The Utah Jazz won 117-96 in a Christmas game against the Portland Trail blazers in the 2018-2019 NBA regular season at the Salt City Vivint Smart Home Arena.
With his victory, Utah recorded 17 wins and 18 losses in this season. Portland suffered its 15th loss and 19th win of the season.
Utah led the team to victory with 18 points and 14 rebounds. Donovan Mitchell also contributed by scoring 19 points. Portland did not stop Damian Lillard from losing the team when he struggled with a 20-5 rebounds.
Utah won the first Christmas game in 21 years since 1997. The driving force of victory was defense, too. Utah tied Portland's offense firmly and allowed only nine three-pointers.
From the first quarter, the two teams faced each other fiercely. Utah took the lead in the second quarter, which was 24-24, by scoring consecutive goals from Jae crowder and Joe ingles. Yuta watanabe, who failed to stop Lillard in the middle of the quarter, allowed a chase. However, thanks to Mitchell's performance, Utah widened the score by nine points. With 3.3 seconds left to the end of the quarter, the first half of the game was pleasantly finished with 59-47.
In the third quarter, Yuta scored 12 points in a row. Utah, which scored three consecutive runs in the second half of the quarter, ran 78-63. Utah finished the third quarter with 83-70.
Even in the fourth quarter, the tide did not change. Portland tried to chase after Seth Curry. But Utah was calm. Utah, which had run by 19 points in the middle of the quarter, threw cold water on Portland's chase. With about three minutes left in the quarter, Portland eventually lifted the white flag, inviting the main players to the bench.
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