Jazz 106, Pelicans 94
NEW ORLEANS -- Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward combined for 52 points, including 12 in a decisive 14-0 run to close the third quarter, to power the Utah Jazz to a 106-94 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday night at the Smoothie King Center.
Favors had 28 points and 11 rebounds, and Hayward added 24 points as the Jazz (29-33) snapped a five-game losing streak. Center Rudy Gobert grabbed 18 rebounds, helping the Jazz dominate the Pelicans 53-32 on the boards.
In losing their fourth consecutive game, the Pelicans (23-38) struggled mightily on offense. Anthony Davis missed 14 of his first 16 shots before rallying to finish with a team-high 29 points on 11 of 31 from the field.
With 11 rebounds, Davis set a franchise record with his 128th career double-double.
The Pelicans finished 38 of 92 from the floor (41.3 percent).
Making matters worse for New Orleans, guard Eric Gordon, who averaged 22.7 points in the previous three games after missing 16 consecutive games with a broken right ring finger, re-fractured the finger with 3:50 left in the first half. Gordon likely will miss the rest of the season.
Davis was 3 of 17 in the first half before breaking out of his shooting slump in the third quarter, making 7 of 11 from the floor for 15 points, including a 3-pointer from the right wing, to tie it at 70.
But the Jazz finished off the quarter with a 14-0 run -- with six points each from Hayward and Favors -- to take an 84-70 lead into the fourth quarter. Hayward had 10 points in the quarter.
The Jazz led 51-45 at halftime, but it could have been far more lopsided after Davis struggled in the first two quarters.
Davis was just 2 of 9 in the first nine minutes and the Jazz led 18-14. When Gobert blocked Davis' short jumper at the first-quarter buzzer, he was 2 of 10 and Utah led 29-20.
Davis continued to have trouble, missing his next five shots, including an open 18-footer, and hung his head while turning back upcourt.
Still, the Pelicans trailed just 43-37 with less than four minutes left in the half.
The Jazz were paced by Hayward's 12 points and Favors' 11 in the first half. Utah shot 52.8 percent from the field in the half.
The Pelicans, pulled down by Davis' struggles, managed to shoot just 38.8 percent from the floor (19 of 49).
NOTES: Pelicans C Omer Asik, who missed five games because of a right ankle sprain, returned to the starting lineup against the Jazz. ... Even with the playoffs realistically out of reach with 22 games left, New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry said he has no plans to tinker with his lineup and insert G Jrue Holiday, who has been superb coming off the bench, into the starting lineup with F Anthony Davis in order to give them more playing time together. "They play a lot together, and Jrue usually has 32 to 34 minutes to play, so sitting him out the first six minutes is not really that big of a deal," Gentry said. ... Utah entered the game on a five-game losing streak, but the last four losses were by an average of 5.8 points. "We have to be encouraged in one sense, and then there's obviously a frustration," Snyder said.