Instant analysis: Jazz win 9th straight in comeback over Knicks

The Utah Jazz extended their win streak to nine games with a come-from-behind 108-94 victory over the New York Knicks on Tuesday at Vivint Arena.

High notes

• Royce O’Neale’s contributions can often go unnoticed and under appreciated, but his defense was a huge reason for the Jazz being able to stay in the game and then later come back. Not only that, but he was the only one who really looked like he was going to be able to score for the Jazz when the game started. He finished with a team-high 20 points to go with six rebounds.

“Having a guy like that allows allows us to be really dangerous.” —Mike Conley on Royce O’Neale

• It’s not like the Jazz were unaware of Austin Rivers’ ability to go off. Let’s not forget that the last time these teams met on Jan. 6, Rivers scored 14 straight points in the fourth quarter of a Jazz loss. This time he didn’t wait until the final quarter and was 10-of-10 to start the game  and had 25 points in the first half.
• The Knicks came into the game understanding the Jazz’s place in the league and how easily they can run up the score when they’re making shots. So when the Jazz were having trouble getting the ball in the basket, they fed the hot hand and poured it on. That’s what you’re supposed to do.
• Donovan Mitchell has talked a lot over the win streak about the Jazz being able to handle getting punched in the mouth by a team that comes out more aggressively and still being able to battle back and compete. When the Jazz went into halftime down by 13 points it basically set up the Jazz to prove that they’d really learned how to dig in, and they did.
• There was actually plenty of second-half defensive credit that deserves some recognition. Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley and Georges Niang played incredibly hard in containing the Knicks.

“You’ve got to credit Royce, Mike, Rudy dominating on the boards. That’s huge. That was huge for us.” —Donovan Mitchell

• Though Rivers got hot in the first half, the Jazz weren’t allowing him the ball nearly as much in the second half and he went scoreless through the third and fourth quarter.

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Low notes

• The Jazz could not hit a shot to start the game. Ice cold would be an understatement. They were 2 of 13 from 3-point range in the first quarter with O’Neale being the only one to hit from deep. Mitchell didn’t hit his first 3 until there was just under eight minutes to play in the third quarter.

“In the first half we weren’t making shots that we usually make that were wide open. It kind of affected our defense and we knew our defense was going to keep us in the game and bring us back and that shots were going to start falling.” —Royce O’Neale

• Austin Rivers committed one of the worst fouls I’ve seen this year. No, it wasn’t when he popped Mitchell in the nose in the second quarter. It was when he tried to stop the Jazz offense by taking a purposeful foul to slow the game down. The Jazz weren’t really on a fast break though and he could have just gotten back on defense and what he failed to realize was that the Knicks were already in the penalty, sending Conley to the line.
• I’m not really sure what to make of Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau’s choice of when to take timeouts.

Flat notes

• The NBA world was already mourning the one-year anniversary of the death of Kobe Bryant when we learned on Tuesday that veteran NBA reporter Sekou Smith died after a battle with COVID-19. Smith was a bright light and a mentor to countless journalists, including myself. He was an exceptional human. The NBA is a little less bright without him.