Pacers pummel Jazz, 121-88

[November 27, 2018]  Doug McDermott scored a season-high 21 points off the bench while Myles Turner added 16 points in his first game back from an ankle injury to lift the Indiana Pacers to a 121-88 victory over the Utah Jazz on Monday night in Salt Lake City.

Bojan Bogdanovic chipped in 15 points and Tyreke Evans added 14 for Indiana, which had seven players score in double figures. The Pacers ended a two-game losing streak.

Derrick Favors scored 13 points and Rudy Gobert added 12 to lead Utah. The Jazz, who allowed Indiana to shoot 58.3 percent from the field, lost for the sixth time in eight games.

Both teams played without their leading scorers. Utah's Donovan Mitchell sat out a second straight game due to a rib contusion. Indiana's Victor Oladipo was sidelined with a right sore knee for a fourth consecutive game.

The Pacers seemed to handle their star's absence a little better. Indiana trailed just once, at 2-0, taking control on both ends of the floor. It started on offense with 52 percent shooting from the field. On defense, the Pacers forced nine turnovers and limited Utah to 23 percent shooting from the perimeter in the first two quarters.

Indiana scored on nine of its first 11 possessions, ending in back-to-back driving layups from Bogdanovic that gave the Pacers a 20-12 lead. The Jazz eventually cut the deficit to a basket when Alec Burks buried a 3-pointer to make it 24-22.

Indiana answered with a 7-0 run fueled by a pair of baskets from Cory Joseph to push the lead to 31-22. The Pacers created a double-digit cushion before halftime. They led by as many as 14 points in the second quarter, going up 53-39 on a jumper from Turner.

Indiana Pacers guard Cory Joseph (6) shoots a three-point shot against Utah Jazz forward Joe Ingles (2) in the second quarter at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports

Utah cut the deficit to nine points on back-to-back 3-pointers from Jae Crowder in the third quarter before things got totally out of hand. Crowder's second basket cut Indiana's lead to 69-60. From that point on, the Pacers ran away from the Jazz.
 

Indiana used a 16-1 run to push its lead to 85-61 with 2:15 left in the third quarter. Thaddeus Young sank a pair of floaters to spark the run, and Darren Collison fueled it further with a pair of steals and a pair of baskets.

--Field Level Media

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