Field Level Media
Mar 4, 2020
Bojan Bogdanovic and Donovan Mitchell had 23 points apiece Wednesday night for the visiting Utah Jazz, who never trailed in a 112-104 win over the New York Knicks.
Rudy Gobert finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds for the Jazz, who won their third straight to move within a half-game of the idle Houston Rockets in the race for the fourth seed and home court advantage in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.
Mike Conley finished with 17 points, and Mitchell added eight assists for Utah.
Julius Randle scored 32 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for the Knicks, who had their two-game winning streak snapped.
Elfrid Payton flirted with a triple-double by scoring a season-high 20 points and adding nine assists and seven rebounds. Bobby Portis scored 21 points off the bench, while RJ Barrett chipped in 14 points.
The Jazz wasted little time taking control. Mitchell had seven points and Bogdanovic added six points during a 21-7 run that ended with a pair of free throws by Jordan Clarkson to extend Utah's lead to 33-16 in the first quarter.
The Knicks responded with a 13-2 run spanning the first and second quarters and pulled within 35-29 on Portis' 3-pointer to open the second. Conley followed with a layup for the Jazz, whose lead remained between eight and 15 points before heading into halftime with a 64-54 lead.
The Knicks mounted another run to open the third period, when Payton opened and closed a 9-2 spurt that pulled New York within 66-63. The teams traded points on the next six possessions before Conley's floating jumper gave the Jazz a 74-69 lead and began a quarter-ending 21-9 run in which he scored a team-high five points.
The Jazz were never seriously threatened in the fourth quarter. Mitchell's 3-pointer with 7:04 left gave Utah its first 20-point lead, and a jumper by Joe Ingles extended the lead to 106-85 with six minutes left.
The Knicks cut the final margin to single digits when Payton converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 29.2 seconds left and Barrett drained a jumper just before the buzzer.
--Field Level Media