The Utah Jazz have been one of the hottest teams not only in the Western Conference, but in the entire NBA, and that strong play continued on Monday night when they edged out a victory over the Charlotte Hornets that saw Utah break away with a strong fourth-quarter.
Jazz superstar Donovan Mitchell is exuding the confidence of a top contender, and spoke about the Jazz’s approach following another win.
“The way we played throughout the course of the game, that’s the team we want to be. The No. 1 team in the league wins a game like that,” Mitchell said, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. “I think that’s really where our head is at — that’s where we have to continue to be.”
Mitchell poured in 23 points, eight assists, and four rebounds for the Jazz in the winning effort. Utah utilized the 3-ball to pull away from the Hornets, setting a franchise record for most 3-pointers with 28, which included 19 from the bench which was the most by any team’s reserves in league history, according to STATS (h/t Yahoo Sports).
Utah shot 29 3-pointers before halftime, setting a new club record for attempts in a half.
“It looks good, but I think the biggest thing was our defensive energy,” Mitchell said. “Everything stepped up and made it tougher on them.”
“They made plays and took advantage of the fact that we weren’t as precise as we needed to be on the defensive end,” Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said. “I thought in the second half we cleaned a lot of those things up, a lot of those little things.”
Utah became the fastest team in NBA history to make 500 3-pointers in a single season, reaching the milestone in just 31 games.
The win improved Utah’s record to 25-6, which has them atop of the Western Conference and the talk of the league right now. The Jazz will now host the Los Angeles Lakers at home on Wednesday.
