Did Utah win? 23rd Edition: Thunder too loud for Jazz
Welcome to the lazy Utahn’s recap of the most recent Utah Jazz game. Do you want to talk to your friends about the game, impress them with cool stats, and act like you watch all 82 games like a true die hard even if you didn’t catch the big game last night? We got you covered in this simplistic breakdown of each topic that may arise from the latest Utah Jazz showdown.
Another road game another loss I’m assuming? Did Utah win?
Well, you know what they say about assuming right? When you “assume” that the Jazz lost, you’re most likely correct.
Last night you were certainly correct.
Another game, another drubbing at the hands of the opponent. Utah fell to Oklahoma City 134-120, a generous final score when compared to the actual game.
The injury report still featured a certain Lauri Markkanen, and starting Power Forward, John Collins was added late as well with an illness. With Walker Kessler missing as well due to foot issues, the Jazz were much shorter and as a byproduct, much less threatening.
Add to the fact, Utah was on the road, a place where embarrassing defeat is all but a given these days. Utah is now 1-11 away from the Delta Center with 21 points being the average road margin of defeat in the last 5 games away.
The Jazz have dropped six straight road games, and three straight games overall, their third longest losing streak of the season. The Jazz are proud owners of two different streaks of losing 4 straight.
The Grizzlies, Trail Blazers and Spurs are all just as bad, so Utah somehow remains 12th in the West at 7-16 on the year.
As disappointing as another loss is…. wasn’t this one somewhat expected?
I’m never one to point out “well, Utah never had a chance” or to cite a “scheduled loss” but yes, Utah was at a severe disadvantage.
Not due to rest or anything as serious as that, but injuries to key players combined with an already atrocious team typically don’t yield ideal results.
Starting new blood can be good at times, but few teams scrap harder than the Oklahoma City Thunder. OKC is as talented as they are young and it certainly shown.
The Thunder are as in tune with one another as a team can be as all 5 starters scored in double digits.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went 12/17 for 30 points. Jalen Willimas had 15, and rookie sensation Chet Holmgren was 6/9 for 16 points and 8 rebounds.
Josh Giddey nearly recorded a triple double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assist.
Ousmane Dieng took 7 shots and had 18 points.
You get the theme here, it’s difficult to locate a Thunder rotational player who performed poorly.
The Jazz trailed by 36 going into the 4th quarter and it’s clear that this team is just so much worse than what many, myself included, initially were anticipating before the season started, injuries aside.
This process of thought would have likely been more grounded if Jazz fans didn’t witness such a scrappy team of misfits last year who played hard and played for each other.
Although not illustrious, most teams don’t hit the hard rebuild button by trading away multiple All-Stars and a majority of the roster and end up winning 37 games like Utah did last year.
Ask any Thunder fan, rebuilds take some time. This is the first year since the Thunder went all in on a rebuild where they have seen the fruits of their tanking efforts. They won 22 games in 2020-2021 and won 24 in 2021-2022.
OKC went a much improved 40-42 last season and even won a postseason play-in game before finishing with the 9 seed.
That example is primarily focused on what Utah can do if they play their cards right. It can also take longer than three years. The Charlotte Hornets have been rebuilding for what feels like decades and haven’t made the postseason since 2015-2016.
Talk to any fans of the Thunder, the Hornets, the Pistons or the Magic to name a few. Ask what keeps them tuning in, and you’ll notice it becomes less and less about wins and losses and more about player development.
That’s not a term overly familiar to fans in Utah who have been blessed with a historically winning franchise (regular season of course).
For OKC last year it was all about watching Shai Gilgeous-Alexander grow game by game or witnessing Jalen Williams evolve into a constant threat.
Welcome to a true rebuild Jazz fans, last year was a limbo oddity of a year. This year, we best be getting used to that player development watching.
So, who’s our SGA or Jalen Williams to watch develop as we keep losing?
Any Jazz fan who’s stayed slightly in the loop would know that Keyonte George has been that shiny new piece ever since Summer League tipped off in SLC.
George did his best summer league impression by copying Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with a 30-point night.
He and SGA led all scorers, and both had 7 assists. Shai had an extra board, a couple more steals and a few less turnovers, but any Jazz fan would be thrilled if you told them the 16th pick from Baylor would be putting up Gilgeous-Alexander numbers 23 games into his career.
George’s 17 shot attempts were the most on the team, and it should remain that way as long as Utah keeps struggling and Lauri Markkanen remains out. Let the young players cook, find rhythm and become what they can for future years where Utah may have a puncher chance.
Taylor Hendricks is the other rookie, and Utah’s lottery pick that fans have their eye on. Hendricks is relatively new to this whole “getting playing time” thing, but every single game the project from UCF has done something that illustrates his potential.
The Jazz were a plus 5 with Hendricks on the floor as he went 3/6 for 8 points. He flashed some defensive chops, had a block and made Jazz fans a bit more invested in what he may do with more time, confidence and opportunity.
Simone Fontecchio continued to prove his role as an NBA contributor by netting 19 on 11 tries while going 3/6 from downtown. The craziest stat of all however may be his 4 swats.
Simone is not the young exciting rookie that George or even Hendricks is, but Utah found a valuable piece who can help the team when they become competitive or who can be useful to another team while the Jazz stockpile assets.
For what its worth, Simone looks like the only player over 26 years old who has stability on this roster moving forward.
Collin Sexton is also deserving of a shout out with his 54 percent shooting night. Sexton had 20 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and no turnovers. He also got to the line six times, which were the most free throws attempted by a Jazz player.
Luka Samanic added some more pretty statistics in garbage time going 6/10 with 14 points and 7 rebounds (team high) in 17 minutes of action. Lesser quality opponents equal lesser defense, but its still nice to see Samanic be impactful when he steps off the bench.
Jordan Clarkson, Kelly Olynyk, and Talen Horton-Tucker combined to go 7/25 rendering the veterans’ contributions meaningless.
Ochai Agbaji had 3 steals and 2 assists but couldn’t score but one bucket on 4 attempts.
Kris Dunn got the second highest number of minutes for a Jazz guard and responded with 7 assists (team high) and 6 rebounds (2nd on team) as he, George and Samanic finished as the only Jazz players with a positive +/-.
I guess I won’t take this loss too hard, and I’ll try to accept the tank for what it is. Can you show me a cool highlight?
As far as singular highlights go, none of them are worth more than this montage of George getting buckets. Check it out:
What’s the stat of the day Dan?
I don’t have a stat; everything sucks and I used up all the good stuff for the article. I can tell you the Jazz are 26th in both offensive and defensive rating so enjoy that juicy tidbit.
Who do we evaluate our future against next?
Utah is home for their first matchup with New York tomorrow night to take on the Knicks.
The game is set for 7:00 tip off and will be 80’s night, so be sure to save that information to your floppy disk.
New York is 13-9 on the season and is 6-4 in their last ten games.
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