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All-Star Donovan Mitchell, the Jazz's leading scorer last year,
struggled from the field while scoring 16 points on 6-for-17
shooting in the teams' season-opening game.
Mitchell did score 12 points in the third quarter when the Jazz
blew the game open.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 18 points. He only
hit 1 of 7 3-point attempts as the Thunder shot just 37.4
percent overall and 20 percent from beyond the arc. Darius
Bazley (15 points) and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (10 points) were
the only other Oklahoma City players in double figures.
The Thunder only held a lead for 10 seconds the whole night as
All-Star point guard Mike Conley drained a 3-pointer shortly
after Gilgeous-Alexander put Oklahoma City up 2-0 in the first
minute of the game. Conley ended with 10 points and four
assists.
Gobert and Bogdanovic followed up with some buckets as Utah
scored nine straight for an early 9-2 lead.
The Jazz's defense held the Thunder to just 18 points in the
opening quarter and 24 points in the second en route to a 54-42
halftime lead. Utah, which had the best regular-season record in
the NBA last season at 52-20, took that edge despite getting
just two points from Mitchell.
Utah came out on fire in the second half, blowing the game wide
open with a 13-1 run to begin the third quarter and go ahead
66-43. Mitchell netted two 3-pointers in that streak, and Utah
boosted its advantage to 83-63 heading into the fourth.
Joe Ingles hit a game-high four 3-pointers and scored 14 points
for Utah. Former Jazz big man Derrick Favors contributed just
four points and nine rebounds in his return to Vivint Arena
after he was traded to the Thunder in the offseason.
--Field Level Media
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