Schroder leads OKC to season sweep of Jazz,
SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah crowd was still roaring from the play before, a 3-pointer by Joe Ingles. Then it was Dennis Schroder's turn. As he launched a shot from the top of the arc, the crowd fell to a hush. Schroder had bumped the Thunder's lead back up to double digits in the fourth quarter. Dennis Schroder burst out of a shooting slump in the Thunder's 98-89 win over the Jazz on Monday. He scored 24 points to pace the Thunder. Russell Westbrook added 23 as OKC secured the four-game regular season sweep over Utah, the team that knocked it out of the playoffs last season. The Thunder also secured a sweep of Western Conference rival Portland on this fourgame road trip. On Sunday, Schroder posted a picture on Instagram of himself with a slight smile wearing his Thunder warmup gear. The caption read, “I'm too blessed to not be confident in my shot!" Schroder had shot just 31.9 percent from the field out of the All-Star break. He missed two games before the break for the birth of his son. “There was a lot going on for me, but that's not an excuse,” Schroder told The Oklahoman on Sunday. “Shots, they fall. Sometimes they're not. You've just got to keep working on believing in them.” On Monday, they fell. Schroder shot 10-of-18 from the field. The Thunder held the Jazz to just 37 points in the first quarter. The Thunder led by 13 points, and Schroder was shooting a respectable 3-of-6 form the field. But when Schroder reentered the game halfway through the third quarter, the Jazz had cut the Thunder's lead to seven points. Schroder got into a rhythm going to the basket. Even when his momentum taking him past the hoop with roughly three minutes left in the quarter, he tilted his head back and hooked a shot in. Then he started hitting his jump shots. In the third quarter alone, Schroder scored 13 points on eight shots. And that confidence he talked about seemed to be on full display. He hit his teammates' hands with gusto as he headed to the line. He made two of his three shots from there, too. His good vibe extended into the fourth quarter as Schroder silenced the crowd with his shot. The same one that had been wavering since the break. The Thunder returns home after going 2-2 on a fourgame Western Conference road swing. In a tough stretch of schedule to end the season, the Thunder plays just one game at home against the Nets before going on the road again.