The Jazz prevailed with some ease in the Raptors’ visit to Vivint Arena. The Salt Lake City team took the game 119-103 after showing their superiority in the second half, thus reaching 10 victories and settling in third place in the Western Conference. The Canadians, for their part, have lost their last three matches in a row with this, which has made them leave the positions of play-in from the east.
Snyder’s men not only took the victory, but also had other good news in the form of a return. Rudy Gay, who had not yet been able to make his debut this season due to an operation on his heel, returned to the courts and did so with great sensations, as it only took 18 minutes for the forward to reach 20 points. In this way, the former Spurs had a great impact from the beginning, signing an excellent 7/8 in the shot, including a 5/6 in triples, and making his presence on the track result in a partial of +14 for theirs.
Rudy finished as Utah’s leading scorer, tied with Donovan Mitchell, who also reached 20 points. In general, the annotation was quite distributed, as Snyder chose to distribute the minutes (nobody reached 30) and there were many men who had the opportunity to add. Up to seven members of the squad finished in double digits, among whom, in addition to Gay and Mitchell, stood out Rudy Gobert with 14 points and 11 rebounds, Royce O’Neale with 16 points, and Jordan Clarkson with 12.
In the visitors, Gary Trent Jr. exhibited his scoring virtues to go up to 31 points, thus finishing as the top scorer of the match thanks to his great efficiency in the launch. The guard scored all his two-point shots (7/7) and 5 of the 11 triples he tried, becoming the great threat of some Raptors that, however, did not finish shining. Only Fred VanVleet, with 24 points, 4 assists and 3 steals, was also at a good level, and Nurse’s men suffered notably from the lack of OG Anunoby, absent due to hip problems.
The one who stayed farther from his best version was Pascal Siakam, who scored his worst score of the course after failing to go beyond 4 points. The Cameroonian was only able to convert 2 of the 14 pitches he made, adding another gray night to a somewhat uneven season in which he still hasn’t been able to get into the rhythm and find himself.
(Cover photo: Alex Goodlett / Getty Images)