Bojan Bogdanovic continued his hot streak, scoring 27 points with six 3-pointers, to lead the Utah Jazz to a 123-85 thumping of the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night in Salt Lake City.
Bogdanovic, who sat out the fourth quarter with the rest of the Jazz starters, sizzled the nets with four treys and 14 points in the third quarter. The forward has averaged 27.7 points on 61.4 percent shooting with 21 3-pointers in the past three games.
Utah, which returned from a 3-2 road trip, used two double-digit scoring streaks (11-0 and 14-0) in the third quarter to seize a 51-point lead.
Only three Jazz players scored in double figures, including Donovan Mitchell (16 points, six assists) and Royce O’Neale (11 points, 10 rebounds), and nobody on the team played more than 24 minutes. Fourteen different players tallied at least three points for the Jazz. Rudy Gobert grabbed 10 rebounds with nine points.
Trendon Watford scored a team-high 22 points off the bench for the Blazers, who dropped their sixth consecutive game. Five of those losses have been by 30 or more points.
Injury-plagued Portland trailed 96-49 heading into the fourth quarter.
Because of injuries and the CJ McCollum trade, the starting lineup included Josh Hart and four inexperienced youngsters — Drew Eubanks, Elijah Hughes, Brandon Williams and CJ Elleby. Damian Lillard (abdomen), Anfernee Simons (knee), Justise Winslow (Achilles), Eric Bledsoe (Achilles) and Joe Ingles (knee) didn’t play.
Portland scored first on a Eubanks bucket, and the Jazz put up just four points in the first four minutes. Utah did score nine straight, however, to jump ahead 9-2.
Utah went ahead by double figures for good at 19-8 thanks to a Mitchell 3-pointer, which ignited a second 9-0 run. By the end of the first quarter, the Jazz held a 33-15 edge and their first-half lead soared to 31 late in the second quarter.
–Field Level Media
