SALT LAKE CITY -- The Jazz knocked the Sacramento Kings onto their heels in the first quarter and never let up Saturday night at Vivint Smart Home Arena.
Maybe it was an afternoon trade that sent Trevor Ariza, Wenyen Gabriel and Caleb Swanigan to Portland that distracted the Kings, or maybe they were just unprepared to match the home team’s intensity. Whatever the reason, the game was over early as the Jazz dropped the Kings by a final of 123-101
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Bojan Bogdanovic, Rudy Gobert, Jordan Clarkson and Donovan Mitchell all broke the 20-point barrier and Joe Ingles picked the Kings apart with a game-high 12 assists.
Here are three takeaways as the Kings fell a season-high 12 games under .500 at 15-27 on the season.
Missed assignments
The Jazz are a very good offensive team, but the Kings made them look like the Houston Rockets.
NBA
It started with the two-man game featuring Mitchell and Gobert. When the Kings tried to slow the pair in the pick-and-roll, the Jazz’s shooters started launching at will.
In one of their worst defensive performances of the season, the Kings allowed the Jazz to shoot 50.6 percent from the field on their way to a 22-point blowout.
Fouling Fox
De’Aaron Fox loves to go up against Mitchell, a fellow 2017 draftee. The speedy guard continued his recent hot streak, finishing with 21 points on 10-of-16 shooting to go with eight assists and four rebounds.
Unfortunately for Sacramento, their starting point guard struggled with foul trouble beginning early in the game, which limited his aggressiveness on the defensive end.
Fox managed to play 31 minutes, but he fouled out with 3:18 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Battle of the Bogdanovics
Bogdan Bogdanovic made his return to the court after missing the previous six games and he looked rusty. The Kings’ six-man scored 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting and chipped in four rebounds and four assists.
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The Jazz’s Bojan Bogdanovic (no relation) hammered the Kings for 30 points on 10-of-15 from the field and 6-of-9 from behind the arc. Sacramento had no answer for the 30-year-old sharpshooter.
Bogdan has struggled with injuries all season long. Bojan is having a career-year after signing in Utah as a free agent. On Saturday night, the Jazz’s version was the better player.