Story By: Sol Tucker
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Washington, D.C–
Much of the Wizards troubles came in the form of a guy nicknamed Spider… Donovan Mitchell who has emerged as one of the best players in the NBA over the past few seasons had his way in the second half of this game and he was joined in the party by Rudy Gobert.
Mitchell finished with 28 points for the Jazz and at times it looked like he would drop 50 tonight with the way he was able to get inside of the Wizards defense on many occasions in the fourth quarter.
Rudy Gobert added 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Jazz. Hassan Whiteside tallied 18 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks off the bench. Mike Conley chipped in 11 points and a team-high eight assists.
Mitchell fueled a 14-4 run by scoring four baskets and assisting a fifth one to help the Jazz open up a 77-67 lead late in the third quarter. It helped Utah create some breathing room after trading baskets with the Wizards for the better part of three quarters.
Utah won its seventh straight game and went undefeated on a four-game Eastern Conference road trip.
“Utah is a very good team as we saw late in the game today. They have a solid starting 5 players which we matched up very well against tonight, but when they opened that 17 point lead late in the fourth we had trouble answering back with a run of our own,” said Wizards Head Coach Wes Unseld Jr.