Leading Jazz gives Thunder seventh straight loss, 106-96
— Bojan Bogdanovic knew the Jazz would look to him to take a leading role with three of Utah’s primary players out.
Bogdanovic scored 23 points and Donovan Mitchell added 22 as the Utah Jazz beat the struggling Oklahoma City Thunder 106-96 on Tuesday night.
“We had guys out on this back-toback, so we’re ran way more sets of fences for me so I was able to get to the basket and draw the fouls,” Bogdanovic said.
Luguentz Dort scored career-high 42 points and Moses Brown had 12 points and 15 rebounds for the Thunder, who have lost seven in a row and 10 of 11.
Bogdanovic, who scored a season-high 33 points in his last game, left his familiar spot on the perimeter and repeatedly took the ball to the basket. He finished with a season-high 10-for-10 shooting from the free throw line.
“I knew I had to be more aggressive these last two games,” Bogdanovic said.
In pain, Bogdanovic held his right wrist after getting knocked to the floor in the third quarter. Surgery on that wrist ended his season before the bubble last season. Bogdanovic kept playing and was a key to Utah’s 66-38 scoring advantage in the second and third quarters.
Mitchell, who averaged over 40 points in his previous four games, didn’t need to be nearly as dominant against the Thunder.
Rudy Gobert had 13 points, 14 rebounds and seven blocks for Utah, which held the Thunder to 38.7 percent shooting.
The Jazz used a 12-0 run after a 55-53 halftime edge to blow open a close game. Mitchell made consecutive 3-pointers to cap the run.
The Thunder never got within single digits until the final couple minutes, as Utah pushed the lead to as many as 25 points.
Mike Conley, who rested the first half, had 15 points and a season-high 14 assists for league-leading Utah (41-14).
Georges Niang made his first start of the season and the second of his five-year career for the short-handed Jazz and scored 18 points, including six 3-pointers. He had a season-high 10 rebounds.
“He didn’t get outside of himself. That’s what he’s been doing. He just got more opportunity, more minutes, and sometimes when that happens, guys try to do more, but in George’s case, what he did was plenty. I thought he really let the game come to him,” Utah coach Quin Snyder said.
Coming into the game, the Thunder’s point differential over their sixgame losing streak was 28.5 points per loss, the worst mark for any team in 17 years.