The Utah Jazz lost to the New York Knicks on Friday night, 117-115. Up next, the Jazz will host the Clippers on Saturday, Jan. 20.
By: Brittni Meservy
Back at Vivint Smart Home Arena on Friday night after a midweek road game, the Utah Jazz dropped its matchup against the New York Knicks, 117-115.
The Jazz were forced to play catch up for all of the first quarter except for the final 33 seconds when they took the lead. Kristaps Porzingis had the first bucket of the night and the first two buckets for New York. Down 22-15, the Jazz had several buckets fall — one by Joe Johnson, two by Raul Neto and one by Rodney Hood. A 3-pointer from Hood, 25 feet out, found its way through the net to give Utah its first lead of the night, 24-22.
The game went back-and-forth in the second quarter until Rudy Gobert had a layup and another bucket to give Utah some space, 38-32. For the rest of the quarter, the Jazz remained on top. A dunk by Derrick Favors gave Utah a double-digit advantage, and it forced the Knicks to call a timeout with 3:30 to play.
At the half, the score was 55-49 in favor of the Jazz.
New York came out of the break and put up a fight. The game came down to the fourth quarter where the Jazz trailed 115-112 with 23 seconds on the clock. Utah had three opportunities to tie the game with a 3-pointer. Donovan Mitchell, Johnson and Joe Ingles all took a shot from downtown, but failed to get the ball in the hoop.
Mitchell was called for a foul that sent Tim Hardaway Jr. to the line. Although Mitchell went on to drill one from deep in the final second of the game, Hardaway Jr. had already made both free throws to secure the New York victory.
Utah will next be in action on Saturday, Jan. 20 when it hosts the Clippers at 7 p.m.
