Utah Jazz hammer Portland Trail Blazers for second time in four days
Wednesday 26 December 2018 07:23, UK
Dennis Mitchell scored 19 points to lead seven players in double figures as the Utah Jazz breezed to a 117-96 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Rudy Gobert collected 18 points, 14 rebounds and seven blocked shots for the Jazz, who blew out the Trail Blazers for the second time in four days. Utah walloped Portland 120-90 at Moda Center on December 21.
Joe Ingles and Dante Exum scored 15 points apiece, Ricky Rubio chipped in 14, Jae Crowder 12 and Kyle Korver 10 for the Jazz, who shot 55.4 per cent from the field, including 13 of 29 from three-point range.
Damian Lillard scored 20 points for the Blazers, who shot 39.3 per cent from the field. Lillard scored only four points after intermission, however.
Portland's next-highest scorer was Evan Turner, who came off the bench for 12 points.
Mitchell scored 14 points to give Utah a 59-47 half-time advantage. Gobert contributed eight points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. Lillard had 16 points for the Blazers.
The Jazz made only 8 of 18 free throws in the first half.
Ricky Rubio scored five straight points to give the Jazz a 68-51 lead early in the third quarter. Utah carried an 83-70 edge into the fourth quarter.
The Jazz increased the lead to 88-70 early in the final period. The Blazers quickly cut the difference to 90-81 after back-to-back three-pointers by Seth Curry.
Utah then went on a 16-5 run to stoke the lead back to 106-85 with 4:38 to go. Portland got no closer than 15 points the rest of the way.
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