Field Level Media
Jan 8, 2021
Donovan Mitchell scored 32 points and Jordan Clarkson added 26 to lead the visiting Utah Jazz to a 131-118 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night.
Bojan Bogdanovic chipped in 20 points while Royce O'Neale added 18 points, eight rebounds, and six assists. Mike Conley finished with a double-double, tallying 17 points and 10 assists. The Jazz snapped a two-game losing streak after making a franchise-record 25 3-pointers.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 35 points and Khris Middleton added 31 to lead Milwaukee. The duo also combined for 18 rebounds and eight assists. It wasn't enough to keep the Bucks from losing at home for the first time this season.
Antetokounmpo scored 16 points during the first quarter alone for the Bucks. His effort wasn't nearly enough to keep Utah at arm's length, once the Jazz offense got cooking.
The Jazz got an early lift from their perimeter shooting. Utah made 11 field goals in the quarter. Nine of those baskets came from 3-point range.
Four 3-pointers formed the entirety of a 12-4 run that helped the Jazz stake out a 23-14 lead midway through the quarter. Clarkson, Conley, O'Neale, and Bogdanovic each scored an outside basket to fuel the spurt.
Milwaukee erased Utah's lead before the first quarter ended and tied it up multiple times in the second quarter.
Still, the Bucks could not regain the lead because the Jazz did not cool down from outside. Clarkson and Mitchell buried back-to-back 3-pointers to kickstart an 18-6 run. Clarkson scored three baskets during the run that gave Utah a 65-53 lead heading into the final minute before halftime.
The Bucks cut Utah's lead to 87-84 late in the third quarter on Jrue Holiday's pull-up 3-pointer. Mitchell and Bogdanovic each answered with a pair of baskets over the next four Jazz possessions to spark a quick 10-2 run and extend Utah's lead to 97-86.
Utah pulled away for good behind a 12-0 run to open the fourth quarter. Mitchell had back-to-back jumpers to fuel the run and Rudy Gobert tipped in a basket to cap it off and give the Jazz a 116-96 lead with 7:18 remaining.
--Field Level Media