Utah\’s Cinderella Start Continues
November 21, 2022
By: Carlos Alvarez
Jazz Take Down Blazers to Maintain First Seed Out West
We’re over a month into the season, and the number one seed in the West is…..the Jazz? With the surprisingly slow starts from the Warriors and Clippers, the conference has been wide open, and Utah, of all teams, has pounced on the opportunity. They faced off against the Trail Blazers (a surprise in its own right as the west\’s second-best team) on Saturday night and picked up a big 118-113 road victory to move to 12-6. Lauri Markkannen continued his breakout season, leading the way for the Jazz with a 23-point 10-rebound performance. While it’s still too early in our opinion to crown Utah as a legit threat, it’s been great to see a team written off by so many turn heads the way they have thus far.
Watch: Jazz vs. Trail Blazers Game Highlights
Other NBA Highlights
Celtics Win Streak Reaches 9: Boston improved to a league-best 13-3 after a 117-109 victory over the Pelicans on Friday, marking their ninth win in a row. While Jayson Tatum has been in a bit of a shooting slump recently, Jaylen Brown (27 points, 10 rebounds) and Derrick White (26 points) picked up the slack.
A Wild Ending in Atlanta: The Hawks and Raptors faced off in an overtime thriller on Saturday that went down to the buzzer. With 3.8 seconds left in OT, OG Anunoby hit a pair of free throws to tie the game, but a quick inbound from Atlanta had Toronto scrambling and left AJ Griffin wide open under the basket for a wide-open alley-oop and one of the most uncontested game winners you’ll ever see (124-122).
Ben Simmons Steals the Show: Kyrie Irving returned to the lineup for Brooklyn’s Sunday night matchup against the Grizzlies. However, his modest 14 points took a backseat to Ben Simmons (yes, really), who had his first big game as a member of the Nets to lead his team to a 127-115 victory. He posted 22 points on a hyper-efficient 11-13 from the field, while also chipping in 8 rebounds and 5 assists.
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Photo: Alex Goodlett / Getty Images