NBA 2018-19: 3 talking points from San Antonio Spurs' payback win over Utah Jazz
The San Antonio Spurs had just been defeated by the Utah Jazz five nights before in a 34-point rout. However, that shouldn't have made the Jazz complacent with respect to San Antonio's abilities to take over a game.
And now it definitely won't because that is exactly what happened in this matchup from start to end, with Popovich's men beating the visitors 110-97.
The Spurs entered this game coming off of a 133-120 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday after falling to the same Lakers team last Wednesday, and had another redemption run due with the Utah Jazz.
With this victory, the Spurs improved to 13-14 while at the same time the Jazz slid to an identical 13-14 win-loss record in the West. Utah will face Oklahoma City next, a team that's currently 2nd in the West while the Spurs wait to make good work of the Suns in their upcoming matchup.
Let's direct ourselves now to a few key takeaways from Spurs' win over the Jazz.
#1 DeMar DeRozan scores a team-high 26 points
DeRozan has been averaging 24.6 points per game for the last 10 games. He dropped a combined total of 68 points in a couple of matchups against the Lakers and is starting to look like the DeRozan we know and love.
He has had three 30-point games in the past six contests and had a decent 26-point team-high night against the Utah Jazz, finishing with 16 at the half.
The four-time All-Star shot a bearable 10 of 23 from the floor and was perfect (6-6) from the free-throw line in the 38 minutes he was on the court. He dished out 8 dimes and pulled down 6 boards, along with 2 steals and a single block.