Jazz demolish young Rockets
HOUSTON: Bojan Bogdanovic scored 19 points and seven Utah Jazz players reached double figures in a 122-91 win over the Houston Rockets on Thursday, October 28 (Friday in Manila).
Utah is off to its first 4-0 start since the 2006-07 season.
Joining Bogdanovic, Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, Eric Paschall, Hassan Whiteside, Jordan Clarkson and Joe Ingles also scored in double figures for the Jazz.
“I think every night, it’s going to be a different player playing good basketball, but at the end of the night, as long as we’re getting the (win), we’re all going to be happy,” Bogdanovic said.
Christian Wood led Houston with 16 points and Jalen Green had 13 points on 3 of 16 shooting. He missed all eight of his 3-point attempts. Rockets rookie Alperen Sengun had 14 points.
Houston’s shooting struggled, particularly from behind the 3-point line. The Rockets made just 9 of 44 from beyond the arc, just 20.5 percent.
Utah, on the other hand, frequently had wide-open looks against Houston’s inexperienced defense and made 16 of 46 for 34.8 percent. Ingles made 4 of 9 from 3.
“They’re a young team, and regardless of the score, they’re going to play hard every possession,” Ingles said. “They play really hard. At the end of the day, they’re all NBA players so the minute you take a relaxing approach to what’s going on, anyone can score on you.”
Utah owned the perimeter but also had the edge inside, outscoring Houston 46-40 in the paint and outrebounding the Rockets 58-41. Gobert, who entered the game as the league’s leading rebounder with 19.0 per game, led Utah with 14 rebounds in just 28 minutes.
Knicks 104, Bulls 103
In Chicago, Kemba Walker scored 21 points, RJ Barrett added 20 and the New York Knicks hung on to hand the Chicago Bulls their first loss of the season. Julius Randle had 13 points and 16 rebounds. Derrick Rose came off New York’s bench to score 12 points against his former team as the Knicks won their second straight and improved to 4-1.
Chicago star Zack LaVine scored 25 points, despite playing with a torn ligament in his left thumb.
The Bulls went on a 12-0 run in the final minutes to nearly tie the score in a game the Knicks seemingly had wrapped up.
LaVine’s dunk with 9.5 seconds left trimmed New York’s lead to one point after the Knicks held a 104-91 advantage with 2:59 left. LaVine’s thumb was taped up after he was injured Monday in Toronto.
Randle missed a pair of free throws with 4.7 seconds left to give Chicago the final possession, but DeMar DeRozan missed a 15foot, pull-up shot as time ran out.
76ers 110, Pistons 102
In Philadelphia, Joel Embiid shook off lingering pain in his right knee and had 30 points and 18 rebounds to lead Philadelphia over Detroit.
Embiid remains hampered by a right knee that hasn’t been right since he suffered a torn meniscus during last season’s playoffs.
The 76ers watched a 14-point edge evaporate in a loss to Brooklyn in the home opener. It almost happened again after former Villanova standout Saddiq Bey buried a 3 that pulled the Pistons to 101-94 and another that made it 103-97.
Embiid countered with four free throws and buried a 3-pointer from the top of the arc down the stretch that saved the Sixers. Bey led the Pistons with 19 points. The Pistons missed 10 of their first 12 shots and their first seven 3s and fell to 0-4. Tobias Harris scored 17 points and Maxey had 16 for the Sixers.