Game Summary

The Utah Jazz faced off against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Ex-Jazzman Enes Kanter now calls New York his home as a result of the Carmelo Anthony trade this offseason. And it was a heartbreaker.

Derrick Favors started at the five, and Jonas Jerebko got the nod to guard big man Kristaps Porzingis. Mitchell continued as the starter with Rodney Hood as the scoring sixth man on the bench.

Holy cow, rookie! Mitchell was hitting everything in the First Half. Dunks, threes, everything.

And the ball movement!

The Jazz defense was good and the offense was hitting all the threes. Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the Jazz took a 10 point lead into the half, 60-50.

Rodney Hood went crazy scoring everything in the third, but the defense was sagging and the Knicks dropped 27 to close the gap to five, 82-77.

The Knicks went on an early 4th quarter run and tied it up. The Utah Jazz played tough defense, but in a few key possessions, they could not get control of the rebound or loose ball. The real dagger was Hardaway’s dagger to finish the Jazz off and put New York up 6 with less than 30 seconds remaining.

Once again the Utah Jazz had a strong first half and couldn’t stay consistent in the 2nd half.

Game Notes

The Jazz were led in scoring by Rodney Hood with 30 points on 20 shots. Rodney Hood appears to be flourishing in his role off the bench and continues his strong play when being the Jazz’s sixth man.

Donovan Mitchell had 19 points on 17 shots. The rookie shined in what is basically his old stomping grounds. His mother was even interviewed during the 4th quarter. She said that Donovan will have over a 100 people, friends and family, watching him when the Jazz take on Brooklyn.

Ricky Rubio hit a three, but finished 1 of 4 from distance. Ricky only had 4 assists and still looks to be pressing.

Derrick Favors had a rough night shooting, but led the team in rebounding with 10 and assists with 5. He had some solid defense in stretches against Porzingis.

The Jazz were beaten on the boards again. The Knicks had 45 and the Jazz had only 37. Udoh needs to do more on the boards, and stop just trying for blocks.

Alec Burks had a really nice defensive game with 6 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal, and 2 blocks.

Utah has yet to win a game on the road. They will have another chance when the team faces off against the Brooklyn Nets on Friday.