Utah Jazz can’t play up to Indiana Pacers’ level, fall 121-102

Indiana Pacers guard Aaron Holiday (3) drives on Utah Jazz forward Georges Niang (31) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2019. | AP

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz are off to an 0-2 start on their five-game road trip.

On Wednesday night in a 121-102 loss to the Indiana Pacers, the Jazz couldn’t put things together on both ends of the floor at the same time enough en route to their second straight defeat.

Just one game after making a franchise record 21 3-pointers in a narrow loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, Utah struggled mightily in that statistic early, as it went just 1 of 10 from distance in the first quarter and 3 of 17 from beyond the arc in the first half, which was a big factor in the Jazz trailing 53-43 at halftime.

Then the script was flipped in the third quarter as Utah put up 37 points, but it struggled defensively as the Pacers scored 36.

In both the second and third quarters, the Jazz almost completely erased a big deficit, only to have Indiana finish the quarter well. In the second quarter, the Pacers led 36-27 before Utah cut it to two only to have Indiana close on a 13-5 run.

In the third quarter, the Pacers led 81-67 before the Jazz cut it to 83-80 just a few minutes later. Indiana closed on a 6-0 run, however, to take an 89-80 advantage into the fourth quarter.

Utah was within six at 96-90 with 7:45 to play when the Pacers went on an 11-3 run to effectively put the game out of reach, and they put the exclamation point on it in the closing minutes.

On the night, the Jazz shot 43% from the field while Indiana hit 52% of its shots. The Pacers outscored Utah 58-46 in the paint.

Indiana had a balanced scoring effort, as Domantas Sabonis and TJ Warren both scored 23 points and Malcolm Brogdon put up 22. In his return to Indiana after two years with the Pacers, Bojan Bogdanovic led the Jazz with 30, and Donovan Mitchell scored 26.

In his return after two games out because of a sprained left ankle, Rudy Gobert had 14 points and 13 rebounds for Utah but dealt with foul trouble.

The Jazz will continue their five-game road trip on Friday night with their second road game of the season against the Memphis Grizzlies. Utah lost the first one 107-106 on Nov. 15.

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