The Utah Jazz began their seven game road trip in style. Coming into San Antonio, the Jazz learned that the Spurs were going to be without two starters, LaMarcus Aldridge and Derrick White. That’s an opportunity that has to be taken advantage of. As a team hoping for good playoff seeding in the West, every game counts. That message was received, and the Jazz ran the Spurs out of their own building.

Utah looked like a well-oiled machine for much of this game. Excepting a few sloppy turnovers, which the team has been having issues with, they really played to the game-plan. That game-plan; defend, push the pace, and shoot threes. The Jazz ended up shooting a blistering 21-41 from beyond the arc. Anytime Utah shoots like that, they’ll have a hard time losing. The ball was zipping around the court on offense. Utah tallied 29 assists, led by Donovan Mitchell’s nine. That was a big factor in the hot three point shooting. When the ball moves, guys get open shots.

From the first few possessions, it was clear that Donovan Mitchell was feeling more comfortable. He was hitting threes and dropping dimes all night. That was a welcome sight for Jazz fans, as Mitchell had previously been having a rough start to the season. Rudy Gobert was his usual dominant self. Although Rudy only scored 7 points, and had a rare off night from the field, he still grabbed 16 boards, blocked 6 shots, and altered countless others.

Royce O’Neale had a really solid floor game tonight, finishing with 11 points (on four shots), 11 rebounds, and five assists. Mike Conley continued his solid play with 15 points, four assists, and three three-pointers. Jordan Clarkson did what he does, getting buckets with ease. He scored 18 points, to go along with three assists and two steals.

Game MVP

A lot of different players showed up tonight. But the guy who deserves this honor most, is Bojan Bogdanovic. After struggling significantly with his shot early in this season, he showed up tonight with a new brace on his surgically repaired wrist. Whether that had an effect on him or not, he looked good tonight. Bojan poured in six three-pointers on his way to 28 points on only 13 shots. This was one of the games that Jazz fans grew accustomed to Bojan having on the regular. The kind of game in which he could toss up any shot and it felt like it swish. Bogey was feeling it tonight, and that brings a different element to the Jazz’ offense.

Utah took care of business tonight, and they did it as a team. Hopefully, that’s a feat they can replicate as they continue on this road trip.