In the biggest blowout of Wednesday night's NBA action, Utah made a complete mockery of Sacramento and destroyed them 112-82 at their Home Court. At the bookend quarters of the contest, the Jazz outscored their opponent 68-29. The Kings showed a little fight in the second quarter, scoring 29 points and bringing the deficit down to seven points at the halftime break. They responded in the second half by scoring just 39 points total. Utah remains 1.5 games ahead of the LA Clippers for fourth place in the Western Conference.
Jazz's Hood goes perfect from downtown
Utah's offense hit 53.2 percent of their shots on the night, and that included converting 13-of-32 from 3-point range. Five of those 3-pointers came from shooting guard Rodney Hood (13.1 ppg, 3.5 rpg), and he made all of his attempts to finish with 18 points. That performance followed up 20 points and 6 boards he collected over new orleans the last time out.
After dealing with a quadricep injury this week, small forward Gordon Hayward (21.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg) looked back to normal against the Kings. He put up 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting and reeled in 7 boards.
McLemore saves Kings from humility
Sacramento has won only four of their last 17 games, but this was one of the team's most embarrassing defeats in the stretch.
Point guard Darren Collison (13.4 ppg, 4.5 apg) was the only starter to reach double figures with 12 points. Willie Cauley-Stein (7.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg) delivered eight boards and seven points, while Buddy Hield (9.9 ppg) mustered just two points on 1-of-7 shooting. Hield was held to single digits for the first time in the last seven games.
As a team, the Kings went just 2-for-15 from 3-point range. Shooting guard Ben McLemore (7.3 ppg) was responsible for going just 1-for-4 from downtown, but he led the team with 22 points. Without his production, his squad would have really faltered in this matchup. The team was also outrebounded 43-32 by their opponent.
Up next for the Jazz is a tough weekend featuring games against Washington and San Antonio. The Kings hit the road to take on New Orleans and Minnesota.
