Jazz 111, Pelicans 105
SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah Jazz picked up their first win of the season with a come-from-behind 111-105 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night at EnergySolutions Arena.
Shooting guard Gordon Hayward led three Jazz players with 20-plus points by scoring a team-high 27 and adding 10 assists as Utah snapped its eight-game losing streak to start the season.
Forward Anthony Davis led all scorers with 29 points and 15 rebounds, but the Pelicans (3-6) fell for the third time on a road trip. New Orleans was blasted in Los Angeles 116-95 by the Lakers on Tuesday night while the Jazz (1-8) rested following a five-games-in-seven-nights stretch.
Small forward Richard Jefferson scored nine of his 22 points in the third quarter and sparked Utah's second-half comeback. Center Enes Kanter had 21 points and 10 rebounds for Utah, while power forward Derrick Favors contributed 12 points and 12 boards in the Jazz's first win since the penultimate game of the 2012-13 season in April.
Utah trailed by 16 points early in the second half and took a timeout only one minute and 24 seconds after coming out of the locker room.
Shortly after that timeout, Utah turned the tide and eventually tied the game at 70-70 after a 10-0 run.
Davis gave the Pelicans an 85-78 lead in the fourth quarter with a pair of free throws before Utah started chipping away at the lead.
Hayward tied it back up at 87-87 as the Jazz went on a game-changing 9-2 run.
That Hayward bucket was set up by a steal from new Jazz point guard Diante Garrett, who got the ball to the fourth-year shooting guard on the fast break.
Garrett, signed by the Jazz earlier in the day, finished with seven points, five assists and four turnovers in a surprising 22 minutes. He played in crunch time in the fourth quarter after Utah's starting point guard, John Lucas III, was benched following an 0-for-7 first-half shooting performance.
Marvin Williams put the Jazz up for good with a putback basket, giving Utah a 98-97 lead it was able to hold onto in front of a charged crowd of 16,717. Williams had 12 points and nine rebounds and sank a 3-pointer to extend the Jazz's lead to 104-100.
In the first half, the Pelicans didn't look like they were the team playing a third game in four nights. Gordon scored 13 points before the break and the visitors shot a blistering 55 percent to take a 55-45 lead into halftime.
NOTES: PG Jamaal Tinsley's second stint with the Jazz lasted less than three weeks. The veteran was waived by the organization Tuesday after being signed Oct. 26 in the wake of rookie PG Trey Burke's broken finger. ... The Jazz filled Tinsley's vacant roster spot Wednesday by signing D-League PG Diante Garrett, who was in camp with the Iowa Energy. "I couldn't believe it at first and then I got really excited," said Garrett, who was at Walmart when he got the call from his agent Monday night. Garrett played 19 games for the Phoenix Suns in 2012-13 and was cut from Oklahoma City's roster a few days before this season began. ... Pelicans general manager Dell Demps and Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey previously worked together in San Antonio. Demps and Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin also worked with each other on the New York Knicks' staff earlier in their careers.
