The Utah Jazz started slow but put the game away with their defense by the end of the second quarter. The first quarter was sloppy both ways. The Jazz had far too many turnovers and Josh Smith was chucking all the shots just like when he was in the NBA.

With Hood, Mitchell, and Neto out resting, the Jazz started with Thabo Sefolosha in place of Hood. He was solid in his minutes, but the chemistry among the starters was a bit rough throughout the game.

Dante Exum missed some easy buckets at the rim, but he was getting there at ease, led the team in assists and had no turnovers. In the second half, he helped himself out by actually getting to the rim and shoving it through. Dante and Jonas Jerebko were probably the two best players for the Jazz today.

It was garbage time in the third quarter and the Jazz deep bench were playing.

Game Notes

Rubio was disappointing again. While he had five nice dimes in limited minutes, he was 0-4 from the field and had six turnovers.

Rudy was feeling a bit scrappy and managed to acquire his first technical of the preseason for hip tossing Samardo Samuels to the floor. When he got mad, he stepped up his defense and three nice blocks followed that really highlighted how high he can get up.

Next Up

Next game is against the Phoenix Suns at the Aunt Viv on Friday and then again @ Phoenix on Monday. The Jazz get to test themselves against some actual NBA players and we get to see how the offense and defense look against slightly better competition.