The Jazz enter like a starved in this meeting against a passive Sacramento team defensively. As a result, the Jazz quickly took a 9-point lead (15-6). The Kings are not there at all, and do not fit absolutely anything. Opposite, the Jazz chained the baskets, and flew to the score by taking a 22-point lead (38-16). Utah leads 40-19 at the end of the 1st quarter!
The Kings wake up in the second quarter. More vigilant defensively, and much more incisive offensively, they are gradually catching up on their enormous delay. Opposite, the Jazz is slightly more feverish without sinking. At halftime, Utah still retains a good mattress with a 16-point lead (68-52).
Back from the locker room, Sacramento continues its recovery by starting the 3rd quarter with a 12-5. An ideal start that allows Domantas Sabonis’ teammates to come back below the 10-point gap (73-64). On a sublime “step-back” to 3-points, De’Aaron Fox allows his team to return to 2 points from Jazz (76-74). The Kings win the quarter 43-27. At the start of the 4th quarter, the two teams are tied (95-95).
On a basket concluded with the fault, Chimezie Metu offers for the first time of the match the advantage to Sacramento (100-98). The last 12 minutes are very close, and the two teams surrender blow for blow. On a 3-point shot, Ochai Agbaji, on fire in this match, restored the advantage to the Jazz three minutes from the end (116-115). Thanks to an excellent defense by Walker Kessler in the “money time”, the Jazz won 128-120.
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– Jazz’s fiery first quarter. Deprived of Lauri Markkanen, Jordan Clarkson or even Collin Sexton, this Jazz team always manages to find resources to overcome adversity. And it was not the arrival of Sacramento, 2nd in the West at the start of the meeting that impressed Kelly Olynyk and his family. From the 1st quarter, a tornado fell on the head of the Kings, the baskets fell everywhere, each Utah player was a threat. A first act largely outclassed by the head and shoulders of Will Hardy’s men on the score of 40-19 against a Kings team that was getting nowhere.
– The big performance of Ochai Agbaji. If there is one player who has stood out on the Jazz side, it is Ochai Agbaji. Author of 27 points, he finished top scorer of his team. The rookie simply had his best game of the season with an 8/14 shooting, and above all a very good 6/10 from 3-pointers.
TOPS/FLOPS
✅ Kelly Olynyk. Close to the triple-double to forget Markkanen, he had a full game with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists.
✅ Kris Dunn. Coming off the bench, he was once again solid with 18 points and 10 assists. This is the revelation of this end of the season.
✅ Udoka Azubuike. In just 18 minutes, he showed great things with 13 points and 8 rebounds at 6/6 shooting.
✅ De’Aaron Fox. He has little to be ashamed of with 37 points and 7 assists at 14/21 shooting including 6/9 from 3-point range.
✅ Keegan Murray. He was very skilful tonight with 22 points at 8/16 shooting.
⛔️ The Kings bench. Only 28 points scored against 50 for the Jazz!
THE FOLLOWING
Jazz (35-36): reception of the Blazers on the night of Wednesday to Thursday (2H).
Kings (43-28): reception of the Celtics in back-to-back (3H).
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
