Donovan Mitchell and the Utah Jazz (40-23) traveled to Paycom Center to take on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder (20-44) in part of the NBA Sunday slate. The Jazz, who rank fourth in the Western Conference standings, took care of business with 116-103 being the final score.
Coming off a terrible 124-90 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, the Jazz looked to bounce back against one of the NBA’s worst teams to avoid getting caught by the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference standings.
Led by Bojan Bogdanovic, the Jazz used a blistering hot shooting night from beyond the arc to create a massive advantage. He shot 11/18 (61.1%) from deep and personally accounted for three more makes from the perimeter than the whole Oklahoma City Thunder team.
As a unit, Utah finished the night 23/52 (44.2%) from three-point range, which resulted in a staggering 48-point advantage from this one area. The Oklahoma City Thunder were nowhere near efficient enough on two-point field goals to overcome this disparity.
LATEST NBA NEWS: Jazz vs Thunder Sunday: Lineups, Injury Reports & Broadcast Info
Donovan Mitchell provided an impressive 24 points and 10 assists to go along with Bogdanovic’s sensational 35-point performance. It didn’t hurt to get 20 points off the bench from Jordan Clarkson either. While he wasn’t needed as a scorer often, Rudy Gobert still chipped in 12 points and 17 rebounds to make his mark on the game, too.
With much of their rotation sidelined, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander accomplished what he has been doing often as of late—make his best effort to carry this Thunder team to be at least competitive amid a rebuild. He finished with 33 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists.
Entering this game, Shai Gilgous-Alexander was averaging 33.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 6.4 assists over his previous five games. With players like Josh Giddey and Luguentz Dort sidelined, there’s just nowhere near enough talent around SGA to put this Thunder team over the top on most nights.
LATEST NBA NEWS: Jazz vs Thunder Sunday: Lineups, Injury Reports & Broadcast Info
For top teams, taking care of games they should win is key. The Jazz was without Mike Conley in this game, but as long as Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert are in the lineup, Utah needs to take care of business and they did just that against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In speaking of the Dallas Mavericks, the Utah Jazz will face them on Monday night in what will be the second night of a back-to-back. The outcome will be potentially critical in impacting the Western Conference playoff race as both teams are fighting for home-court advantage for the first round of the NBA playoffs.
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