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76ers-Jazz Best Worst: Hill, Covington and another 4th-quarter meltdown

    by Keith Pompey
    Published 

SALT LAKE CITY – My look at some of the best and worst performances and happenings from the Utah Jazz's 100-83 victory over the 76ers on Thursday night at the Vivint Smart Home Arena:

Best performance: I had to give this to George Hill. The Jazz point guard finished with a game-high 21 points in his first game back since Nov. 29 due to a toe injury. Thirteen of his points came in the fourth quarter on 5-for-5 shooting. He shot 8-for-10 for the game and had game highs of six assists and three steals to go with two turnovers and one blocked shot.

Worst performance: There's no way that Robert Covington could have avoided receiving this award. The Sixers small forward had a hard time shooting and defending on this night. He missed all 11 of his shot attempts – including going 0-for-7 on three-pointers – en route to finishing with one point. Meanwhile, he surrendered 20 points to Gordon Hayward and graded out with a minus-18.

Best defensive performance:  Rudy Gobert has to get this. He blocked two shots, both on Nik Stauskas attempts. In addition to that, Gobert finished with two steals. The Jazz center also had nine points and 13 rebounds.

Best performance by a Sixer: Ersan Ilyasova gets this one. The Sixers power forward finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds and one assist for his sixth double-double of the season. He made 7 of 13 shots – including going 2-for-4 on three-pointers. Four of his rebounds came on the offensive end.

Worst statistic: This goes to Utah's free-throw shooting. The Jazz made 15 of 28 foul shots for 53.6 percent.

Best statistic: I'm giving this to Utah's three-point shooting. It made 15 of 26 threes for 57.7 percent.

Worst of the worst: This goes to the Sixers' fourth-quarter performance. They had another one of their late meltdowns. This one happened from the start of the quarter.  The Jazz opened up with a 21-2 run. The Sixers were held to just nine points in the quarter after making just 4 of 23 shots and missing seven of eight threes.

Follow and contact 76ers beat writer Keith Pompey on Twitter and on Instagram at PompeyOnSixers.