SALT LAKE CITY – As expected, the Utah Jazz easily beat the Orlando Magic Saturday at Vivint Arena.
OK, maybe not quite as expected.
Utah led by a whopping 42 in the first half, released an NBA record of 18 3 seconds in the first half and Donovan Mitchell was out of the game by the first timeout of the third quarter.
There are eruptions, then there are eruptions
The Jazz crushed the listless Magic 137-91 for their ninth straight win. Utah also expanded its franchise-best home winning streak to 22.
So how ugly did it get on Saturday?
Let’s just say the most memorable plays were the ones that didn’t end up with points.
Like when Rudy Gobert pumped a 3-pointer at the top of the fretboard, teasing the 6,000-plus fans who made it very clear that they wanted the All-Star center to pick it up.
Or when Joe Ingles floated down a high alley for Mitchell while both were still behind the 3-point line. Mitchell got in but couldn’t control it enough to put it down.
Deja vu struck a few possessions later when Ingles tried to find Mitchell again in a deep alley. This time Mitchell ended up on his back outside the bounds after the errant throw. As he walked back, Mitchell Ingles seemed to be asking, “What was that?” while they laughed at the play.
There was a lot of laughter and laughter about the Jazz on Saturday.
They were leading with 18 after the first quarter (Orlando’s RJ Hampton hit a buzzer at the end of the first – so at least the Magic had that) and with 42 with a few minutes to go in the half.
Utah was 18 of 31 from behind the arc in the first two quarters, setting a new NBA record for 3s in the half – a record that came from just about everyone. Mitchell was 6 of 7 from deep in the first half, Ingles was 4 of 6, Jordan Clarkson was 3 of 6, Georges Niang was 2 of 3 and Bojan Bogdanovic was 2 of 4.
It almost seemed like the much more talented Jazz had one of their best shooting nights of the year against a Magic team playing with just eight players, and had been the subject of multiple post-trade jokes when they ditched their top talent for thinking about their future (our favorites: “The Illusion” and “Earvin”).
Jazz coach Quin Snyder showed some mercy. With the Jazz up 46 by 8:03 over in the third quarter, Snyder pulled most of his starters for the rest of the match – something the Jazz head coach was reluctant to get into, even with big leads.
Mitchell finished with 22 points to lead the Jazz, while Ingles and Bogdnaovic both finished 17.
This story is being updated.