
This Sequence: A Love Story https://t.co/FFXhOFMdnZ
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) October 18, 2018
After a strong second quarter, the team took a 68-55 lead into halftime. Once again, though, the Kings came out swinging during the third quarter, and they closed the gap midway through the third. They tied the game 75-75, and only trailed the Jazz 93-87 heading into the fourth quarter.
Are you surprised that we haven’t even mentioned Donovan Mitchell yet? I know I am, but here we are. Mitchell really struggled early on in this game, and didn’t have much of an impact through the first half and even into the third quarter. He kept his head up though and continued to play hard. Finally, during the fourth quarter he had a few sequences of greatness. Whipping out a wicked spin move and layup, and then nailing a three.
Donovan Mitchell just unleashed a spin move that was devastating and beautiful—and it sure looked a lot like Dwyane Wade.
— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) October 18, 2018
While it wasn’t the most efficient night, Mitchell would lead the Jazz in scoring with 24 points. He also chipped in three rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Some of the other stat leaders for the night included Rudy Gobert with 19 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks, Derrick Favors with 18 points and nine rebounds, and both Dante Exum and Alec Burks chipping in 13 points off the bench.
It wasn’t pretty, and the defense should absolutely be a concern right now, but the Jazz closed out the game strong and earned their first W of the season. Heading back home to face the defending World Champion Golden State Warriors, the Jazz will have to iron out some kinks if they are going to show the NBA that they are a force to be reckoned with this year.