Evening of all emotions for Rudy Gobert and Utah Jazz, finally defeated Thursday in New Orleans after extra time (138-132, ap). Shaken up the entire match by an opponent who relied on a huge Brandon Ingram (49 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists) to stand up to the best team of the moment, the Salt Lake City franchise had a golden opportunity of win at the end of regular time: after a basket of Ingram at 0’2 from the buzzer (122-121), Rudy Gobert got a fault on the next throw-in for a collision before he could play the ball. The pivot, who had previously posted a 2 out of 5 in the exercise, failed to convert his first attempt and finally pulled out the extension on his second (122-122, 48th).
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23
There were 23 leader changes during the game and 23 ties. An additional indicator, if necessary, of a particularly disputed encounter.
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In the additional period, the visitors seemed to fly 2’28 from the end (132-127) on a three-point basket by Bojan Bogdanovic (26 points) but the men of Quin Snyder were unable to score a single basket next. The Pelicans then took the opportunity to revive, well helped by the sixth fault of Gobert – not obvious – 1’19 ” from the end and while the Jazz was still leading (132-130). The use of video did not reverse the decision, keeping intact the dynamics of the premises which ended the meeting on an 11-0.
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New Orleans Success Makes a Difference
If Donovan Mitchell (46 points) managed to compensate for the Ingram match almost alone, while being helped by Gobert’s double-double (17 points, 14 rebounds, 3 blocks), the success in shooting ended up make the difference: 54.8% for New Orleans against 46% for their counterparts. This was what allowed the team of Zion Williamson, whose first steps in the regular season are imminent (January 22), to join the locker room at the head at the break (58-49, 24th). A big third quarter on the part of Jazz (42-31) had then rebalanced the debates, before this breathless final.
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This first setback in 11 games somewhat breaks the dynamics of Utah but its consequences in the classification of the Western Conference are limited since the franchise is largely in the race to play second place. The real question is whether the team will be able to catch up on Saturday evening with the reception of the Sacramento Kings, penultimate in the West.
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