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The Utah Jazz used a near-historic first half to snap out of a funk and get back into the win column Wednesday night.
Utah will be hard-pressed to match its first-half production in the blowout win over the Memphis Grizzlies when the Orlando Magic visit Salt Lake City on Thursday night. It will be a rare home back-to-back for the Jazz, who had lost two in a row before their 133-109 victory on Wednesday.
Against short-handed Memphis, Utah’s Jordan Clarkson and Lauri Markkanen each went 4-for-4 from 3-point range in the first half, and they scored a combined 35 points on 12-of-15 shooting before the break. The Jazz went into halftime ahead 79-46 after leading by as much as 35 in the opening half.
The 79 points were the second-most ever scored in a half in the Jazz’s 50-year history.
“Obviously, winning is more fun than losing,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “I think having a really good result like this as a team early in the season, it does help add to the belief. It does help build the trust amongst the group that we are on the right track and that we are capable of playing really good basketball.”
Utah hit 15 of 20 shots in the first quarter while bursting ahead 42-19. The Jazz had 12 assists and limited the Grizzlies to 6-of-23 shooting in the impressive start.
“Early in the first half, we moved the ball really well,” Hardy said. “I don’t expect us to shoot at that clip every night. There’s a little bit of good fortune in that. We did a good job of generating good looks.”
The Jazz will be well-rested on Thursday as no player logged more than 28 minutes in the blowout.
The Magic, after opening with two wins, have dropped two straight. The Thursday contest will wrap up a four-game Western road trip for Orlando, which opened the journey with a win at Portland before taking losses against the Lakers and Clippers in Los Angeles.
“We just have to continue to focus, stay the course and not let this change the way in which we’re doing things,” Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said after the Tuesday defeat to the Clippers. “We’re going to continue to work, defend at a high level and see where we can improve against Utah.”
The Magic enjoyed a 38-29 lead near the end of the first half vs. the Clippers. That advantage didn’t last long, though. Los Angeles scored seven straight and then seized control in the second half with a 26-6 run.
“They turned up the level defensively as well as offensively,” Mosley said. “They started attacking us a little bit more. I thought the ball movement was good (Tuesday), but shots didn’t fall.”
Magic forward Paolo Banchero, the 2023 NBA Rookie of the Year, is looking to finish the road swing on a positive note. He hopes to break out after shooting just 37.8 percent through the first four games.
“It’s been rough so far, but it’s going to come,” Banchero said. “I’ve got to trust it. My teammates got to trust it. Finishing the road trip .500 would be big as a team, and it would be a big boost going back home.”
–Field Level Media
