National Basketball Association
Utah 106, New Orleans 94
When: 7:00 PM ET, Saturday, March 5, 2016
Where: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana
Officials: #47 Bennie Adams, #39 Tyler Ford, #13 Monty McCutchen
Attendance: 16680

NEW ORLEANS - The Utah Jazz had seen this panic attack before during their recent five-game losing streak: Build a big lead only to see it evaporate when things get tough.

But after blowing every bit of a 14-point first-half lead Saturday night against the New Orleans Pelicans, Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward combined for 12 points in a 14-0 run to close the third quarter to bury the Pelicans 106-94 at the Smoothie King Center.

Favors scored 28 points, making 11 of 19 from the floor, and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Hayward added 24 points as the Jazz (29-33) snapped their five-game skid. Center Rudy Gobert grabbed 18 rebounds, helping the Jazz dominate the Pelicans 53-32 on the boards.

"We kind of talked about that moment prior to the game," Utah coach Quin Snyder said of the critical spurt. "Derrick mentioned that when the physicality gets raised, we have to respond to that, and I think that happened. Gordon also mentioned how committed we have to be to move the ball and get good shots, and I think you saw both of those things happen. Those two guys led the way."

The Pelicans (23-38) had overcome a horrendous offensive start by Anthony Davis - the All-Star forward missed 14 of his first 16 shots - to tie the game at 70 with 2:50 left in the third quarter. Davis tied things up with a 3-pointer from the right wing, his eighth made basket in 10 attempts.

The New Orleans crowd sensed a major comeback from a team that had blown three fourth-quarter leads in consecutive losses.

That's when Hayward and Favors took control. Hayward was fouled hard by Toney Douglas on a breakaway layup attempt - ruled a flagrant-1 foul - and he made both free throws to put Utah up 76-70. The Jazz kept possession, and Favors went strong to the basket for a layup that extended the Utah lead to eight, completing the four-point trip.

"Fave was huge tonight for us," Hayward said. "As leaders of the team, there are times when you have to do that. He willed us to a win and took what the defense gave him. He was great on both ends."

Said Favors: "We lost three in a row on this road trip, and basically I just wanted to win and came out and played as hard as I could."

While Utah was making its run, Snyder told Hayward during a timeout: "Now's the time. This is where we need you."

In losing their fourth consecutive game, the Pelicans (23-38) struggled mightily on offense. Anthony Davis missed 14 of his first 16 shots before rallying to finish with a team-high 29 points on 11 of 31 from the field. The Pelicans finished 38 of 92 from the floor (41.3 percent).

Making matters worse for New Orleans, guard Eric Gordon, who averaged 22.7 points in the previous three games after missing 16 consecutive games with a broken right ring finger, re-fractured the finger with 3:50 left in the first half. Gordon likely will miss the rest of the season.

"It looked like he might have done the same thing again," New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry said. "That would be really unfortunate because he worked so hard to get back, and I really thought he was playing good basketball."

Davis was 3 of 17 in the first half before breaking out of his shooting slump in the third quarter, making 7 of 11 from the floor for 15 points, including a 3-pointer from the right wing, to tie it at 70. But he had no explanation for the Utah run that sealed the game.

"They made shots and they went on a 14-0 run," Davis said. "It went so fast, I'm not really sure (what happened). When you're not making shots and they're making shots, that gap starts to get bigger."

NOTES: Pelicans C Omer Asik, who missed five games because of a right ankle sprain, returned to the starting lineup against the Jazz. ... Even with the playoffs realistically out of reach with 21 games left, New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry said he has no plans to tinker with his lineup and insert G Jrue Holiday, who has been superb coming off the bench, into the starting lineup with F Anthony Davis in order to give them more playing time together. "They play a lot together, and Jrue usually has 32 to 34 minutes to play, so sitting him out the first six minutes is not really that big of a deal," Gentry said. ... Utah entered the game on a five-game losing streak, but the last four losses were by an average of 5.8 points. "We have to be encouraged in one sense, and then there's obviously a frustration," Snyder said.
Top Game Performances
 
Utah   New Orleans
Derrick Favors 28 Scoring Anthony Davis 29
Gordon Hayward 4 Assists Jrue Holiday 7
Rudy Gobert 18 Rebounds Anthony Davis 11
Derrick Favors 6 Free Throws Made Anthony Davis 6
Derrick Favors 1 Steals Jrue Holiday 2
Derrick Favors 6 Blocks Anthony Davis 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Utah 106 47.4 6-20 26-27 23 53 10 4 15
New Orleans 94 41.3 9-19 9-11 25 32 5 6 8
Upcoming Games
  • New Orleans will play their next game at home against Sacramento. The Pelicans have a W/L % of .375 after a win and .378 after a loss.
  • Utah will play their next game at home against Atlanta. The Jazz have a W/L % of .448 after a win and .485 after a loss.