The Portland Trail Blazers had a tremendous first half, but wilted after halftime in a 122-103 loss to the first place Utah Jazz on Thursday night in Salt Lake City. Buoyed by the return of Jusuf Nurkic and leading by three at the break, they were outscored 69-47 in the second half en route to the blowout defeat.
Donovan Mitchell led the charge with 37 points for the Jazz, who also got a tremendous performance from Rudy Gobert, who finished with 18 points and 21 rebounds. Damian Lillard led the Blazers in scoring with 23 points, but struggled to find a rhythm in the second half, finishing just 3-12 from three-point land.