Jazz hold off pesky Knicks 87-82, win streak up to 3
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Derrick Favors had 29 points and 12 rebounds, and the Utah Jazz beat the New York Knicks 87-82 on Tuesday night to tie a season high with their third straight victory.
Both teams struggled to score as the Jazz were without leading scorer Gordon Hayward (back) and the Knicks have been injury-plagued all season. New York missed Tim Hardaway Jr. (back) for the second consecutive game.
Reserve Rodney Hood scored 17 points for the Jazz, while Rudy Gobert added 10 points, 14 rebounds, four blocks and three steals. Hood and Favors carried the offensive load in the fourth after the Knicks took a two-point lead.
Alexey Shved scored 21 points and had a career-high 10 rebounds for the Knicks. Andrea Bargnani finished with 20 points.
The Knicks got eight quick points from Bargnani to take a 15-9 lead, but the Jazz responded with a 13-2 run and led 24-20 after the first quarter.
New York had another short burst with a 7-0 run early in the second quarter, but couldn’t overcome 32.5 percent shooting in the first half. The Knicks have struggled to score all season with a mish-mash lineup and entered the game averaging 92.3 points, the second-lowest in the league.
The Jazz shot just 42.9 percent from the field for the game and the Knicks climbed to 39.2 percent.
Hayward missed his first game of the season with a lower back strain. His 19.5 points per game ranked No. 16 in the league before Tuesday’s game.
“He’s been playing through some tightness for a while,” coach Quin Snyder said. “It’s an NBA season and guys get banged up and they get sore, whether it’s a knee or a back or a foot. It’s something he’s been getting treatment on.”
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TIP-INS
Knicks: Coach Derek Fisher said he’s hopeful Hardaway will be ready for Thursday’s game against the Lakers. … Cole Aldrich scored 17 points, one shy of his career-high.
Jazz: The team assigned forward Grant Jerrett to the NBDL’s Idaho Stampede Tuesday. He was acquired at the trade deadline in the deal that sent Enes Kanter to Oklahoma city. … Trey Burke was held to five points on 1-for-11 shooting.
UP NEXT
Knicks: at Lakers on Thursday.
Jazz: host Houston on Thursday.
This article was written by Kareem Copeland from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.
