Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY -- The Jazz returned to Salt Lake City after a triumphant 4-of-4 road trip and saw their five-game winning streak come to an end as they fell 115-108 to the Thunder in a battle that involved little defense on either end of the floor Monday night.
It looked like Oklahoma City would be in for a long night as Deron Williams took the floor and knocked down three three-pointers early in the first quarter over the Thunder's perimeter defense. Williams' 6-of-7 shooting that amounted to 16 first quarter points allowed the Jazz to build a 12-point advantage, but the lead was quickly trimmed as Kevin Durant answered Williams' efforts on the other end of the floor.
Durant nearly matched Williams' tally with 15 at the end of the first, but was allowed to earn eight of them from the charity stripe. Durant's first quarter free throw shooting began a 33-of-34 team performance from the line; topping Utah's attempts by 12 and their makes by 15.
You shoot (over) 90 percent as a team (from the free throw line) - that's tough.
–C.J. Miles
"They attack, they do a good job. Russell (Westbrook) is as fast as they come with the ball, and Kevin Durant who's aggressive at all times, always in attack mode; they did a good job of just attacking the basket," C.J. Miles said. "You shoot (over) 90 percent as a team�that's tough."
Utah's starters tallied six more points than those of the Thunder in the opening quarter and accounted for the slim 33-27 lead it carried into the second, but the noise from Oklahoma City was hardly silenced.
The Thunder continued to chip away at Utah's defense throughout the second quarter behind an unexpectedly efficient performance from Serge Ibaka. After posting just two points in the first quarter, Ibaka tallied 10 in the second to help the Thunder climb out of their shallow hole and take a 58-56 lead into halftime.
Utah's interior defense continued to struggle with Ibaka through the third and allowed him to add another 10 points to the Thunders' tally before the end of the quarter, doubling his previous season average of 11 points per game.
"Ibaka shot the ball extremely well tonight, which is one of the things that we didn't think was gonna happen in the game," Miles said.
We scored 46 points in the paint, but they got to the free throw line 34 times to our 22. That's the difference in the ball game.
–Jerry Sloan
The Jazz couldn't seem to find an answer to Ibaka's heat until the fourth quarter, but threw Paul Millsap at Oklahoma City's defense on the other end of the floor in an attempt to keep things even. Millsap put up 13 points in the second and third quarters and was part of a 46-point team effort from the paint on the night.
"We scored 46 points in the paint, but they got to the free throw line 34 times to our 22," coach Jerry Sloan said. "That's the difference in the ball game."
The Jazz gave up 15 possessions for 19 points while the Thunder turned the ball over a dozen times for 17 points. The Thunder out-rebounded the Jazz by five, outshot them from the floor by just .1 percent, matched the six three-pointers they posted, and stole the ball nine times to Utah's eight.
