Utah does some magic in Orlando with rebound victory

Twenty-four hours from a disappointing loss to the Miami Heat, Utah Jazz had a great outing for both sides on the exhausted Orlando Magic; final score 125-109.

Orlando has missed key rotating parts for great parts of the season, including starters Markelle Fultz and Aaron Gordon. Nevertheless, the Magic kept the game tight for the first half.

Nikola Vucevic was the driving force behind the Magic, especially with his depth shot. He finished the game with 34 points, going 5-7 at distance. But his output alone was not enough to keep pace with 7 double-digit jazz men, led by Donovan’s 31.

Utah took serious control of the game in the 3rd quarter, behind Mitchell’s incredible 15-point effort on just 8 shots. Revisit some of the highlights below:

The 7 Utah players with double-digit totals were Mitchell, Clarkson Ingles, Gobert, Niang, Bogdanovic and Favors.

Favors and Gobert dominated the rim with 9-10 shots, helping the team reach an 81% FG in the restricted area (93% tile).

Let’s check out some key figures from the history of the game:

ORTG: 128.1 (93% tile)

DRTG: 113.7 (43% tile)

EFG% advantage: + 9.8%

TOV advantage%: -8.3%

OREB% advantage: + 14.4%

FTArate advantage: + 12.7%

Utah dominated all 4 factors, generating a decent amount of extra scoring opportunities while having better shooting efficiency. It’s a great recipe for winning.

Other interesting aspects of the game:

• Jordan Clarkson ditched magic guard Michael Carter-Williams with clever ball handling and footwork en route to a scoop layup.
• Utah’s aggressiveness throughout the game paid off to the tune of 16 FTAs ​​more than Orlando, a real factor contributing to the final winning margin.
• Jazz has a 3P% disadvantage in consecutive games (despite a 3P frequency advantage in both); -14.1% in MIA, -3.4% in ENT.
• Head referee Bill Kennedy left the game in the first half after a non-contact injury prevented him from continuing. The match continued with just two officials.

MVP

Joe ingles

While Donovan Mitchell’s 25 points in the second half was the big push to blow up the game, Joe Ingles gets the big MVP for this game.

Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice / Getty Images

Joe absolutely had a fantastic stat line: 17 points, 7 assists, and 2 rebounds with just 1 turnover while still hitting a block and steal. Despite Joe’s unusually poor shooter (only 7-13), he had a much bigger impact on the game than the raw scoring contributions.

Without Conley (who sat down with hamstring management on the second night of a back-to-back), it was up to Joe to be the Jazz’s stabilizing force.

Utah was a better +25 in the game with Joe on the court. Per Inpredictable, Joe was 3rd for the Jazz in Win Probability Added (WPA).

He kept the Jazz afloat in the first half while Donovan scored just 6 points and the team struggled from depth to 32%. He was, as usual, a calming but aggressive presence the team needed as they found their place throughout the game.