Salt Lake City (USA), May 3 (EFE) .- Croatian forward Bojan Bogdanovic scored 25 points and French center Rudy Gobert contributed a double-double of 24 points and 15 rebounds that helped the Utah Jazz win with ease by 110-99 to the San Antonio Spurs.
Point guard Jordan Clarkson added 16 points as the third leading scorer for the Jazz (47-18), who won the second consecutive game, and returned to the league lead with a half game ahead of the Phoenix Suns (46-18), who had rest day.
Australian forward Joe Ingles contributed 13 points and eight assists, which also helped the Jazz win an efficient attack and tough defense.
The Jazz scored 22 points on San Antonio’s 13 turnovers and had 50 percent shooting from the field while leading the score from the start to the end of the game.
Guard-forward DeMar DeRozan scored 22 points and power forward Rudy Gay added 17 points to lead the Spurs, who lost their fourth consecutive game and remain 10th in the Western Conference with a 31-33 record, the The last one that entitles them to be in the playoff entry tournament.
The Jazz scored on five straight possessions to carve out a 26-16 lead late in the first quarter. Clarkson and Bogdanovic made back-to-back baskets that allowed Utah to build a double-digit cushion.
San Antonio cut the deficit to 40-35 with a jump shot from Gay in the second quarter. That’s the closest the Spurs got before Utah heated up again.
The Jazz scored on six straight possessions to start a 17-4 streak. Bogdanovic hit back-to-back baskets and started the streak and closed it with a 3-pointer that gave Utah a 57-39 lead.
The Spurs struggled to keep up with the Jazz after settling repeatedly for long range shots. 19 of San Antonio’s 20 baskets in the first half were long range shots.
The Jazz led by as much as 25 points in the second half, raising the set to 74-49 in the third quarter after Ingles capped a 13-2 streak with a triple.
Utah and San Antonio will meet again on Wednesday.
(c) EFE Agency