Rivers leads rally as Knicks notch 3rd straight win

NEW YORK — Austin Rivers scored 23 points, including 14 straight for the Knicks down the stretch, and Julius Randle had 30 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists as New York won its third straight by beating the Utah Jazz 112100 on Wednesday night.

The Knicks trailed by 18 in the first half but outplayed the Jazz in the second and won for the fifth time in six games. Rivers made four 3-pointers in the final 4:17.

Elfrid Payton scored 22 points for the Knicks. Reggie Bullock was in the starting lineup after being listed as questionable earlier in the day with a sore left knee.

Jordan Clarkson had 19 points and Donovan Mitchell added 18 for the Jazz while Rudy Gobert had 14 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks. Utah wase swept in a back-to-back set of games in New York as the Brooklyn Nets routed the Jazz 130-96 on Tuesday.

It appeared the Jazz would bounce back from that easily after building a big lead in the second quarter, but the Knicks outscored Utah 68-44 in the second half.

It was tied at 96 with under five minutes to play before Rivers’ surge. He scored five straight points before a basket by Mitchell, then nailed consecutive 3s to give New York a 107-98 lead with 2:22 to go. Mitchell scored again but Rivers answered with another 3 for a 10-point lead with 47 seconds remaining.

Utah coach Quin Snyder said it was hard to have a normal preparation for Wednesday’s game because of the difficulty concentrating on basketball while watching the violence in Washington.

Yet, the Jazz appeared much more ready to play Wednesday than a night earlier, when they trailed 35-14 after one quarter. A 19-5 spurt pushed their lead to 34-20 and they were ahead by as much as 18 later in the period.

But the Knicks outscored the Jazz 34-19 in the third.