The Utah Jazz ended up losing by a large margin to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 144-112. It was a tale of two halves for the Jazz, who looked like two different teams before and after halftime.
The Jazz came out hot in the first half, hitting threes at an insane clip. No one was hotter than Kevin Love, who hit three in a row at one point, putting the Jazz up by double digits.
Utah got another solid performance from Keyonte George, who had 20 points, 8 assists, and continues to play at an MIP level. Lauri Markkanen came back to earth in this one, scoring just 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists. Who knew we’d be at a point with Markkanen that a stat line like that would be disappointing?
It’s also time to give Ace Bailey a lot of credit for his development. Bailey was a +3 in this massive loss and continues to show significant signs of future success. In this one, Bailey was 6/9 from the field, 3/5 from three for 15 points. He also grabbed 2 rebounds, tossed around 3 assists, and 3 steals. Bailey has a lot of development needed, but his baseline of play right now is exciting. He continues to show great signs every night and gives an eye-popping highlight every game.
The biggest issue for this Jazz team is the defense. There are times when they just aren’t able to make stops and opposing teams get too many easy buckets. The issue lies in the talent on the floor. There just aren’t a lot of high-level defenders on this Jazz team that get major minutes. Ace Bailey has his moments, but you can’t expect a rookie to carry the load defensively.
Utah now sits at 5-10 for the season and has some decisions to make. They’re currently sitting at 10th in lottery position, which would give their pick to the Thunder if that’s how everything ended. At some point, the Jazz have to decide how they want to secure their pick. Will they start looking at making strategic resting? Will they make a trade? Something has to happen because you can tell this team is missing another piece that could take them over the top.
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