The Utah Jazz stayed unbeaten throughout the preseason by knocking off the Sacramento Kings 132-93 Thursday night in Sacramento. The starters built and absurd 39-10 lead by the end of the first quarter, built that lead to to 71-35 at the half, and the Jazz coasted to an easy victory over a once again hapless Kings team.
Rudy Gobert dominated defensively, allowing the Kings to shoot just 4 of 27 in the first quarter, and catching a series of lobs from just about everyone on the Jazz roster. The Jazz ability to play Gobert, surrounded by four wings that can rebound, push the ball up the floor, and pass will open up transition opportunities for easy baskets that have been missing for an offense that has favored execution over pace under Quin Snyder.
Grayson Allen, though he didn’t appear in the first half, once again played an impressive half of basketball, finishing the game with 14 points on 5-9 shooting, and 2-4 from three. Allen finished the preseason shooting 13-23, or 56%. While that number is unsustainable, its extremely promising after shooting just 37% in his final season at Duke.
Alec Burks continued to shoot well, finishing with 17 points in 17 minutes on 6-10 shooting. Allen and Burks have played well alongside one another in the preseason.
The Jazz will again travel to Sacramento on Wednesday for their season opener.
