Mitchell powers Jazz past Pelicans
Donovan Mitchell established season bests of 37 points and six 3-pointers to help the Utah Jazz record a 128-120 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday night in Salt Lake City.
Bojan Bogdanovic added 28 points on 10-of-17 shooting as the Jazz built a 20-point halftime lead en route to winning for the third straight game.
Jeff Green scored 15 points and Tony Bradley made his first NBA start in place of injured Rudy Gobert (ankle) and had season highs of 14 points (on 7-of-8 shooting) and nine rebounds.
Brandon Ingram scored 33 points and Jrue Holiday added 28 points and four steals for New Orleans, which had a three-game winning streak snapped.
JJ Redick contributed 20 points and seven rebounds and Jaxson Hayes and Lonzo Ball added 13 points apiece for the Pelicans, who were 19-of-20 from the free-throw line.
New Orleans trailed 117-110 after Holiday's basket with 3:08 left. But Green scored on a dunk and Mike Conley drained a 3-pointer to push Utah's lead to 12 with 2:15 left.
The Pelicans answered with a 10-2 surge that included 3-pointers from Holiday and Ingram to move within 124-120 with 36.9 seconds left.
But Bogdanovic made two free throws with 15.5 seconds left and Green also made two with 7.1 seconds remaining as the Jazz closed it out.
Conley added 11 points and Emmanuel Mudiay had 10 for Utah, which shot 51.2 percent from the field and made 15 of 36 3-point attempts. The Jazz were 29 of 33 from the line.
The Pelicans shot 41.6 percent from the floor, including 17 of 41 from behind the arc.
Gobert suffered his injury during Friday's contest against the Golden State Warriors. But his absence didn't prevent the Jazz from holding a 49-38 rebounding advantage.
Utah set season highs for points in the first quarter (44) and first half while taking a 74-54 lead into the break.
Mitchell scored 23 points while Bogdanovic had 20 on 8-of-10 shooting.
The Jazz were hot at the outset while scoring the game's first 14 points. Their lead was 30-12 before the midway point and they settled for a 44-31 lead at the end of the stanza.
New Orleans got back into the game in the third quarter with a 15-5 burst to move within 86-78 after a 3-pointer by Ball with 4:36 left. Utah's lead was 98-88 entering the final stanza.
--Field Level Media
