Aaron Wiggins scored 35 and Isaiah Joe drained 10 3-pointers for 32 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Utah Jazz 145-111 Friday night in Salt Lake City.
With both teams relying on reserves, the Thunder (67-14) shot the lights out en route to a third straight win. They hit 56.0 percent from the field and made 24 of 53 3-pointers — Joe nailing 10 of 14 from deep — to go with 41 assists while improving to 4-0 versus Utah this season.
Svi Mykhailiuk registered a career-high with 27 points and five 3-pointers off the bench for the Jazz (17-64), who were coming off a rare win.
Utah, which went 17-for-63 from 3-point territory, lost for the 20th time in 22 games.
Jaylin Williams tallied a triple-double for the Thunder with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Kenrich Williams added 18 points, Adam Flagler scored 17 and Utah native Branden Carlson chipped in nine points in front of his hometown fans.
Along with being the home finale for Utah, the game was the final one in retiring Jazz P.A. announcer Dan Roberts’ 46 seasons. Roberts began announcing games in 1979 when the Jazz moved from New Orleans to Salt Lake City.
Brice Sensabaugh netted 25 points in the Jazz’s loss while Kyle Filipowski (15 points, 13 rebounds) and Oscar Tshiebwe (10 points, 14 rebounds) each notched double-doubles.
Wiggins hit a 3-pointer on the game’s first possession and the Thunder were off and running.
OKC opened on a 12-2 run. After the Jazz crept back within 29-24 three minutes later, the Thunder ended the quarter on a 17-10 surge.
Wiggins scored 14 in the first quarter to boost Oklahoma City to 46 points, tying its highest-point total for a quarter this season. The Thunder hit 17 of 25 shots with nine threes while taking a 12-point lead.
The offenses cooled off in the second quarter. OKC went into the locker room up 73-58 after hitting 14 of 30 3s and dishing out 23 assists compared to four turnovers.
The Thunder went on the attack again to begin the second half, going on an 8-0 run to seize a 90-64 lead on Joe’s sixth 3-pointer.
