NBAxNBL: Utah Jazz thrash Perth Wildcats, but win praise from Aussie NBA guard Dante Exum
MELBOURNE-BORN NBA guard Dante Exum says the NBL's transcontinental journey to the NBA is "good for the game in Australia" despite his Utah Jazz handing out a 58-point shellacking of an undermanned Perth Wildcats. RECAP
MELBOURNE-BORN NBA guard Dante Exum says the NBL's transcontinental journey to the NBA is "good for the game in Australia" despite his Utah Jazz handing out a 58-point shellacking of an undermanned Perth Wildcats.
Utah stormed out of the blocks with a 44-13 opening quarter that effectively put the game to bed, but Exum says the Wildcats competed to the last minute in the 130-72 result.
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"Obviously we beat them by a lot, but they're competitors and they played to the last minute of this game, so hats off to them," Exum said after the game.
"It's a really good experience (to play against an Australian team) and I think just (good) for the game to grow back home."
While fellow Aussie Joe Ingles missed the game with injury, Exum dealt a game-high six assists in 21 minutes as part of a second unit that got 19 points from rookie Grayson Allen on debut and 18 from Alec Burks.
"When the second group came in we tried to push the ball as much as possible and Grayson had a great game, able to shoot the ball, and AB (Burks) (was) doing AB things," Exum said.
"We've got good depth this year and hopefully we continue to grow on that."
The 23-year-old's 2017-18 campaign was wrecked by injury, but the Jazz have high expectations after inking him to a three-year, $US33 million deal in the offseason.
Towering centre Rudy Gobert (14 points, nine rebounds) started the rot with eight early points as part of a 15-0 run from tipoff as Perth struggled to get anything going without injured captain Damien Martin and big man Angus Brandt. It took the Wildcats four-and-a-half minutes to make their first bucket.
The Western Australians were outclassed on both ends of the floor, allowing the Jazz to shoot 53 per cent from the field, while managing just 26 per cent at the other end.
If imports Bryce Cotton and Terrico White where hoping to impress an NBA club, they did themselves no favours. White went 3-16 from the floor for eight points, while Cotton came alive in the last, but still took 16 shots for his Wildcats-leading 14.
Perth will have to regroup quickly as they face the Denver Nuggets in Denver on Saturday morning.
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Originally published as NBAxNBL: Utah Jazz thrash Perth Wildcats, but win praise from Aussie NBA guard Dante Exum