The Indiana Pacers defeated the Utah Jazz, 121-94, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Monday evening.
The Pacers (11-6) ended their three-game homestand on a strong note, destroying the Jazz (8-9) right from tip-off and they never gave the Western Conference team a chance to re-group themselves. Indiana quickly jumped to a 13-point lead following the first quarter (32-19) and while Utah offered some degree of resistance in the second quarter (28-25), they were never in the game long enough to make this a tight contest. Indiana cruised their way in the second half and won both remaining quarters (29-23 and 35-24, respectively), securing their third straight win and leaving Indiana on a strong note. On the other hand, Utah lost again and now they have dropped three of their last four games. They ended their five-game road trip with a 2-3 record.
The Pacers didn't have Victor Oladipo, but that didn't seem to matter and six Indiana players ended scoring in double digits. Bojan Bogdanovic led the way with 21 points, while Myles Turner and Thaddeus Young each contributed 12 points coming off the bench. Most of the scoring damage came off the bench, though. Domantas Sabonis and Aaron Holiday each had 19 points, while Doug McDermott added 12 points.
Ricky Rubio was by far the best player on Utah and he did an admirable job of filling the stat sheet since he ended the contest with 28 points (10-of-13 from the field) but also added six assists, four rebounds and three steals. Rudy Gobert had 12 points with 11 rebounds, and Jae Crowder added 14 off the bench. Donovan Mitchell struggled and only finished with seven points.
