Hayward, Favors lead Jazz's rout of winless 76ers
PHILADELPHIA -- Gordon Hayward scored 20 points and Derrick Favors had season highs of 16 points and 14 rebounds as the Utah Jazz routed the Philadelphia 76ers 109-84 on Monday night.
Rodney Hood added 18 points for Utah, which won for the fourth time in five games despite the absence of veteran point guard George Hill. Hill is averaging 20.4 points a game and sat out the game after spraining his right thumb in Sunday's victory over the New York Knicks.
Utah shot 50.6 percent from the floor and limited the Sixers to 40.3-percent shooting despite the fact that Jazz center Rudy Gobert, the backbone of the Utah defense, played just 20 minutes before fouling out. Gobert had eight points and six rebounds.
Favors also had three blocked shots for the Jazz.
Jahlil Okafor notched 15 points and Joel Embiid had 14 points and nine rebounds for Philadelphia, which fell to 0-6. The Sixers, the Eastern Conference's only winless team, dropped their 43rd straight October/November game dating back to a victory over Milwaukee on Nov. 22, 2013.
Utah held the Sixers to 5-for-18 shooting while outscoring them 25-18 in the third quarter, extending the Jazz's lead from 52-43 to 77-61. Favors had six points and three rebounds in the period.
Hood then sank a pair of 3-pointers in the first 4:05 of the fourth quarter to put Utah ahead, 89-67.
Favors collected 10 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks in the first half, when the Jazz built a 52-43 lead. Hayward also had 10 points in the half, and Utah shot 51.2 percent from the floor while limiting the Sixers to 38.1-percent accuracy.
Robert Covington, who began the night shooting 16.7 percent, had seven of his 12 points in the first half for Philadelphia. Okafor and Nik Stauskas also notched seven apiece for the Sixers.
Gobert went to the bench after drawing his fourth foul 14 seconds into the third quarter, and the Sixers cut the gap to 60-54 on Covington's 3-pointer with 7:56 left in the period.
Utah reeled off the next 10 points, four of those by Hayward, to take command at 70-54. Philadelphia went 6:56 without a field goal in one stretch.
NOTES: Utah G George Hill was named Western Conference Player of the Week for the week of Oct. 31-Nov. 6. Hill averaged 20.8 points on 58.5 percent shooting, as the Jazz went 3-1. "I think it speaks to how well he's assimilated into our group, and how much respect our guys have had for him, right off the bat," coach Quin Snyder said of Hill, who was acquired from Indiana via trade in July. ... Philadelphia C Joel Embiid began the night 6-for-9 from the 3-point range (.667), the best percentage in the NBA. "If they leave me open, I'm going to shoot it," he said before the game. ... The team is limiting Embiid, who missed two seasons following a pair of foot surgeries, to 24 minutes a game, and plans to do so until at least Christmas. "I want to play more, but it's on them," he said.