The Jazz debuted their ‘City Edition’ jerseys tonight vs Indiana, a remix of their gradient uniforms during the early Donovan Mitchell days. After dropping their past 2 games against Minnesota, the Jazz were
hungry. They couldn’t let a 1-9 Pacers team walk into their arena and walk away without a care in the world. And thus, it was a 152-128 blowout finish at the Delta Center, the highest point total by any team this season and not shy of their franchise record for points in a game (154).
At first, it felt like a similar story all over again: their opponent opened the night shooting a blazing 8-11 (72.7%) from the field. Nembhard scored 10 of their first 20 points. The Pacers hunted down Keyonte on defense, remaining scoreless through the first quarter. Utah responded with its own 8-0 run, and never looked back. Lauri Markkanen and Ace Bailey carried the load as the Jazz finished with 38 points with 12 minutes in the books.
It would be none other than the 5th pick, Ace Bailey, to bring the spark on the court. Jazz went on a 10-0 run to claim a double-digit lead over the Pacers. He set a new career-high in points (13) with 8:36 left in the first half. He was 5-6 from the field and 3-4 from three. He looked like the guy long lost during the NBA preseason, knocking down threes and finishing at the rim with ease. He put a close to his first half with a buzzer-beating tip-in.
It was a rough second quarter for the Pacers, shooting 9-28 from the field and 2-13 from deep. They certainly looked like a team missing six rotational players and didn’t have a reliable option from beyond the arc. Jazz began running away with it — they clinched 70 points at the half, and they held a lead as large as 15.
The second half only brought more dominance from Utah’s end. They really needed to capitalize on the third quarter after how they lost their second matchup against the Wolves. Tonight? The Jazz were on the other side of the narrative. The lead reached over 20, and the offense kept clicking. Lauri poured in 14 points on a perfect 5-5 shooting in 5 minutes for his fifth 30-piece of the season. Isaiah Collier was a +22 in 20 minutes doing what he does best. Dishing the open man, driving to the rim and getting to the line. Aaron Nesmith was given a technical foul at 7:18. Huff’s before the last 11 seconds gave the Jazz a sizable 114-91 lead with one more quarter to go — a season-high 44 point quarter. With the Jazz on top of the scoreboard, it was only a question of how much Bailey could total before he was pulled.
The answer to that question is 20 points. He definitely could’ve had more with only 13 attempts, but the Jazz will get anything they can take from Ace at this stage. He shook off the rust after having the start of his season tainted with an illness and knee tendinitis, but he’s here, and he’s coming to play. A starting spot and extended minutes are only the start for the rookie.
Is it crazy to say Lauri Markkanen is having an All-NBA caliber season? He failed to score 30 points in his previous five games, but came back tonight like nothing happened. The Finnisher finnished tonight with a 35-point night on 13-19 shots. He toyed with the Pacers’ defense and just overpowered them like the seven-footer he is. He’s always super fun to watch when he’s cooking, and now he finally has teammates that can match his pace.
Jazz are at home again on November 13th in their first look against former head coach Quin Snyder and the Atlanta Hawks at 7:00 PM MT.
