Jazz bury Pelicans from long range in 118-102 win

When you cannot shoot, you cannot rebound, your bench cannot compete with the opponent and you cannot defend, you cannot win.

Those were the characteristics Tuesday night at Vivint Arena as the Utah Jazz easily handed the New Orleans Pelicans, 118-102.

Utah shot 54.5 percent in the first quarter and took a 29-24 lead. The second quarter was competitive and Utah led 55-49 at halftime.

New Orleans got blitzed 36-20 in the decisive third quarter as Utah distanced itself and put the game away early. Utah made eight 3-pointers in the quarter.

The Pelicans tried man defense. They tried various zone looks. How hard they tried is certainly debatable.

Utah’s ball movement, spacing and execution was fun to watch, unless you were a Pelicans fan. Utah led by as many as 25 points. The outcome was never in doubt.

Lonzo Ball, who missed the last three games, returned from his knee injury and was ineffective. Ball scored seven points but was 0-for-6 from 3-point range.

Kira Lewis, who had played promising basketball in the last three games, did not see the floor until there were under four minutes remaining. Lewis was able to score four points in less than four minutes.

Utah made 21 shots from 3-point range and outscored New Orleans 63-18 from beyond the arc. The Pelicans were a very poor 6-of-26 from 3-point range as a season-long issue continued.

Bench scoring, another season long issue for the Pelicans, was dominated by Utah as it outscored New Orleans 54-31 among reserves.

Zion Williamson did his best to keep New Orleans in the game, matching his season high of 32 points on 14-of-19 shooting from the field. Williamson added five rebounds and three assists.

Brandon Ingram scored 17 points but was not a real factor.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker had nine points off the bench but he was just 4-of-13 from the field, including 1-of-6 from 3-point range and he contributed five rebounds.

The Pelicans struggled to get to shooters, failing to run Utah off the 3-point line.

Then, New Orleans, normally a good rebounding team, got hammered on the boards 54-38.

In his last two games, Williamson is 27-of-34 from the field and he has 63 points.

The good news is that the game is over.

The bad news is that the Pelicans (5-8) have to play Utah (10-4) again Thursday night in Salt Lake City.

The Pelicans stepped up in class, going from the Kings to Utah and took a step backwards, in the process.