Donovan Mitchell scored 21 points, Mike Conley and Jordan Clarkson each added 20 and the revived Utah Jazz rebounded from recent disappointing performances at home to rout the New Orleans Pelicans 127-105 Saturday in Salt Lake City.
Mitchell, Conley, Clarkson, Rudy Gay and Joe Ingles each drained at least three 3-pointers as the Jazz shot 57.1 percent (20-for-35) from long range and 56.2 percent overall to avenge Friday’s heartbreaking last-second 98-97 loss to New Orleans.
Mitchell, who has been struggling to find his groove lately, played like his usual self in the first half when Utah built a commanding lead, scoring 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting with seven assists and five rebounds.
Utah took a double-digit lead in the first quarter and built that into a 122-83 cushion with four minutes remaining.
Jaxson Hayes led five Pelicans in double figures with 15 points. The Pelicans missed 27 of 35 3-pointers and shot 43 percent overall.
Devonte’ Graham, the hero of Friday’s game, started Saturday’s contest with a jumper to put the Pelicans on the board first a night after sinking a game-winning 3-pointer.
New Orleans was still within one point several minutes later after Josh Hart’s layup trimmed the Utah lead to 11-10.
Bojan Bogdanovic then hit a pair of free throws followed by a Gay triple, and the Jazz were off and running.
Utah used a 10-2 run and a 12-2 surge to build a 17-point lead before taking a 37-23 advantage into the second quarter.
Mitchell sparked a 12-0 spurt by scoring seven straight as Utah built a 62-33 lead with 5:13 left in the half.
The Jazz only scored two points the rest of the quarter – on a 10-footer by Mitchell – and the Pelicans cut the home team’s lead to 64-56 with a 12-2 run heading into the locker room.
–Field Level Media