Hood, Hayward propel Jazz past Thunder
SALT LAKE CITY -- Rodney Hood scored 25 points and Gordon Hayward added 17 to lead the Utah Jazz to a 109-89 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
Shelvin Mack added 15 points and five assists off the bench while Rudy Gobert notched his 16th double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Utah (16-10) led from start to finish while shooting 58.3 percent from the field and 13-of-23 from 3-point range.
Russell Westbrook tallied 27 points, six rebounds and five assists for Oklahoma City. Enes Kanter added 19 points off the bench for the Thunder. Oklahoma City (15-11) lost for the third time in four games. The Thunder shot 36.6 percent from the field.
Utah had no trouble starting on the right foot in the first quarter. The Jazz scored baskets on their first three possessions and jumped out to a 10-2 lead behind a pair of Hood 3-pointers.
Oklahoma City cut the deficit to 15-12, after Westbrook drove for a layup and made a pair of free throws to bookend 3-pointers from Domantas Sabonis and Jerami Grant. Utah answered with a 11-2 run, capped by back-to-back baskets from Derrick Favors and Joe Ingles, to push the lead to double-digits at 26-14.
The Thunder ended the quarter on a 7-0 run -- culminating in Semaj Christon's buzzer-beating 3-pointer from beyond half-court.
Utah kept a bigger spurt from materializing. The Jazz clamped down on defense early in the second quarter and heated up from the perimeter to keep Oklahoma City from mounting a serious threat during the remainder of the half.
Hood scored a pair of 3-pointers and converted a three-point play over three straight possessions to cap a 11-0 run that gave the Jazz a 46-27 lead with 6:09 left before halftime. Utah never trailed during the first half.
Oklahoma City threatened the Jazz briefly in the third quarter. The Thunder ripped off a 9-1 run, culminating in a transition 3-pointer from Westbrook, and cut Utah's lead to 56-50. Hayward and Hood steadied the Jazz with back-to-back baskets to halt the run. The Jazz eventually rebuilt a double-digit lead, going up 71-57 on Joe Johnson's teardrop jumper with 3:25 remaining in the third.
The Thunder could not close the gap during the fourth quarter. Utah eventually built up a 20 point lead, going up 104-84 on a basket from Hood with 2:01 remaining.
NOTES: F Victor Oladipo missed his second straight game with a right wrist sprain. Oladipo is Oklahoma City's second-leading scorer, averaging 16.1 points in 24 games this season. ... Utah F Derrick Favors returned to the lineup after missing 12 games with a left knee bone contusion. Favors did not start, but came off the bench under a minutes restriction. ... Jazz G Joe Ingles leads the NBA in 3-point shooting percentage at 50.8 percent after going 3 for 3 on Wednesday and is 19 for 28 over his last eight games. ... Thunder G Russell Westbrook is only the second player in NBA history to average at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists through the first 20 games of an NBA season. Oscar Robertson was the first to reach this milestone. ... Oklahoma City swept the season series with Utah 4-0 in 2015-16.