Coming off of Wednesday’s win against Sacramento, the Jazz and Rodney Hood were looking to continue their strong form. Memphis came into town after a dominant victory over New Orleans on Wednesday. Rodney Hood has been playing beyond his years lately. Each game seems to be a new career high. He had 20 on Wednesday and looked good to start the game on Friday night.
Gordon Hayward and Rodney Hood combined for 21 in the first quarter. The Jazz gave up 29 points to the Grizzlies in the first. This has become a common trend lately. The Jazz haven’t been quite as dominant on defense as they were during their stifling stretch right after the All-Star Break. Marc Gasol had a strong performance in the first, scoring 9 points. Memphis shot well, and took care of the ball in the first quarter. The Jazz were able to keep pace by also shooting above 50 percent from the field. Memphis was 3 for 4 from three and the Jazz were 3 for 7. At the end of the first it was 29-23 for the Grizzlies.
Memphis kept shooting well to start the second. At one point they were shooting around 65%. However, The Jazz were able to cool them off as the quarter went along. Utah also kept pace by shooting well themselves. Gordon Hayward was aggressive, and found his way to the line a lot. He had already shot 9 free throws by halftime. He kept adding to his point total and finished the half with 18. Midway through the second quarter Rudy Gobert got hit in the face going up for a rebound. It seemed to ignite him and he finished the half with 8 points after a slow start. The Jazz kept chipping away at the Grizzlies’ lead. Utah jumped ahead towards the end of the quarter, and held on to go to halftime tied at 49. The second quarter was played at a much more comfortable pace for the Jazz. They held the Grizzlies to just 20 points.
The Jazz got off to a good start in the third quarter. Gordon Hayward picked up where he left off and hit a three right out of the gate. The Jazz controlled the pace of much of the third, but Memphis got hot once again and managed to take the lead. Memphis led through much of the second after that. Rodney Hood continued his strong play by knocking down a couple of open jumpers. Things got intense after Randolph got a technical for arguing a call under the basket. On the next possession Rudy scooped up a missed shot and finished a layup right over Randolph. However, shortly after that Trevor Booker was called for a technical foul of his own after arguing an offensive foul. They were able to turn it around after a rough stretch during the middle of the quarter. They finished off on a good run and cut it to one after a Rodney Hood jumper at the top of the key. The score was 73-72 after three.
The Jazz built an early lead going into the fourth. With around 8 minutes left in the game they were up 9. Bryce Cotton hit a huge three and the Jazz were very active on defense. Memphis started to close the gap after that, and brought it to three with 6:40 left. At that point it was 79-82 for the Jazz. Memphis kept it close, but the Jazz responded with some huge plays from Hayward and Gobert. Rudy elevated and threw down a dunk worthy of a salute with just under five minutes left that put the Jazz up 86-82. However, Beno Udrih scored in transition off a Jazz miss and then Courtney Lee capitalized on a Jazz turnover to tie the game with three minutes left at 86 all. On the next Memphis possession Rudy Gobert fouled Marc Gasol who finished the basket and hit the free throw to put Memphis up 89-86 with 2:35 left. Things kept getting worse for the Jazz, as Dante Exum was called for an offensive foul on the next trip down the floor. The Jazz caught a break and got possession on a reversed out of bounds call with just under two minutes to play. However, they weren’t able to score and Memphis got two offensive rebounds on their next possession and took the clock well under a minute. A Rodney Hood layup rolled out and Memphis regained possession once again. The Jazz got the stop and brought it down the court with one last chance. Favors missed a jumper, Hayward missed the put back, Gobert missed the put back of the put back, but got the rebound and a jump ball was called with 2.9 seconds left to go, the Jazz trailing 86-89 with one last chance. Rudy got the tip and it was hit out of bounds with 1.2 seconds left. Coach Snyder called a timeout and it all came down to one last play. Gordon Hayward got the ball in the corner and put up the prayer. As time expired the official called a foul. The refs went back to the monitor to confirm that there was still time on the clock when the foul was called. After the review it was confirmed that Hayward would get 3 free throws with .1 second left. Hayward hit the first. He knocked down the second. But he missed the third and the Jazz lost 89-88.
Postgame Audio:
Quin Snyder – http://espn700sports.com/?p=63893
Bryce Cotton – http://espn700sports.com/?p=63911
Derrick Favors – http://espn700sports.com/?p=63914
Rudy Gobert – http://espn700sports.com/?p=63917
