Curse continues
Salt Lake City losing streak hits 15 games
SALT LAKE CITY – It will happen some year.
The Milwaukee Bucks will win a game in Utah.
But this was not the year as the Utah Jazz cruised to a victory over the slumping Bucks at the Vivint Smart Home Arena.
It was the Bucks’ 15th consecutive loss on the Jazz’s home court, a streak dating to October 2001 when the Bucks won behind Ray Allen. Utah tied Miami for the third-longest active winning streak against another NBA franchise.
Milwaukee (21-27) lost for the ninth time in its last 10 games and continued to slide as they opened a three- game western swing.
Jazz all-star forward Gordon Hayward led the way with 27 points and center Rudy Gobert added 26 points and 15 rebounds before fouling out with 1 minute, 10 seconds remaining. Utah (31-19) took control in the second quarter and never was threatened the rest of the way.
Jabari Parker had some spectacular dunks while leading the Bucks with 17 points, while Giannis Ante104-88 tokounmpo struggled to a nine-point night on 2-of-10 shooting. Greg Monroe added 13 points and Thon Maker had 12 points and five rebounds for Milwaukee.
Before the game, Utah coach Quin Snyder said Gobert would not be salivating simply because he was going up against the more inexperienced Maker.
The Bucks rookie quickly got the upper hand at the
start of the game, blocking two of Gobert’s shots and drawing two fouls on the Jazz center. But that didn’t last.
Hayward scored 12 points in the first quarter to help the Jazz take a 3027 lead, but three-pointers by Malcolm Brogdon and Michael Beasley helped the Bucks stay close.
Gobert was energized when he came back into the game and scored 15 points in the second quarter as the Jazz started to take control.
He scored six straight Utah points early in the quarter and later added a pair of three-point plays. Maker picked up three fouls in the quarter, the third after being dunked on by Hayward as Utah took a nine-point lead.
Gobert followed with a three-point play that put the Jazz ahead, 51-39, with 2:58 left in the half.
Utah outscored the Bucks in the second period, 31-16, to take a 61-43 lead.
Parker had a spectacular one-handed dunk early in the third quarter to put some life in the Bucks, and the Chicago native dunked again off an assist from Antetokounmpo to bring Milwaukee within 68-50.
A dunk by Monroe pulled the Bucks within 82-65 early in the fourth quarter, but Utah responded with a three-pointer by Hayward and a basket by Joe Johnson to take an 87-65 lead.
The rest was garbage time, but Maker gave the fans something to watch as he drilled 3 three-pointers.