(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) collides with Golden State Warriors center James Wiseman (33) as he goes up for a shot, in NBA action between the Utah Jazz and the Golden State Warriors at Vivint Arena, on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021.
The Utah Jazz started off Saturday’s matchup against the Warriors with a 19-2 game-opening run.
And while Golden State did get it as close as six points early in the second quarter, the Jazz soon re-established control, ultimately leading by as many as 40.
In the end, they cruised to their eighth straight victory, winning 127-108.
Here are some early observations from the game:
No 3-point jinx in effect
When it was brought up to Quin Snyder pregame that the Jazz had just made the most 3-pointers by any NBA team ever over the first 15 games of a season, he jokingly responded that he hoped invoking the stat would not prove a jinx to Utah’s 3-point success.
Nope.
The Jazz made their first four tries as part of a game-opening 14-0 run, and went 12 for 28 in the first half (42.9%). They would go on to finish 20 for 49 (40.8%).
Bogey gets his record-setting passing on
Bojan Bogdanovic had nine points at halftime in spite of struggles shooting the ball again — 2 for 7 overall, though both makes were from deep, and he did also add three free throws.
Still, it was his contributions elsewhere that stood out.
He came into Saturday’s game averaging just 3.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. And in the opening half against the Warriors alone, he tied his full-game, regular-season career high with seven assists, while also adding five first-half rebounds.
Bogdanovic would go on to set a new career-high in assists, getting his eighth early in the third quarter. He also finished with seven boards.
‘The world’s slowest crossover’
Deep in the third period, Joe Ingles did something that Joe Ingles never does — put an opponent on the ground with a dribble move.
Utilizing what the broadcast crew apparently referred to as “the world’s slowest crossover,” Ingles got Kent Bazemore off-balance. As Bazemore went careening to the court, Ingles calmly stepped behind the 3-point line and buried the shot.
He’d register another, lesser highlight a brief tome later when he drove the lane, faked a pass to Rudy Gobert, sent the defense scrambling to guard the Frenchman, then casually strolled to the hoop for a layup — his 10th and 11th points of the third quarter alone.
Die-hard Jazz fans annoyed by “casuals”
Once it became apparent the Warriors didn’t have the juice to rally all the way back from a 30point deficit, maintaining interest in the game started coming down to little things … the Bogey triple-double watch … the timeout contest pitting two “fans” decked out in Jazz gear who were challenged to name as many ex-Jazz players in 24 seconds as possible.
The first guy struggled and wound up with a paltry six, setting the stage for contestant No. 2 to blow him out of the water. Except … he quickly rattled off Andrei Kirilenko and Kyle Korver — then failed to come up with anyone else. No, not even Stockton and Malone.
Jazz fans following along at home were irate, bemoaning that the arena was apparently filled with “casuals” — that is, people who only follow the team casually and aren’t real die-hards, but who have enough funds to pay the going rate for tickets on the secondary market.
