The Utah Jazz and the Indiana Pacers faced off for the 2nd time this season, and under much different circumstances than their first meeting, a 134-118 Pacers win in November that dropped the Jazz to a 2-7 record.
Since that time, the Jazz have gone 19-13 and turned their season around from those early stumbles, reaching the Top 10 in the Western Conference and beating some of the best teams in the league along the way as Lauri Markkanen and Collin Sexton came on strong, and the rotation became clear with a few adjustments along the way.
Tonight, Lauri Markkanen got off to a great start, scoring 14 of the Jazz's first 23 points and setting the tone early, as the Jazz raced to a 33-26 lead after one quarter.
In the 2nd quarter, Collin Sexton had 9 points to keep things rolling, and the Jazz had 4 blocked shots in the period. Utah led by 14 at the half, 64-50.
in the 3rd it was the Lauri Markkanen show, as he scored 17 in the quarter to help the Jazz to a 26-point lead and blow the game open.
The final quarter saw a bit of a letup, as Indiana went on a 9-0 run to open and close the lead a bit before the Jazz responded and extended it back to 20 with 2:48 remaining, when the benches were emptied after a Collin Sexton 3 pointer that was the 'nail in the coffin', as Hot Rod Hundley used to say.
A few notes about tonight's game:
Indiana was held to 105 points, one of their lowest outputs in a season they are scoring 126 points a night.
Lauri Markkanen scored 32 points to lead the Jazz, fresh off winning NBA Western Conference Player of the Week, and looked like an All-Star.
Collin Sexton had his first 30-point game as a Jazzman, along with 6 assists, on red-hot shooting from deep (4/5 for 80%). He is also 88% at the rim over his last 6 games, a crazy finishing stat.
The Jazz dominated in the paint, scoring 60 of their 132 points down low tonight. And they shot an amazing 55/40/88 on the night as a team.
Jordan Clarkson scored 17 points and had 2 steals in 27 minutes off the bench, running with Keyonte George who had 19 points and 5 assists on the night.
The Utah Jazz, now 22-20 on the season, move on to Wednesday night's game, at home against the Golden State Warriors (18-22) who have struggled recently, losing 7 of their last 10. However, they just got Draymond Green back tonight and might be a tough opponent as they look to get back in the playoff hunt in the West.