New Sixer Thomas Robinson had 11 points and 12 rebounds.
By Mary Cunningham
You don’t win many NBA games when you only score 83 points, as the Sixers did last night at the Wells.
Gordon Hayward scored 25 points to lead the Utah Jazz to an 89-83 win after entering the game having held opponents to an NBA-low 83 points per game since the All-Star break.
They had no trouble putting the clamps on the 76ers, who entered with the NBA’s worst offensive output at 90.7 points per game.
Derrick Favors had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Rudy Gobert added nine points and 15 rebounds for Utah (25-36), which has won eight of 11.
Isaiah Canaan scored 16 points to pace the 76ers, who opened a five-game homestand by dropping their fourth straight and ninth in 10 games. Thomas Robinson added 11 points and 12 rebounds, and Luc Mbah a Moute and Ish Smith scored 14 points apiece for Philadelphia.
The 76ers (13-49) hold the NBA’s second-worst record with only the idle Knicks (12-48) more futile.
”As a team, I thought that there was something just a little bit flat tonight,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said.
”I think that their defense was very good,” he said.
Philly took a 47-41 lead early in the second half on JaKarr Sampson’s 3-pointer. But the Jazz got their offense going, scoring 11 of the next 14 points to take a 52-50 lead with 5:31 left in the third period on Favors’ layup while holding the 76ers in check. Utah finished the scoring in the quarter on Elijah Millsap’s bank shot with one minute remaining to take its largest lead of the game to that point, 64-55, into the fourth quarter.
The 76ers shot 5 for 18 from the field in the third quarter.
Utah slowly increased its margin in the fourth quarter, with Hayward’s 18-footer with 6:02 left giving the Jazz a 75-63 lead. Their advantage grew to as many as 14 points, and the Jazz had no trouble holding on.
Philly shot 10 for 32 (31.3 percent) from beyond the arc.
Canaan set career highs with 31 points and eight 3-pointers in Philadelphia’s 123-118 overtime loss at Oklahoma City on Wednesday in his seventh game since joining the 76ers in the trade that sent Michael Carter-Williams to Milwaukee.
