Dennis Schroder scored 27 off the bench to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 104-90 win over the Utah Jazz on Monday night in Salt Lake City.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 20 points and Chris Paul had 16 points and seven assists for the Thunder, who overcame 26 points from Utah's Donovan Mitchell.
The Thunder came into the game with a couple factors working against them.
First, they were without a pair of starters. Terrance Ferguson missed his third consecutive game due to right hip soreness while Danilo Gallinari missed a game for the first time this season after sustaining a left ankle sprain.
Oklahoma City was also playing on the second night of a back-to-back set after winning at Portland on Sunday.
The Thunder have won three consecutive games for the first time this season, and five victories in their past six games has moved them within one game of .500 at 11-12.
Utah fell for the sixth time in the past eight games.
While Schroder and Gilgeous-Alexander had big offensive nights for Oklahoma City, it was the Thunder defense that set the tone. Utah's 90 points tied the fewest scored against Oklahoma City this season.
The Jazz had scored 90 or fewer points just once previously. Utah never scored more than 24 points in any quarter Monday.
Oklahoma City took control in the third quarter, outscoring the Jazz 34-21. The Thunder built their lead as big as 22 points.
Aside from Mitchell, only two other Utah players scored in double figures. And even Mitchell's production was tough to come by, as he needed 25 shots to reach his point total. Mitchell was just 1 of 8 from behind the 3-point arc.
Rudy Gobert had 19 points and 17 rebounds for Utah, but his counterpart on the Thunder, Steven Adams, had 11 points and 13 rebounds. Jazz forward Bojan Bogdanovic scored 13 points.
Schroder has thrived on the second night of back-to-backs this season, averaging 27.5 points in four such games this season. However, Monday's game was the first time the Thunder won this season on the second night of a back-to-back.
With Gallinari sidelined, rookie Darius Bazley made his first career start. He finished with two points and seven rebounds in 26 minutes.
Utah was without point guard Mike Conley for the third consecutive game due to a strained left hamstring.
--Field Level Media
