Starting Line-ups
Kings
§ Luther Head
§ Tyreke Evans
§ Donté Greene
§ Carl Landry
§ Samuel Dalembert
Reserves: Beno Udrih, Francisco Garcia, DeMarcus Cousins, Jason Thompson, Omri Casspi, Darnell Jackson, Pooh Jeter.
Inactives: Hassan Whiteside, Antoine Wright.
Utah
§ Deron Williams
§ Raja Bell
§ Andrei Kirilenko
§ Paul Millsap
§ Al Jefferson
Reserves: C.J. Miles, Ronnie Price, Gordon Hayward, Francisco Elson, Kyrylo Fesenko, Jeremy Evans, Earl Watson.
First Quarter Recap
The Kings got on the board first when Donté Greene hit an 18 foot jumper from the left baseline on a draw and kick from Tyreke Evans. The pace of the game early was very deliberate with both teams struggling to put much offense on the board. At the mid-way point of the first, the Jazz led the Kings by one, 9-8.
Tyreke Evans continued to find an open Donté Greene all over the court for three early assists. DeMarcus Cousins entered the game with a little over a minute left in the quarter, grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it in for a quick two. The Kings led by two after the first quarter, holding the Jazz to just 37.5% shooting. If not for five early turnovers, the Kings could have led by more.
Kings 22 Jazz 20
Leaders
Kings- Landry (8) Points; Dalembert (6) Rebounds; Evans/Head (3) Assists.
Utah- Kirilenko (6) Points; Kirilenko (4) Rebounds; Williams (4) Assists.
Second Quarter Recap
Kings coach Paul Westphal went entirely to the bench in the second, even inserting second year small forward Omri Casspi into the line-up after back-to-back DNP-CDs. Casspi joined Garcia, Udrih, Thompson and Cousins on the floor, but after a series of turnovers by Beno Udrih and questionable jumpers by Cousins, the Kings fell behind quickly in the second. C.J. Miles came in and dropped 13 points in nine minutes to pace the Jazz, helping the second unit extend the lead to 11.
At the 3:58 mark, Tyreke Evans took a tough spill on the baseline, but he was able to return a minute later. Westphal went back to his starters and they quickly responded, shaving the Jazz lead to six at the two minute mark. The Jazz held the Kings to 32.6% shooting and forced the Kings into eight turnovers to push their lead back to twelve at the half.
Kings 37 Jazz 49
Leaders
Kings- Landry (8) Points; Dalembert (9) Rebounds; Evans/Head (3) Assists.
Jazz- Miles (13) Points; Kirilenko (4) Rebounds; Williams (4) Assists.
Team Kings Jazz
FG% 32.6% 44.4%
Rebounds 26 23
Assists/TO 9/8 12/2
Third Quarter Recap
The Jazz came out aggressive in the third, pushing the lead as high as 16 in the early moments of the quarter. Donté Greene picked up two very early and suspect fouls to push his total to four. Coach Westphal went to back to Omri Casspi and with the growing deficit, he replaced the defensive minded Samuel Dalembert with rookie DeMarcus Cousins for more offensive punch. Casspi responded with a quick elbow three to cut the Jazz lead to 11 at the 5:16 mark. That was one of the few bright spots in the quarter for the visiting Kings.
The Jazz finished the third with a 22 point lead, out-shooting the Kings 47.5% to 32.8% and leading the turnover battle 4-11.
Kings 56 Jazz 78
Leaders
Kings- Landry (12) Points; Dalembert (10) Rebounds; Head/Evans (4) Assists.
Utah- Miles (18) Points; Millsap (8) Rebounds; Williams (6) Assists.
Fourth Quarter Recap
The Kings got two long jumpers out of Francisco Garcia and Pooh Jeter to cut the Jazz lead below twenty, but the fourth quarter of this game was used to get young players some extra minutes. DeMarcus Cousins did a nice job getting to the free throw line, going eight of ten from the stripe and scoring 18 points overall. Pooh Jeter came in and ran the offense well, picking up four fourth quarter assists. The final score doesn’t tell the real story, the Jazz won by 11 in a laugher.
Kings 83 Jazz 94
Leaders
Kings- Cousins (18) Points; Dalembert (10) Rebounds; 3 players tied (4) Assists.
Jazz- Miles (20) Points; Millsap (9) Rebounds; Williams (9) Assists.
Team Kings Jazz
FG% 35.8% 44.7%
Rebounds 50 39
Assists/TO 18/15 20/7
Player of the Game: C.J. Miles. Wow. The 23-year-old wing scored all over the court, especially in the second quarter where he helped the Jazz open up a big lead with the starters on the bench. He finished with a line of 20 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and 2 blocks on 8-13 shooting. The Kings had no answer for C.J. and he did all of this damage in just 24 minutes of play.
The Difference Maker: Miles, in a sweep of the nightly awards. Al Jefferson had a nice game – Miles was not only the best player on the floor but he changed the outcome of the game with his strong play.
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