Utah Jazz: Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell rip the Nets in Brooklyn

After the ugliest half of basketball you’ll ever see, Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell and the Utah Jazz took control of their bout with the Brooklyn Nets.

If you’re all about the space, pace and scoring of today’s NBA, Wednesday’s game between the Utah Jazz and the Brooklyn Nets was not for you. The two teams took the sport back 40 years with a first-half that concluded with Utah leading 43-42 and the teams combining for 20 turnovers and a field goal percentage under 40.

At that point, you probably couldn’t be blamed if you decided to skip the second half and hit the net for talk of the Jazz’s big trade to re-acquire Kyle Korver, a deal completed just before tip-off.

For those that hung with the game, though, the Jazz came through in a big, bad way thanks in large part to the efforts of Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell. The two combined to score 52 points in a 101-90 win for the Jazz.

Making his return to the court after a two-game absence, and playing in front of family and friends at Barclays Center, Mitchell dropped a game-high 29 points, hitting half of his 24 shot attempts. He also added five boards and four steals.

14 of his points came during a decisive fourth quarter during which the Jazz outscored the Nets 31-13. For his part, Mitchell was plus-15 in the period.

I would have liked to have seen Mitchell have a better day from deep — he was 2-of-8 on the night — but, on the whole, it was one of his more efficient nights this season and a performance he can build off of.

As good as Mitchell was, though, Gobert was my MVP for the night. He notched 23 points of his own and added 16 rebounds, four blocked shots, three assists and a steal. After getting worked by Myles Turner and the rest of the Indiana Pacers frontcourt, Gobert reaffirmed his dominance against Jarrett Allen of Brooklyn.

Gobert also keyed one of Utah’s best defensive efforts of the season. Overall, the Jazz were plus-17 in his minutes.

The Jazz had other heroes in the game as well, particularly Royce O’Neale and Raul Neto.

Mere hours after I gave O’Neale a C- grade for his season to date, he exploded for his best outing of the 2018-19 campaign. He scored 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting off the bench, including a perfect 3-of-3 from behind the arc.

For a player who entered the game shooting just 25 percent from long-range, it was a performance that was much-needed.

Meanwhile, Neto continued to ball out in limited minutes. He put up 11 points, three boards and two assists in just 15 minutes on the floor. There’s a (growing) case to made that he should usurp Dante Exum as the team’s back-up point guard.

With the win, the Jazz improved to 10-12 on the year. Next up for the team will be a 5 PM MT bout with Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Hornets on Friday.