SteemSports Presenter:
SteemSports Editor:
On Monday night, the Utah Jazz laid the smack down again on the befuddled Oklahoma City Thunder 113-96. Donovan Mitchell was huge once more with 33 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists, and his buddy Joe Ingles pitched in 20 with a side of trash talk on Paul George (who led the Thunder in scoring with 32). We keep speculating that the Thunder have finally had enough. That they're ready to exact their vengeance on the surprisingly good Utah Jazz. We know how ferocious Westbrook is capable of being, but we've yet to see him take over for a win in this series.
This game looked like it was going to be a lot chippier just judging by the opening possessions. Rubio brought the ball up the floor for the Jazz and Russ bodied him up while talking a steady stream of trash. Carmelo was getting into little tussles with Derrick Favors down on the block too. Joe Ingles and Paul George even started jawing at each other right in front of the ref at only the 8-minute mark in the first quarter. It was good to see OKC play with more gusto. Later in the quarter, Russell Westbrook was just harassing Rubio in little ways to keep him on edge after he got outplayed by the Spaniard in Game 3. Russ picked up his second foul early and looked right at coach Billy Donovan and said "Don't take me out." The Thunder ended up shooting 52% from the floor and walked away with the advantage after one, 30-24.
The Jazz got open looks but they had trouble hitting them at the start of the second. Westbrook's jumper wasn't falling either, but thankfully for him, his teammates were busy getting buckets. OKC maintained the lead for most of it, but the Jazz surged back with a 9-2 run with five remaining in the second to bring it within one 39-38. After being down the majority of the quarter, Joe Ingles caught on absolute fire in the last minute and hit three three-pointers in Paul George's face - each one followed by slow walk-away and a staredown. The intensity was boiling and it truly felt like playoff time. That heat-check by Ingles gave the Jazz a small lead heading into the half. Our score was at 58-52 with Utah up. Russell Westbrook already had four fouls, which all came from plays that involved Ricky Rubio.
The Jazz came charging out of the gate to start the second half and pushed their lead all the way up to 13. Not bad after just being down by 6 not that many game minutes ago. They hit some authoritative three's and had excellent ball movement, in addition to clamping down on their perimeter defense (particularly Ingles on George), which led to Thunder turnovers. The Jazz lead even climbed up to 21, and Thunder just couldn't hit any shots to stop the bleeding. The billowing sounds of the Jazz crowd made it feel like Oklahoma was drowning in the noise. When the third came to a close Utah was up big, 90-73.
The Jazz quickly gained and maintained a 20 point lead for the first half of the fourth quarter. Oklahoma tried getting back in it by jacking up three's but they couldn't hit anything for the life of them - it was kind of hard to watch. Everyone was getting into fights by the end. Jae Crowder and Carmelo Anthony had to be pulled apart by their entire teams including assistant coaches. Crowder ended up being ejected for a seemingly incidental elbow to the face of Steven Adams who was positioned in Crowder's peripheral view. It didn't matter though because the Thunder got steamrolled 113-96.
The Thunder are in a 3-1 hole now and I don't see them winning three in a row to advance to the next round. It would honestly be incredible to see the Thunder come back from an entertainment standpoint, but Utah already beat OKC on their own floor in Game 2. Chances are slim. Game 5 will happen on Wednesday. We'll see if Westbrook finally shows up
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