Johnson leads Jazz to rout of Pelicans
NEW ORLEANS -- Forward Joe Johnson came off the bench to score 27 points on a season-high six 3-pointers, pacing seven players in double figures and lifting the Utah Jazz to a 127-94 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night at the Smoothie King Center
Johnson made his first four attempts from long range and finished 6 of 8 from behind the arc as Utah (34-19) built a 37-point lead in the fourth quarter and coasted to its fourth consecutive victory and 11th in its last 14 games. The Jazz improved its road record to 15-10.
Utah did a masterful defensive job against Pelicans forward Anthony Davis, who missed 8 of 12 shots and had trouble going to the basket against 7-foot-1 center Rudy Gobert.
Davis finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds but the Pelicans (20-33) shot only 28.2 percent in the second half, in which they were outscored 65-41.
The Jazz also were led by George Hill with 19 points and Gordon Hayward with 17.
Alec Burks exploded for 11 of his 13 points in three minutes of the third quarter as the Jazz outscored New Orleans 28-16 to take a 90-69 lead into the final period. Hayward added six points.
The Jazz jumped out to an 11-point lead in the first quarter, but the Pelicans stayed within reach behind Holiday's nine first-quarter points to trail 32-25 at the end of one. Hayward and Dante Exum combined for 15 of Utah's 32 first-quarter points.
The Pelicans made 11 of their first 14 field goal attempts in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 54-49, but even though they finished 13 of 17 in the quarter they still trailed 62-53 at halftime.
Utah did it by turning eight New Orleans turnovers into nine points, including two takeaways in the final 22 of the half for four points. Even though the Pelicans shot 61.5 percent in the first half, the Jazz countered with 52.2 percent shooting, including 7 of 17 from 3-point range.
Hill led Utah in the first half with 13 points, and Johnson came off the bench to make both of his long-range jumpers for 12 points. Hayward scored 11.
NOTES: Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry offered his "hearts and prayers" to the tornado victims of New Orleans East. About 250 homes were either destroyed or heavily damaged. "That's something that's very unusual for us in this area right here, but we just want them to know that we're thinking about them, hope that everything's OK and if it's not, we hope that it gets taken care of as soon as it possibly can." ... G Tyreke Evans (sprained left ankle) missed his second consecutive game. ... Utah coach Quin Snyder said he has always held a great appreciation for Pelicans F Anthony Davis. "I remember sitting -- we were in Biloxi, Mississippi -- and we had a preseason game and we were talking about him and one of the guys at the table said that he's going to be Hall of Famer and you just go like 'Wow!'" Snyder said. "And no one argued against him. (The Pelicans) rave about what kind of person he is, too, and that's the kind of player you want in this league."