National Basketball Association
Utah 104, Sacramento 84
When: 9:00 PM ET, Saturday, December 10, 2016
Where: Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah
Officials: #72 J.T. Orr, #23 Jason Phillips, #60 James Williams
Attendance: 19331

SALT LAKE CITY -- Turnovers forced Utah into an early hole in both halves. Both times, the Jazz clawed their way out and used their defense to put Sacramento away.

The Kings forced Utah to commit a season-high 22 turnovers and scored a season-high 36 points off of those miscues. It wasn't enough once the Jazz clamped down on defense during the fourth quarter of a 104-84 victory over Sacramento on Saturday night.

Utah held the Kings to just eight points on 3-of-22 shooting (13.6 percent) over the final 12 minutes. It marked the fewest points that the Jazz have allowed an opponent to score in the fourth quarter this season.

"We guarded," forward Gordon Hayward said. "They got nothing easy. It seemed like a lot of the shots were contested. That's just what happened. Then we were able to get the ball up the court and they weren't set. We got some good looks. People knocked down timely threes."

Hayward scored 26 points, becoming the first Jazz player to have 10 straight 20-point games since Karl Malone did it in the 2001-02 season. Rudy Gobert added 17 points, 14 rebounds and a season-high six blocks to help Utah pull away. Trey Lyles added 14 points and five rebounds off the bench for the Jazz.

Utah (15-10) won for the eighth time in its last 10 games.

Rudy Gay scored 20 points and DeMarcus Cousins added 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead Sacramento. Darren Collison added 17 points and Omri Casspi chipped in 12 for the Kings (8-15), who lost for the fifth time in six games, after their dismal fourth quarter doomed them to a loss.

"We ran out of gas," Cousins said. "That's the biggest thing. It's the same mistakes as last game and that has been hurting us all year. Defensive breakdowns, second-chance points, same things."

Cousins, in particular, struggled going up against Gobert. The Jazz blocked him on a dunk attempt on Sacramento's first play of the game and kept him from finding an offensive rhythm all night. Cousins shot just 7-of-22 (31.8 percent) from the field overall.

Utah made a point of keeping Cousins out of the paint and settling for tough shots. It worked exactly how the Jazz drew it up.

"He's virtually unstoppable because he can score from so many spots on the floor," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "It's really another question of how can you try to make him less efficient."

Sacramento jumped out to a quick 11-0 lead after cashing in on a flurry of Jazz miscues. Utah committed four turnovers in the first 2:20 of the first quarter and it set up the Kings' run. Gay highlighted the spurt with layups off back-to-back steals and Kosta Koufos banked in a hook shot to finish it off.

After a quick timeout, Utah's offense got back on track with baskets from Boris Diaw and Dante Exum on consecutive possessions. The Jazz took their first lead a couple minutes later when Joe Ingles buried a 3-pointer and then Hayward capped a 22-5 run with back-to-back baskets to give Utah a 22-16 lead.

Gay and Collison finally halted the run with back-to-back baskets. The Kings could not overtake the Jazz, though, until a Willie Cauley-Stein dunk gave them a brief 30-29 lead early in the second quarter. That only set the stage for another big Utah run.

Raul Neto hit back-to-back 3-pointers to help fuel a 14-2 run that put the Jazz back in front. Trey Lyles converted a 3-point play to finish it, giving Utah a 43-32 lead with 7:43 left in the second quarter. The Kings rallied again just before halftime, tying it at 50-50 on Casspi's layup. Diaw went up and under for a basket on the other end moments later to give the Jazz a two-point halftime lead.

"They're a good team," Kings coach Dave Joerger said. "We played hard. We fought like crazy. We turned them over 22 times. That's a team that has not turned it over very often."

Collison hit back-to-back baskets to put Sacramento in front and Gay finished off a 10-0 run with a pull-up jumper to give the Kings a 60-52 lead. Utah facilitated the run with turnovers on its first two possessions of the quarter.

Utah closed the gap again and finally retook a 66-65 lead on a 3-pointer from Hayward with 5:03 left in the third. The Jazz used a 20-4 run to pull away from the Kings early in the fourth quarter. Hayward capped the run with a 3-pointer to give the Jazz a 98-80 lead with 5:31 remaining.

"We slowly chipped our way back each time and then obviously had a big quarter defensively to close the game," Ingles said.

NOTES: Utah SG Rodney Hood (hamstring) missed his second straight game. PG George Hill (sprained toe) and PF Derrick Favors (knee contusion) have been sidelined since November and G Alec Burks (ankle) has not yet played this season. ... Kings C DeMarcus Cousins has scored 30 or more points in nine games this season. Cousins is averaging a career-best 28.8 points per game through Sacramento's first 22 games. ... Jazz C Rudy Gobert notched his fourth consecutive double-double and became just the fifth NBA player to block six or more shots in a game this season.
Top Game Performances
 
Sacramento   Utah
Rudy Gay 20 Scoring Gordon Hayward 26
DeMarcus Cousins 4 Assists Joe Ingles 5
DeMarcus Cousins 10 Rebounds Rudy Gobert 15
Rudy Gay 3 Free Throws Made Rudy Gobert 7
Omri Casspi 2 Steals Dante Exum 2
DeMarcus Cousins 1 Blocks Rudy Gobert 6
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Sacramento 84 37.8 9-26 7-13 17 34 4 10 10
Utah 104 48.1 13-29 17-18 23 54 10 9 22
Upcoming Games
  • Utah will play their next game at home against Oklahoma City. The Jazz have a W/L % of .571 after a win and .636 after a loss.
  • Sacramento will play their next game at home against L.A. Lakers. The Kings have a W/L % of .250 after a win and .400 after a loss.