ALL THAT JAZZ MAKE IT 10 IN A ROW
NEW YORK – Rudy Gobert is a two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, as good a stopper as there is in the league.
Even he wouldn’t want to mess with the Utah Jazz right now. “I wouldn’t like to guard ourselves,” he said. The Brooklyn Nets didn’t enjoy it, either. Joe Ingles matched his career high with 27 points, Gobert had 22 points and 18 rebounds, and the Jazz ran their winning streak to 10 games by beating the Nets 118-107 on Tuesday night.
Donovan Mitchell returned from a one-game absence with an illness to score 25 points – 14 in the fourth quarter – and Bojan Bogdanovic had 18 for the Jazz, who opened a 20-point lead and impressively turned back every attempt by the Nets to make it close. “We’re in a groove,” Mitchell said. Kyrie Irving had 32 points and a season-high 11 assists in his second game back from a shoulder injury, but it mostly seemed he was trying to shoot the Nets back into a game the Jazz weren’t going to let go of in what became their 15th win in 16 games.
“You look at them on film and watch a few of their games and there’s a reason why they’re 15-1 in their last 16,” Irving said.
The Nets were coming off their best defensive performance of the season, allowing season lows in points and field goal percentage (33 percent) in a 108-86 rout of Atlanta. But they could never get comfortable against a Jazz team that had Gobert rolling inside and plenty of good shooters on the outside. Ingles was 6 of 8 behind the arc and finished 10 of 14 overall, capitalizing on the space created by defenders worrying about Gobert near the rim or Mitchell attacking it.
The Jazz made four 3s in about four minutes to start the second half, with the last one by Ingles pushing the lead to 76-56. Brooklyn cut it to eight midway through the fourth after six straight points, but Gobert converted a three-point play and Mitchell nailed a 3 to extend it to 105-91.
Utah has won the last four meetings . ... Jordan Clarkson scored 13 points off the bench.
GRIZZLIES 121-ROCKETS 110
In Memphis, Rookie guard Ja Morant had 26 points and eight assists, Dillon Brooks scored 24 and the Memphis Grizzlies won their sixth straight game by defeating the Houston Rockets 121-110 on Tuesday night.
Jonas Valanciunas added 19 points and Jaren Jackson Jr. had 15 despite going six of 16 from the floor. Morant missed only one of his 11 shots as the Grizzlies extended their longest winning streak since December 2016.
James Harden led the Rockets with 41 points as backcourt mate Russell Westbrook took the night off in the first game of a back-to-back. Eric Gordon finished with 23 points, and Clint Capela had 16 points and 16 rebounds.
Harden has scored at least 40 points in five straight games against the Grizzlies.
The teams were tied at 95 with about eight minutes left when the Grizzlies went on an 11-1 run fueled by 3-pointers from Solomon Hill, Brooks and Morant.
CLIPPERS 128-CAVALIERS 103
In Los Angeles, Kawhi Leonard scored a seasonhigh 43 points in three quarters as Los Angeles routed Cleveland.
According to Sportradar, it was only the second time since 1996 a Clippers player scored at least 40 points in the first three quarters. Lou Williams had 40 against Golden State in a 2018 game.
Leonard played 29 minutes and was 14 of 22 from the floor, including 6 of 10 on 3-pointers. He was two points from tying his regular-season career high.
Williams added 24 points for the Clippers, who played again without injured star Paul George. They have won five of six and had six scorers in double figures.