The Pelicans swallow up the Utah Jazz in the Big Easy

As the Utah Jazz (22-22) continued their 6-game road trip on Tuesday night, they faced off with a fellow Western Conference playoff-contending team, the New Orleans Pelicans (25-18).

And the Jazz came out and played well early as Collin Sexton and Lauri Markkanen combined for 11 of the Jazz's first 14 points. before the Pelicans started hitting 3-pointers to open a 10-point lead with just over 3 minutes left in the first quarter. The Jazz would rally to trail just 34-30 as the quarter expired.

In the 2nd, the Pelicans would take to shooting 3-pointers, making 7 in all, as they opened up a lead that grew as big as 21 points and was 18 at halftime.

In the 3rd Quarter, Simone Fontecchio came out shooting and had 9 points in the first 4 minutes to help the Jazz cut the lead down to 13. They would cut it as low as 8 before things changed.

New Orleans responded and took control back during an 18-4 run where Lauri Markkanen got hacked a few times, but no whistles. Will Hardy got a tech for arguing the no-calls and continued to jaw with the refs as the momentum swung away from the Jazz.

Entering the 4th, the Jazz trailed 115-91 and the Pelicans simply were outplaying them - on the boards, in transition, and in most facets of the game. The lead for the Pelicans ballooned to 31 early in the 4th, and a rare appearance by Talen Horton-Tucker indicated Will Hardy's frustration had reached the boiling point.

By the 4:49 mark, both teams had emptied the benches. The final score was 153-124.

A few thoughts about the game:

New Orleans played Markkanen physically all night, leading to a 4-15 effort from the field. Lauri has to find ways to respond to the increased attention and raise his game once more.

The Pelicans had 51 rebounds and 41 assists on the night, compared to the Jazz's 38 and 27, respectively.

CJ McCollum led the Pelicans with 33 points, including 9-13 from long distance, a career high for him. Herb Jones continued the Jazz's trend of having a role player go off on them, with 22 points and 4-4 from 3-point range.

The Jazz got outrebounded all night long, and their effort was lacking inside. They need to find that fire that fueled their 6 game winning streak that seems like a long time ago now.

For a blowout loss, the Jazz didn't have a lot of turnovers (8) on the night. But they were outscored 35-16 in fast break points, which punctuated the blowout nature of the game.

The Jazz shot just under 47% from the field, and just above 33% from 3, both respectable marks. However, they allowed the Pelicans to shoot 57% and 50%, respectively.

The Jazz continue on the road against the Washington Wizards (7-35) on Thursday night with a good chance to end their now 3-game losing streak.