A team on a skid, like the Utah Jazz losing 9 straight, needs to take any opportunity they can get against every team. When the defending champion San Antonio Spurs come to town though, not many people would expect the Jazz to capitalize on the Spurs and end their 9 game skid, defeating San Antonio 100-96.
Utah Jazz were led by Derrick Favors who scored 21 points with 8 rebounds and Gordon Hayward helped him lead the Jazz by scoring 20 points with 7 rebounds. Alec Burks contributed 14 points, fighting off injury and Enes Kanter scored 12 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. The Jazz caught a break late when an inbound pass went wild and the Jazz seemingly were going to be called for an 8 second violation but they called a timeout simultaneously as the clock hit the 8 seconds and the refs granted them the time out.
In the third quarter Spurs coach, Greg Poppovich, was upset over a foul called on Aron Baynes and voiced his displeasure to the referees by running on court and getting very animated before the referees told him to hit the showers early. Pop left the game and you would think a team like the Spurs would be motivated by Pop’s departure but instead, they continued to struggle.
Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 23 points and 14 rebounds, Kawhi Leonard had 16 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists and Manu Ginobili had 10 points and 8 assists off the bench. The essential part to the “Spurs Core Four”, Tony Parker, was out with hamstring tightness. Danny Green scored 13 points and Marco Belinelli also scored 13, coming off the bench.
Utah Jazz are 6-16. San Antonio Spurs are 15-6.
Full game highlights.
