The Utah Jazz corral the Toronto Raptors in a blowout win

On Friday, the Utah Jazz began a back-to-back homestand against the Toronto Raptors, after a successful stretch where the Jazz defeated the Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Denver Nuggets. How would they fare when the competition came back down to earth?

Early on, the game was close and defensive, and neither team had a decided advantage as the Jazz led by 3 after a lackluster first quarter where both teams shot 39% from the field.

In the second, things would change as the Jazz came alive offensively, with Jordan Clarkson scoring 10 points in the quarter, and Lauri Markkanen adding 7 of his own, as the Jazz outscored the Raptors 36-22 to open a 17-point lead at the half.

In the 3rd, the Raptors would finally step up and try to make a game of it, scoring 38 points and hitting 8 three-pointers. However, the Jazz scored 41 points of their own to keep the lead intact.

In the 4th, Keyonte George and Walker Kessler kept things from getting out of hand, combining for 11 points. By the 5:33 mark, the benches had cleared with the Jazz leading by 20, and the reserves extended the lead as high as 35, allowing Jazz fans to breathe easy. The final score was Utah 145, Toronto 113.

A few notes about the game:

Brice Sensabaugh got his first NBA points with just under 2 minutes left in the game on a driving layup. And just a short while later he hit his first NBA 3-pointer.

The Jazz had 6 players in double figures, moving to 12-0 on the season when they have 6 or more players reach that stat. Also, every Jazz player who saw the court scored 4 points or more.

Also, the Jazz had 3 players with 20 points or more - Markkanen (22), Clarkson (21), Sexton (20) and only Clarkson cleared 30 minutes on the night.

Rebounding - The Jazz owned the boards, 56-31 over the Raptors as 6 Jazz players had 5 rebounds or more, led by Kelly Olynyk's 10 on the night.

Utah played good defense inside the 3-point line (18-47 2pt shooting for the Raptors), but allowed Toronto far too many open 3-pointers, as the Raptors went 17-34 from distance on the night (50%).

The Jazz move to 20-20 on the year, finally reaching the break-even mark and taking the 10th spot in the West, with a chance to strengthen that tomorrow against the Los Angeles Lakers (19-20). It should be a great matchup and a chance to extend Utah's season-long winning streak to five games.