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SALT LAKE CITY — The lights all around Vivint Arena turned yellow and blue as violinist Gabriel Gordon took center court. With a heartbreaking note, he began a solemn but beautiful rendition of the Ukrainian National Anthem.
That was how the Utah Jazz's 123-85 win over the Portland Trail Blazers began Wednesday. Every heartbreaking note that Gordon played seemed to hit harder and harder as it brought into even greater focus the horrors facing the Ukrainian people.
Gordon, who lives in Utah, has ancestry from the suddenly war-torn country. His grandmother was born in Lviv and his great grandparents met in Odessa — places that are now in a state of chaos.
So it was special to him to play a somber version of the hymn to bring hope and maybe a little peace to the world. And with the current conflict, the anthem's lyrics, which feature lines such as "Ukraine's glory has not yet died, nor her freedom" and "soul and body shall we lay down for our freedom" have taken hold a new meaning.
"It's all about my personal mission to be able to show solidarity to other people and show compassion to other people who are suffering in the world," Godron told KSL-TV.
A special rendition of the Ukranian National Anthem was performed by violinist Gabriel Gordon ahead of tonight's game 💙💛 pic.twitter.com/k6Jpc3uLGP
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) March 10, 2022
After that powerful prelude, a game still had to be played. A game that ESPN likely wished it would have flexed out long ago.
Even with less-than-appealing options (the other West Coast games were Los Angeles Clippers vs. Washington Wizards and Sacramento Kings vs. Denver Nuggets), the fact that Portland has been openly tanking for weeks should have been enough to get this thing off national television. With a team that was actively trying to lose, the Jazz had little trouble taking care of things on Wednesday.
By the end of the third quarter, the only question remaining was whether or not the Jazz would record their largest margin of victory ever. Portland can at least hang its hat on the fact the team didn't allow that to happen.
The Jazz led by as many as 51 points in the 38-point victory (Utah's biggest win is 49 points).
Portland was without most of its regulars and even started little-used former Jazz wing Elijah Hughes. In all, eight players were inactive for Portland, including its top three scorers: Damian Lillard, Jusuf Nurkic and Anfernee Simons.
The odds were with Utah, but they still had to at least play the game — and Jazz coach Quin Snyder liked what he saw from his team against the inferior opponent.
"I liked how we moved the ball. I thought we defended," Snyder said.
He did add, though, that it's sometimes easier to do that against certain teams — Wednesday was one of those nights. Utah jumped out to a 33-15 lead after the first quarter, and except for a minor hiccup to start the second quarter were in full control for the entire 48 minute.
Portland missed 11 of its first 12 shots and the Jazz used a 15-4 run to break the game open early. After the Blazers trimmed the lead to 12 in the second quarter, the Jazz responded with a 13-1 run.
"Sometimes what happens when you get a big lead is that you change how you play," Snyder said. "And I didn't think that happened. I felt like we continued to play the right way on both ends."
Bojan Bogdanovic continued his post-splint hot streak by going 9 of 14 for 27 points to lead the Jazz. Donovan Mitchell had 16 points and six assists, and Rudy Gobert had 9 points and 10 rebounds.
"Donovan getting people involved early, picking his spots," Snyder said. "So, again, you want to play the right way. And every time you do that it's another layer and we just got to continue to build on that."
The early blowout allowed for light workloads for all the Jazz players as no one played more than 24 minutes. Snyder said he was able to give some extra time for Rudy Gay and Danuel House Jr. in order to help them find more of a rhythm.
The lopsided result also provided opportunities for guys like Nikeil Alexander-Walker, Juancho Hernangomez and Jared Butler to get some extended run late.
"There was one stretch in the fourth quarter where we kind of let up mentally, some of the guys that came in off the bench' I was then was really happy with how they responded to that — came out of a timeout and started guarding and moved the ball," Snyder said. "Nikeil had five assists. JB was unselfish. So a lot of guys did some good things."
