Utah Jazz Run Atlanta Hawks Out of Vivint Arena

The Utah Jazz logged arguably their best all-around performance of the year in a dominant 95-68 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night.

After watching the Utah Jazz’s complete domination of the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night, you would hardly guess that the Jazz were a team that dropped four straight games last week and struggled to find a rhythm in each contest. A refocused and determined Jazz team was on point on both ends of the floor and came away with an incredible 95-68 statement win.

Maybe it’s been the return of George Hill or perhaps the extra days of rest this week, but whatever the case, Utah has looked rejuvenated and much more like the promising squad that was so hyped over the offseason.

And make no mistake, Friday’s victory was a big win as Utah took down the current second-best team in the East and did so in dominant fashion. Utah held the Hawks to a meager 68 points, nearly 40 points below their season average and contained every single one of their players.

Atlanta shot just 31.3 percent from the field on the night and were led in scoring by Dennis Schroder’s 16 points. However, those points came on a very inefficient night as Hill and the Jazz allowed Schroeder to shoot just 31.6 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from deep. Aside from him, Hawks star Paul Millsap finished with just 11 points as did Thabo Sefolosha.

But perhaps the most impressive aspect of Utah’s shutdown of the Atlanta offense was Rudy Gobert‘s handling of Dwight Howard. Howard came into the game averaging over 14 points and 13 rebounds per game, but was held to only four points on 2-of-9 shooting and just seven rebounds thanks to a monster defensive game by Gobert.

Rudy went 2-of-2 from the field and 6-of-7 from the foul line to finish with a solid 10 points and 10 rebounds, but his defense is what really stuck out. As part of his shutdown of Dwight Howard, the Stifle Tower posted five blocked shots. He also altered several of Howard’s shots and made life miserable for him in the paint all night long.

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The defensive effort was great across the board for the Jazz and their offense was once again led by George Hill and Gordon Hayward who continue to show just how well the two can co-exist on the floor.

Hill notched 23 points and continued his incredible efficiency going 8-of-14 (57.1 percent) from the field and an incredible 5-of-8 (62.5 percent) from deep. He had a significant mismatch being paired against the smaller Dennis Schroder and he certainly took advantage.

Hayward was solid as well, proving again just how vital Hill’s solid point guard play has been for this squad. He finished with 24 points on a shooting night that was identical to Hill’s: 8-of-14. Utah also got a solid contribution off the bench from Trey Lyles who chipped in 13 points on 6-of-14 shooting.

This was a big win for the Jazz in many ways. It was their first statement win over a top team on their home court this year and they truly controlled every facet of the game. They dominated the boards 55-40, moved the ball extremely well to log 17 assists to the Hawks’ 11, put up nine blocked shots, five more than Atlanta, and out-shot the Hawks from the field 43.8 percent to 31.3 percent.

The difference between the Jazz this week and last week has been like night and day. And as Utah once again gets two days off before their next contest, it’s likely that this hot streak will continue as a fresh Jazz team will travel to Minnesota to take on the Timberwolves on Monday.

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Following that game, Utah will play eight of its next nine contests within the familiar confines of Vivint Smart Home Arena. This will provide an enormous opportunity for the Jazz to prove their ability to defend their home court and put them in a great spot to make their record skyrocket.

If they continue to play the way they did against Both Denver and Atlanta in their two contests this week, there’s a very good chance that they could win a large number of their upcoming games and find themselves in the top four in the conference by mid-December.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com