The Utah Jazz’s road trip ended with a whimper as the team fell flat against the Indiana Pacers sans Victor Oladipo.
Well, it wasn’t as bad as that game in Dallas. That’s about the best thing fans can say about the Utah Jazz’s performance on Monday against the Indiana Pacers.
In the finale of a five-game road trip, the Jazz band came out flat against a Pacers squad that was playing without its All-Star in Victor Oladipo. Despite coming into the game with the momentum of a big win in Boston on their side, they were dominated in every sense of the word as Indy cruised to a 121-94 win.
Defensively, the fire just wasn’t there for the Jazz, who stood idly by as the Pacers knocked down 53 percent of their shots, including 12-of-25 from distance, and committed just nine turnovers.
On the flip side, the Pacers also scored 33 points off of 19 Jazz turnovers and crushed the them in the paint, 54-36. Their ball movement was a sight to see as well; a season-high 35 of Indy’s 49 field goals were assisted.
Essentially, they did what they wanted, when they wanted.
Although the Pacers boast an impressive young frontcourt with Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner, it’s not a duo that should beat up on Utah’s twin towers of Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors. But that’s exactly what the two did.
Sabonis scored 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting in the game, and added nine boards, nine assists and two steals. Turner, meanwhile, put up a 12-6-4 line and blocked three shots.
Top honors went to Bojan Bogdanovic, who was part of our key match-up for the game. He followed up a 22-point effort against the Atlanta Hawks with a team-high 21 against the Jazz.
Where silver linings are concerned, the Jazz got a monster game from Ricky Rubio, a solid effort from Jae Crowder and, after being out of commission since the beginning of training camp, Raul Neto finally made his season debut.
Rubio scored a game-high 28 points on 10-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-6 from 3-point range. Somehow, the Jazz were plus-one when he was on the floor in a game they lost by 27 points.
It was a great positive step for a player who was shooting 35 percent from the floor and 29 percent from three entering the contest. If the Jazz hope to reach their goals this season, Rubio needs to get back to making things happen on the hardwood on a consistent basis. He’s now scored 20-plus points in back-to-back games.
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Crowder put up 14-5-4, adding two blocks and hitting four 3-pointers. He had been under 28 percent from the field over his previous five contests, so it was a nice bounce-back game for him.
As for Neto, he’s been stymied by a hamstring issue, and is coming off a campaign during which he missed 41 games with more injuries than I can even list here. He’s been a positive impact player throughout his career and his return should eventually serve to aid in Utah’s efforts.
With the loss, the Jazz have dropped to 8-9 on the season. They’ll have the chance to right the ship on Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings.