NBA: The Jazz get outpaced by Indy on their own floor in a surprising loss
Salt Lake City, Utah - The Indiana Pacers rolled into town to face the Utah Jazz and raced away with a big road win over one of the NBA’s best teams this season.
The Pacers beat the Jazz 111-100 on Thursday night to improve their record to 5-8, while the Jazz, who suffered their first home loss of the year, still sit comfortably out West with an 8-4 record.
Utah got out in front early with a decent lead, up until the Pacers finally got a rhythm going to grab their first lead of the game in the closing minutes of the first quarter.
The second quarter was close and had plenty of lead changes, but a late run by the Pacers had them running into halftime with a 60-51 lead.
They never looked back after that as the Jazz tried to keep up but couldn’t even tie the score as time would eventually run out.
The Jazz did dominate the paint with a 58-48 advantage, but what kept the Pacers in the game was their domination of the boards, grabbing 53 total rebounds to Utah’s 37.
The player spotlight
Indy’s point guard, Malcolm Brogdon (28) led the way again for his team on Thursday night.
He’s been leading the Pacers in scoring and assists, playing in only eight of his team’s 13 games so far this season.
Brogdon was in the zone against the Jazz, posting his best point total of the season yet and following up his impressive performance in Wednesday's loss, when he scored 25 points.
He finished Thursday's game shooting 10-for-23, a game-high 30 points, nine points, and four assists.
The big picture
Even though they lost at home for the first time, the Jazz don’t have much to worry about for now.
Their schedule through the rest of the month only has four out of nine remaining games against teams who currently have winning records, and even those winning teams aren’t as far above .500 as the Jazz are.
Having said that, a record that reads 1-3 over the past four matches doesn't look great, especially since it's important to stay ahead of the pack as the league heads into the holiday season.
On Saturday, the Pacers are back at home to play the Sixers while the Jazz stay at home to take on the Heat.
Cover photo: imago/ZUMA Press