Trailing the Knicks at halftime after poor start, the Jazz committed to rally back for the win

The Utah Jazz improved to 13-4 on the season with a win over the New York Knicks on Tuesday night, their ninth straight victory. It’s the fastest the Jazz have racked up 13 wins since they went 13-3 to start the 2006-07 season, a season in which they went to the Western Conference Finals before falling to the San Antonio Spurs.

But the Jazz didn’t start off Tuesday looking like a team that was going to win.

After shooting 40.3% from 3-point range and 52.5% overall through the first 16 games of the season, the Jazz were barely able to get a shot to fall in the first half against the Knicks, and even with the offensive rebounding in their favor, went 2-of-9 on second-chance opportunities.

“We had a lot of stretches that it was hard to differentiate how well we were playing because we didn’t make shots,” Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said after the game. “There was a stretch where we didn’t see it go in for a long period of time, and when that happens there’s a tendency to stop shooting.”

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For weeks, guard Donovan Mitchell has preached the importance of the Jazz being able to fight through the bad nights. When the Jazz are knocking down 20-plus 3s a game and multiple players are shooting above 50% from deep, it makes winning a lot easier, but the mark of a great team is being able to fight through the games when the shots aren’t falling and when the star players just can’t seem to put together a run.

At halftime, with the Jazz down 13 to the Knicks, who were the last team to beat the Jazz back on Jan. 6, Snyder reiterated to his team what Mitchell has been saying.

“Tonight, coach really just reminded us that if we want to be a great team, we want to be a championship contending team, these are the type of games you have to win, no matter how good the other team is playing,” Mike Conley said. “We have to find a way, and in that third quarter, I think we really took those words and just tried to want it more.”

The Jazz turned in a 34-22 third quarter and never stopped shooting the ball. They dove for loose balls, contested shots and let their defense dictate their game.

“I think the biggest thing is we just kept fighting kept plugging away,” Mitchell said. “It’s not going to be sunshine and rainbows every day. I think that’s the best part about this, is we’re learning, we’re finding new instances every game of how to fight through adversity in different ways. This was a good win.”

Even with Mitchell, the Jazz’s leading scorer, having the worst offensive night of this season with just nine points, the Jazz utilized every weapon in their arsenal, and defensive specialist Royce O’Neale put up a career-high 20 points to lead Utah to victory.

“I think Royce is like the glue to this team,” Conley said. “He’s asked on a nightly basis to guard the best players, create opportunities for guys offensively by just driving the ball...give us extra possessions. That stuff is vital for us and he doesn’t go unnoticed by our team. We know how important he is, and tonight he really showed out.”

The Jazz’s mantra all season has been to move on from every game as soon as it’s over, no matter the result, and focus on the next one. Since they won’t have much time to celebrate this win, that’s a good attitude to have.

The Jazz will face the Dallas Mavericks at Vivint Arena on Wednesday on the second night of a back-to-back and then face the Mavericks again on Friday for their second same-team, two-game set of this six-game homestand.