You’d be hard-pressed to find an NBA game with as little defense as the Jazz’s 156-137 road loss to New Orleans on Tuesday. The loss is the 10th in a row for Utah.
There were multiple records set in the loss as the Pelicans scored a franchise-high 156 points and a franchise-high 50 points scored in one quarter, while and rookie Jeremiah Fears had a career-best 40 points of his own.
Fears’ 40 points is also the most points scored by any Pelicans rookie in franchise history.
Despite the unusually high-scoring game, it looked relatively normal in the first half, and the Jazz were winning.
Kyle Filipowski got going early and New Orleans struggled to shoot from outside. Jazz’s guard Kennedy Chandler — who is on his second 10-day contract — also provided strong in scoring off the bench. It wasn’t the prettiest the Jazz have played, but it was good enough to earn it a 69-61 halftime lead.
The second half was a completely different story.
New Orleans, and Jordan Poole specifically, completely flipped the game in the third quarter. Poole scored 22 points in the quarter and led the Pelicans to a 31-6 run. The Jazz never recovered from the collapse.
Poole was one of four players to score at least 20 points for the Pelicans, as he ended with 34. Jordan Hawkins ended with 25 and Micah Peavy had 20. New Orleans rookie Derik Queen added a 17-point, 12-rebound double-double.
The Pelicans got most of their mileage by taking advantage of Utah’s nonexistent rim protection. They scored 90 of their 156 points in the paint. New Orleans also played fast and forced turnovers, which resulted in 44 fast-break points.
In total, Utah was outscored 95-68 in the second half.
It wasn’t all bad for the Jazz. Chandler led the Jazz in scoring off the bench with a career high 31 points on 61% shooting while adding seven rebounds and eight assists.
After being signed for the remainder of the season at the beginning of April, Bez Mbeng scored 26 points on 67% shooting.
But it was John Konchar who may have had the most surprising stat line of the night. Konchar put up 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the triple-double off the bench.
Tuesday’s loss concludes the Jazz’s road trip, and they will have their final home game of the season against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday.