NBA: Enes Kanter's Glorious Night

In NBA's Turkish night, Enes Kanter was the key player of Utah's bench that scored 45 of the team's total points and collected more than half of the team's rebounds.

Utah's bigs had a heyday near the rim as Al Jefferson recorded 19 points and 11 rebounds and Paul Millsap had 19 points and six boards. Enes Kanter came off the bench to record 17 points, nine rebounds and a career-high five blocked shots.

Ersan İlyasova and Brandon Jennings each scored 17 points for the Bucks, who couldn't hold on to a double-digit lead for the third straight time in a road game. Jennings scored 12 of his points and Ilyasova had 11 in the first half. Samuel Dalembert, coming off a career night in which he scored 35 points in a loss at Denver, was held to 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting. He finished with 11 rebounds and four blocks.

"I thought he was great," Corbin, the head coach of the Jazz, told the reporters on Kanter after the game. "I thought he did a great job of giving us energy from the [first] time he stepped on the floor. I thought he made some great moves on the offensive end."

Four nights earlier in Portland, Kanter had a dreadful night, going 0 for 7 from the field in a loss to the Blazers. But Corbin said he never lost confidence in his big man. “He’s really embraced who he is and on this team the guys are understanding who he is and that he has a role,’’ he said. “He’ll continue to work and continue to grow.’’ “He knows how to position himself to be big inside and to get an offensive rebound.’’ he added.

"He hit the sophomore wall, as I call it, but he bounced back," Jazz starting center Al Jefferson said of Kanter's recent struggles. "I just told him to start relaxing and just let the game come to him. That's what he did. "Everybody knows he's mad talented. Everyone knows what he can do. Sometimes your body just doesn't want to agree with your mind. Sometimes you've just got to fight through it, and I think he did that."

Kanter simply shrugged off his strong play, saying, “I just tried to do my job. The coach gave me the opportunity and I just played. I was just trying to help my team and trying to win the game.’’ (http://www.trt-world.com)