Jazz shut down Wizards for sixth straight home win
SALT LAKE CITY -- Gordon Hayward scored 19 points while Rudy Gobert chipped in 16 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks to lead the Utah Jazz to a 95-88 win over the Washington Wizards on Friday night.
Shelvin Mack chipped in 15 points off the bench -- including several clutch baskets down the stretch. Utah (47-29) earned its sixth straight home victory, matching a season high.
Bradley Beal scored 27 points and John Wall added 16 to lead the Wizards. Washington (46-30) lost its second straight game after winning four in a row.
Both teams traded baskets and the lead well into the fourth quarter. Washington proved unable to pull away after the Jazz missed eight of nine shots to open the quarter. Utah went ahead for good at 84-80 on back-to-back baskets from Hayward and Joe Ingles.
Beal twice cut the deficit to two with a basket. Mack countered each one by slashing to the rim for a layup on the other end. His second layup gave Utah a 92-88 lead with 48 seconds left.
After Beal stepped out of bounds on the next possession, Mack sealed the win with a pair of free throws.
Gobert and Rodney Hood each made three baskets to open the first quarter and propel Utah to a 15-5 lead. Hood buried a pair of 3-pointers, sandwiched around an alley-oop dunk from Gobert, to help the Jazz score the game's first eight points. Gobert finished off the spurt with a layup.
The Wizards wasted no time erasing the double-digit deficit. Washington tied it up at 19-19 when Beal drove for a layup and Markieff Morris followed with a putback dunk on the ensuing possession to cap a 12-3 run.
Kelly Oubre, Jr. gave the Wizards their first lead on a layup early in the second quarter. Oubre, Jr. then capped a 12-4 run with a hammer dunk to put Washington up 31-28. Utah surged back in front 35-31 behind baskets on three straight possessions, culminating in a jumper from Hayward.
The Jazz missed eight of 10 shots to open the third quarter. It opened the door for the Wizards to go back in front. Washington scratched out a 54-49 lead behind 3-pointers from Wall and Otto Porter, Jr. Utah reclaimed a 55-54 lead on a pair of 3-pointers from Ingles and Hayward.
NOTES: Jazz G George Hill and G Raul Neto each missed a second straight game with a strained groin. ... Washington scored 18 second-chance points off 14 offensive rebounds. ... Jazz C Rudy Gobert earned his 54th double-double of the season. ... Wizards G John Wall shot under 50 percent from the field for just the second time in his last six games. Wall went 6-of-22 (.273) from the floor. ... Jazz G Rodney Hood made nine consecutive 3-pointers over three games before finally missing one early in the fourth quarter. He finished with 11 points. ... The game featured 12 ties and 12 lead changes.