The Utah Jazz and the Pelicans each have won three games in a row going into their meeting Friday night in New Orleans.
But while the Pelicans have rolled past their opponents by an average of 24.3 points, the Jazz have had a much more difficult time. Utah’s wins have come by five, four and five points and it had to go into overtime to get past the Rockets 132-127 on Wednesday night in Houston.
Afterward, the Jazz focused on their ability to win a tight contest rather than the need to go an extra five minutes after leading by 18 points against the Rockets, who have the worst record in the Western Conference.
“I’m a tough critic, but you’ve got to give us credit — we fought and competed late,” said Donovan Mitchell, who finished with 37 points and 10 assists. “Not every game is going to be a blowout. We blew them out in Utah (135-101 on Feb. 14) and they’ve got pride and guys who can score and they showed that. On the same token, we can do better. I think we all agree on that.”
Houston forced overtime when Christian Wood made a 3-pointer at the fourth-quarter buzzer, then scored the first four points of overtime before Utah rallied to win for the ninth time in 10 games.
“To be down four at the start of OT and come back and win, that’s not lost on me and shouldn’t be lost on anybody,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said.
Utah, which is playing the third contest on a five-game road trip, has won two of three games against New Orleans this season.
The Pelicans outscored Sacramento 60-34 in the second half of a 125-95 home victory Wednesday night. They outscored the Phoenix Suns, 42-31 in the third quarter, and the Los Angeles Lakers, 44-25 in the third quarter, of road games that started the winning streak.
“We picked up the sense of urgency in the second half,” said Brandon Ingram, who led New Orleans with 33 points. “Everybody was doing good on the offensive end, but it was important for us to pick up the urgency on the defensive end, get some easy buckets and stop them on the fast break.”
Ingram made 15 of 19 field-goal attempts in his ninth 30-plus scoring game of the season.
“Not only did he get it going, but the guys were all looking for him,” coach Willie Green said of Ingram. “Every time he got the ball, they were looking to run plays just to feed him, and it’s beautiful to watch the connectivity of our guys. He is capable of doing that night in and night out.”
New Orleans’ streak has given it sole possession of the 10th spot in the Western Conference with 20 games to play.
“It’s fun to play here right now,” Ingram said. “(Green) is setting the table for us to go out there and be really, really good offensively and defensively, and we’re just going out there and just trying to be really, really good every night. Be the best version of ourselves and these last three games, it’s been happening.”
–Field Level Media
