In easily the craziest game of the season so far, the Utah Jazz pulled out a close win against the Phoenix Suns in overtime 138-134.
The story of the game was Lauri Markkanen, who scored 51. It’s the first 50-point game for a Jazz player since Karl Malone in 1998.
Markkanen showed that with high-level point guard play, he can still be an elite scoring option off the ball. In this one, he shot 14/32 from the field, 6/13 from three (46.2%), and was 17/17 from the free throw line. He also grabbed 14 rebounds and 3 assists.
Speaking of high-level point guard play, Keyonte George is becoming the guard the Jazz are looking for. He was fantastic, scoring 26 points and dishing 10 assists. He still needs to figure out the shooting (he was just 2/9 from three), but he was a solid 8/18 from the field and went 8/8 from the free-throw line. George is also playing bettter defense when he’s on the floor. It’s great to see him come this far. It also has to be said that he is finally being given the opportunity to run the offense without players like Jordan Clarkson and Collin Sexton taking all the shots and controlling every aspect of the offense. It is also very apparent that Lauri Markkanen is benefiting a great deal from George’s high-level play.
It has to be said that this was against a Suns team that was missing Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green. It took everything the Jazz had to win and probably foreshadows some struggles down the road. Utah’s bench came in and struggled to stop the Suns, who clawed back from a 20-point deficit in the first quarter. Brice Sensabaugh struggled mightily in this one, going 1/5 from the floor and 0/4 from three. He was a team worst -25 and ended up with just 11 minutes.
Speaking of low minutes, the Jazz continue not to prioritize Ace Bailey. It’s a confusing experience for fans who were very excited to watch Bailey play, only to see Svi Mykhailiuk get all of his minutes. And it’s not that Mykhailiuk isn’t playing well, he was a team-leading +28 and had a 50/40/100 line. But there’s something weird about the message that is being sent. Will Hardy clearly wants to win and doesn’t think that playing Ace Bailey with the starters will lead to wins. He’s probably right in the short term. Mykhailiuk is shooting it well and looks like he makes all the right decisions in Will Hardy’s offense. But for fans, it feels strange. The excitement to see Ace Bailey was palpable before the season. His play in the preseason was electric at times, but with Lauri Markkanen and all the starters back, he’s been put in the back seat. But that hasn’t stopped the Jazz from marketing him. Multiple posts are showing him as if he’s playing.
Before the game, they released this video with Thurl Bailey.
And then he plays 13 minutes and sits in the corner for most of the game. Is he sick? Is he hurt? More likely, it’s that Will Hardy doesn’t believe playing him is going to help the team get a win right now. So we’re left in this weird conundrum, and it’s not clear when that will change. It may be a while before Jazz fans get to see Ace Bailey play regularly. Who knows when that change will come, but the Jazz have set themselves up for some uncomfortable choices soon. They’re “playing to win” but not exactly dominating good teams. Tyler Gillespie was an important part of this Suns team, and they barely won; they couldn’t beat the Kings close and beat up on a lazy Clippers team in the opener. Maybe the Jazz get better from here, but there are likely some tough decisions ahead.
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