Driven by Georges Niang’s 7-by-7 shot, Utah overcomes his initial mistakes with a 132-110 victory.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Mike Conley (10), Utah Jazz striker, Royce O’Neale (23), and Jordan Clarkson (00), Utah Jazz guard (00), sprayed water on the Utah Jazz striker , Georges Niang (31), during his post-game interview, in the NBA action between Utah Jazz and Charlotte Hornets at Vivint Arena, on Monday, February 22, 2021.
For most of the three quarters of Monday night, Utah Jazz was playing listless basketball – without worrying about the transition from defense, forcing isolation looks, being careless with the ball, consumed by arguing with the referees.
They were losing double digits to Charlotte Hornets with the game reaching the final 12 minutes.
And then they triggered the mother of all switches.
Rudy Gobert closed the painting and defenders of the perimeter locked Hornets snipers. Georges Niang and Joe Ingles and Jordan Clarkson suddenly had all the open looks they could dream of, and they didn’t miss it. And a devastating, incendiary and overwhelming 26-2 run over a 5-minute span turned what looked like a terrible defeat into a ridiculously easy 132-110 victory.
“The way we played throughout the game is this team that we want to be. The No. 1 team in the league wins a game like this, ”said Donovan Mitchell, who got rid of six impressive twists to end with 23 points, eight assists and four rebounds. “I think that is exactly where our head is – it is where we have to continue to be.”
Utah fell 81-70 before it started to change things. They lost 90-85 when the real happened.
It all started, strangely, with a 3-point Mike Conley that didn’t count.
Charlotte somehow sent six players to the court outside of a time limit, and no one noticed until the moment when Conley was still open – playing five against six – for a 3. The shot was dismissed, the officials scored a technical foul and Clarkson committed.
Then he made a layup and Niang added a 3 for a quick 6-0 burst to end the period and put Jazz on top.
They were just getting started.
In the fourth, Clarkson threw a dead end for Gobert for the first basket of his game. So Clarkson hit a 3. Gordon Hayward took a bucket for Charlotte, but then … Niang hit another 3. Clarkson his other. Then Niang hit another one. So Conley hit one. And then Niang hit another one.
It took less than 5 minutes. In that stretch, the Hornets hit 1 in 6 (thanks, in part, to Gobert’s consecutive blocks) and made two turns. And so, Jazz went up 111-92.
“They were very, very comfortable throughout the game. We know we didn’t have a lot of physicality, a lot of disruptions in the first half, and they were feeling good. And when we started to get into them a little bit, we physically protected the basket, it was a different game ”, said the Frenchman, who finished with 10 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks. “Most of the time, we will be able to score, but if we don’t play defense, we won’t go anywhere.”
Niang also gave credit to Gobert and his defensive efforts for triggering the turnaround. But considering that the Iowa state product obliterated his shot drop with a 7 to 7 effort beyond the arc, no one would let him get away with that kind of diversion.
“You can be frustrated if you don’t see the ball go into the basket, especially someone like Georges, who is just as good a shooter as he is. I just liked the fact that he didn’t hesitate and keep shooting, ”said coach Quin Snyder. “And this is how you break, you keep shooting. … His shot is something that, when he’s like this, is very important to us. He’s a weapon. “
Niang, of course, was completely Zen and absolutely underestimated about his breakup: “When you make plays, life is great, there are no problems in the world.”
Meanwhile, with Ingles making 7 of 10 deep for 21 points, and Clarkson hitting 5 of 10 beyond the arc for 20 points, the Utah bank set an NBA record with 19 3s (as part of a new team record 28 in general).
“It is an incredible achievement. Nineteen 3s are a lot of points, ”added Niang. “I was not a math graduate, but that’s a lot of points.”
And with that, they could afford to momentarily ignore the 23 turns that led to 25 Hornets points. They could temporarily forget that their defense against pick-and-roll was a sieve for almost three quarters. They could take a minute to soak Niang with water bottles in a post-game celebration and have fun with 25-6 in the season.
Snyder will ensure that the reckoning will come.
But in the meantime … yes, there are many points.