Utah hands Memphis first home loss of NBA season

Joe Ingles scored 19 points to lead the visiting Utah Jazz to a 96-88 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies , who lost for the first time at home this NBA season.

The Jazz (7-6), who had hit an early-season rough patch but are now playing better since star guard Donovan Mitchell returned from an ankle injury, have won three straight.

Utah trailed 43-40 at halftime of Monday night’s game at the FedExForum in Memphis and then went down 62-56 with 4:43 left in the third quarter when Wayne Selden scored on a running dunk off an assist from point guard Mike Conley Jr.

But the Jazz then closed out the third quarter on an 18-7 run to take a 74-69 lead.

Two bench players played key roles for Utah during that momentum-changing stretch, with Alec Burks and Jae Crowder scoring five points apiece.

The Grizzlies kept battling and cut the lead to two points with 5:45 remaining in the fourth quarter on a pair of free throws by Shelvin Mack .

But Jazz center Rudy Gobert and Ingles dominated the remainder of the contest, scoring eight and seven points, respectively, to account for all of Utah’s points in a 15-9 game-ending run.

Gobert finished with the game with 15 points, 16 rebounds and, as always, was a major defensive presence, ending the contest with three blocked shots.

Ingles led Utah with 19 points and also had six rebounds and five assists.

Mitchell, the Jazz’s leading scorer this season at 21.4 points per game, had a quiet game and finished with just 12 points.

The Grizzlies (7-5) got a big night from Conley, who scored a game-high 24 points.