Did Utah Win? 45th Edition: Mardi Gras turns into Mardi Loss
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.
Did Utah Win?
If the cheesy title didn’t give it away, no Utah didn’t win.
The Jazz were embarrassed in front of dozens of Pelicans fans at Smoothie King Arena, 153-124
The new and improved Jazz, who went two games above .500 only a week ago, have now dropped three straight and find themselves with a losing record one more time.
Competition has certainly been bolder, with the current #1 seed in the West in Oklahoma City, the Rockets who are formidable in the Toyota Center, and a top 5 West team in New Orleans.
The Thunder loss was Utah’s best loss of the season, competing to the very end against a great team.
Utah spotted Houston 19 points, rallied, only to lose in overtime. The Jazz have only themselves to blame as they were given multiple chances to walk away from H-town with a W.
Things have gone from passable (OKC), to disappointing (HOU), to straight up unacceptable.
Utah allowed another team to make history:
I’m pretty sure that’s more points than fans present for the Pelicans.
Utah is now 22-23. Still 10th in the West and tied with the Lakers for the 9 seed while sitting three games behind the 8th seed Mavericks.
What went so wrong? They were playing so well.
It’s a coalition of things that have added up over the last three losses.
The defense has become more laxed, the bench has struggled, and the Jazz have lacked the same discipline that made them formidable.
153 points is the highest total the Jazz have surrendered in a game this year, worse than anything they did when they looked like a bottom feeder.
The last three losses have seen opponents shoot 51.5 from the field and 42.7 from deep.
In the last three games, each opponent has had a player go for 30 points or more. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dropped 31, Alperen Sengun had 37, and CJ McCollum had 33.
That’s just the statistical proof that Utah has been soft during this drought, Coach Hardy had more to say on the matter post-game:
Utah has stayed consistent when it comes to scoring at 127.5 in the last three games. That’s beyond respectable, but the defense has been beyond laughable, putting Utah on the wrong side of the final score.
Any particular player show up last night?
Yes. CJ McCollum did. CJ knocked down 33 on 11/17 shooting with 9 made triples.
Herb Jones went 8/9 for 22 points going a perfect 4/4 from downtown.
Brandon Ingram had 18. Zion Williamson had 17. Jonas Valanciunas had 17.
If you were a Pelican starter you finished with double digit scoring.
For the bench unit Trey Murphy had 14 and Larry Nance had 12.
No, I meant for the Jazz.
Of course.
Collin Sexton showed up as he has every night for weeks now. Sexton’s passion shown through once again leading the Jazz with 22 points, going 9/12.
Sexton led the team with 7 assists and hit two threes along the way.
Fans may be questioning if Utah’s recent success was legitimate, but they don’t have to question if Sexton’s recent play is a fluke. Win or lose, Sexton has been as legit as could be.
Simone Fontecchio was your 2nd leading scorer (not a good sign) with 18 points and 5 threes to his name.
His 66.7 percent shooting night may give Jazz nation some hope that his recent offensive struggles are about to be put to rest.
Your typical scorers struggled heavily.
Lauri Markkanen had 11 points, his second lowest total of the season and took 15 shots to get there. Credit to the Pelicans defense, they were in Lauri’s head nonstop.
Same goes for Jordan Clarkson who scored 9 points on 9 tries and looked uninterested throughout with two turnovers, 1 rebound and 1 assist.
John Collins led the way in glass cleaning with 9 total boards and scored 14 for a balanced effort.
Kris Dunn somehow, someway in a 29-point drubbing ended as a +2. Dunn was 4/7 for 10 points and 4 assists with three boards.
At least in games like this, we can look forward to the youth movement, right?
Eh, not so much.
Adding Hendricks and Sensabaugh to this tweet was a slight jab as neither were with the team, when we wanted them to be getting minutes, but it proves that it wasn’t a great youth night.
It got a bit better as Keyonte George ended as the leading bench scorer.
Interestingly enough, George only hit one field goal going 1/8, but got to the line 10 times and hit 9 of them to pair with his one three ball. He also chipped in 5 assists.
Walker Kessler, still not recovered from getting bullied by Sengun in Houston, was a team high/low -26 in a game where the Jazz desperately needed someone not named Kris Dunn to play defense.
Kessler would finish with 6 points, 4 blocks, and 5 rebounds.
Ochai Agbaji had 5 points and hit his one three.
Kelly Olynyk went 4/5 for 9 points, 3 boards and 2 dimes but played less minutes than any rotation player at 14.
This game was so bad, that Coach Hardy broke character by putting in Talen Horton-Tucker for the first time in 9 games.
Horton-Tucker didn’t miss a beat going 2/7 in 8 minutes for 8 points behind 4 made free throws.
Let’s forget about this one. Do you got a highlight?
Loved this take from John Collins.
Do you have a stat other than we got our butt kicked?
No stat, but here were the ticket prices in New Orleans prior to tip off for a very competent basketball team in the Pelicans:
Can we snap out of it next time through?
The odds are in Utah’s favor to get back to .500 as they continue their road trip with game three in Washington.
The Wizards are 7-35 on the year, have lost 4 straight, and are 1-9 in their last ten.
Even if the Jazz are trying to nail down who they truly are, they should be favored in D.C come the 5:00 tip off time this Thursday, the 25th.
More From Sports Radio 97.7
