Utah Jazz Thump Portland Trail Blazers Despite Lillard’s 39 Points

The Portland Trail Blazers got demolished in the third quarter and the Utah Jazz put an end to a 9-game home winning streak Sunday, blowing out the Blazers 115-96 at the Moda Center.

Both teams got out to a slow start and slept through most of the first half, but the Jazz must have had one heck of a rousing pep talk from coach Quinn Snyder at the break as they exploded out of the locker room and ran Portland out of the gym. Utah rode the hot shooting of Joe Ingles and impressive rookie Donovan Mitchell to double-up the Blazers 38-19 in the third and that was all she wrote.

The Blazers were led by Damian Lillard (39 points) and C.J. McCollum - (22 points, 4 assists).

The Jazz were led by rookie Donovan Mitchell (27 points, 6 rebounds) and Joe Ingles (24 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists).

Box Score

• Stifle Tower. The almost comic book level-y lanky Rudy Gobert lived up to his nickname tonight, completely shutting down Portland’s offense in the paint and being largely responsible for holding the Blazers shooting to an abysmal 40.7%. Even when guys were able to get a step on him, his ability to recover and affect the shot is unreal. Portland had no answer.
• Little help for Dame. The Jazz seemed content to let Lillard get his and just focus its attention elsewhere. Aside from McCollum, who struggled his way to just 22 points on just as many shots, only Shabazz managed to reach double-digits with 10 points off the bench.

Highlights:

What’s Next

The Blazers will get a few days to regroup before the Golden State Warriors come to town Wednesday night for a national TV game on ESPN - late tip is set for 7:30 p.m.