The Jazz dominate the ghost of the Trail Blazers

The Portland Trail Blazers are in the middle of a tanking season, and tonight they were in full tank mode. Almost every player that a casual NBA fan might know on their team was either injured or traded a couple of weeks back.

This game went the way it should for a contending team on their home court against a tanking team. The Utah Jazz took an early lead and never looked back. Donovan Mitchell was cooking early, Rudy Gobert and Hassan Whiteside were throwing down dunks, and the lead blossomed to 30 in the first half.

The third quarter is when the lead got really out of hand. Bojan Bogdanovic continued his hot shooting, and the Jazz took their largest lead of 51. Quin Snyder’s “blender” offense tore apart the Portland defenders as the Jazz got open three after open three.

Snyder quickly pulled his starters from the game and gave the third team a go for most of the fourth quarter. The Jazz needed a nice easy win, and they got one.

Player of the Game

Bojan Bogdanovic has been on fire lately, and tonight was no different. He led the team with 27 points, which he got on only 14 shot attempts. He was 6-9 from three and rose yet another spot in the franchise all-time three-point leaders. He passed Darrell Griffith for sixth all-time, and he’ll likely pass Bryon Russell for fifth in the next game or two. Since removing his finger splint a few games ago, Bogey has been shooting like a maniac.

The Jazz will head to Texas for their next game against the San Antonio Spurs on March 11th.