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SALT LAKE CITY — Maybe under normal circumstances, Utah’s 110-102 win over Chicago would have been a little easier.
But missing three point guards and playing back-to-back nights did allow the Jazz to once again show off its trademark resiliency.
“When it comes to back-to-backs, you just have to get the win,” Kyle Korver said. “They aren’t always pretty, anything can happen in a back-to-back. Guys are tired, guys don’t have their legs, maybe don’t shoot the ball well.”
So in the end, it didn’t matter that the Bulls led at halftime or that they led at the end of the third quarter and even that they had a one-point lead with under 8 minutes remaining. Because the Jazz figured out how to get the win.
Rudy Gobert hit a layup, Donovan Mitchell scored a quick five points and Royce O’Neale and Joe Ingles buried back-to-back 3-pointers as part of a 17-3 run that helped push Utah to the victory.
The Jazz improved to 23-21 with the win and have won three games in a row.
“It was a tough game, and I know we were a little fatigued, but our guys really hung together and defended when it counted and were able to make some opportunistic buckets,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said.
During Friday’s win over the Lakers, the Jazz were forced to play just an eight-man rotation. Utah was able to overcome the injuries to get that win, but Snyder knew that it would be a whole other challenge to do it again.
“Last night was a really emotional game,” Snyder said. “There was a couple guys out, and we needed each other. Then to come back and have to do that again on a back-to-back is hard.”
But it makes it easier with Mitchell playing the way he is.
Mitchell, in his second start at point guard, had 34 points, six assists and six rebounds to lead the Jazz. It was his third straight game over 30 points and his fifth game scoring at least 26.
At the start of the second half, Mitchell scored 12 points in the span of just five minutes. He scored on the Jazz’s first three possessions of the half and then later connected on two 3-point shots.
But that sequence showed just how much of a fight Utah was in. After that flurry, the Jazz were up by only four points.
“It came down to stops — getting stops and competing and being persistent,” Mitchell said.
The Jazz struggled to do that against a surprisingly resilient Bulls squad. Chicago had six players score in double figures, led by Zach LaVine’s 21 points. The Bulls outscored the Jazz 54-32 in points in the paint.
But the Jazz finally cracked the Bulls late, which allowed for their big run that won them the game.
Ingles finished with 16 points, Gobert had 15 points, 16 rebounds and 8 assists, and Korver had 16 points with four 3-pointers. And they were able to get those numbers all without a true point guard.
“Point guard is an important position — it matters,” Korver said with a slight laugh. “To come in on a back-to-back and grind out a win is really good for our team.”
