Jazz overcome flurry of turnovers, beat Kings 104-84
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Rudy Gobert had 17 points, 14 rebounds and a season-high six blocks, helping the Utah Jazz overcome a flood of turnovers to beat the Sacramento Kings 104-84 on Saturday night.
Gordon Hayward scored 26 points after sitting out a game with an injured finger, and Trey Lyles added 14 points and five rebounds for the Jazz. Utah had 22 turnovers but won for the eighth time in its last 10 games.
Rudy Gay scored 20 points and DeMarcus Cousins had 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead Sacramento. Darren Collison added 17 points and Omri Casspi chipped in 12 for the Kings, who lost for the seventh time in nine games.
Sacramento took an early lead thanks to Utah's mistakes. The Jazz turned the ball over four times in the first 2:20 of the game, leading to an 11-0 Kings run to open the game. Gay highlighted the spurt with layups off back-to-back steals, and Kosta Koufos banked in a hook shot to finish it off.
After a quick timeout, Utah's offense got back on track with baskets from Boris Diaw and Dante Exum on consecutive possessions. The Jazz took their first lead a couple of minutes later after Joe Ingles buried a 3-pointer. Hayward then capped a 22-5 run with back-to-back baskets to give Utah a 22-16 lead.
Sacramento briefly regained a 30-29 lead early in the second quarter on a dunk from Willie Cauley-Stein. The Jazz surged back in front with a 14-2 run fueled by back-to-back 3-pointers from Raul Neto and bookended by field goals from Trey Lyles. Utah took a 43-32 lead when Lyles converted a three-point play on his second basket of the game.
Sloppy offense from the Jazz helped Sacramento cut Utah's lead to 52-50 by halftime.
Two Utah turnovers to open the third quarter sparked a 10-0 Sacramento run. The Kings went ahead on a pair of baskets from Collison and took a 60-52 lead on a pull-up jumper from Gay. Much like the first quarter, the Jazz rallied and climbed out of the turnover-induced hole.
Utah used a 20-4 run to slam the door on the Kings early in the fourth quarter. Hayward capped the stretch with a 3-pointer to give the Jazz a 95-80 lead with 5:31 remaining.
TIP INS
Kings: Sacramento scored a season-high 36 points off turnovers. ... The Kings are 0-12 this season when trailing after three quarters. ... Cousins averaged 30.0 points and 13.0 rebounds in three games against Utah last season.
Jazz: Hayward became the first Jazz player with 10 straight 20-point games since Karl Malone in 2001. ... Gobert registered his fourth straight double-double and his 15th overall this season. Gobert has averaged a double-double through Utah's first 25 games.
UP NEXT
Kings: Monday they return home to host the Los Angeles Lakers for the final time this season. Last time against the Lakers, poor second-half shooting led to a home loss for Sacramento.
Jazz: Wednesday they host Oklahoma City. The Thunder swept the season series 4-0 with Utah a season ago.