The Utah Jazz lost to the Charlotte Hornets Monday night, with a final score of 106-110.
Tonight’s loss was an important game in the tank-off between the Jazz and Hornets. With this loss, Utah stands an entire 3.5 games ahead of Charlotte for worst place and maintains their slight edge over the Washington Wizards. The Jazz only have six games remaining this season to hold on to the best odds at a top-five pick in the draft.
The Hornets were led by Miles Bridges, who scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Center Mark Williams pushed Charlotte over the top in the fourth quarter, ending the game with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Veterans Jusuf Nurkic and Josh Green chipped in a combined 24 points.
For Utah, with nine players featured on the injury report, this game featured most of their end-of-rotation pieces. A few bright spots included:
Brice Sensabaugh’s 5-10 shooting from three. Despite remaining a liability on defense, Sensabaugh has shot the leather off the ball since the All-Star break. If this type of shooting continues, Sensabaugh has a real path to sticking around the league.
Oscar Tshiebwe’s rebounding. Although Tshiebwe remains extraordinarily unskilled in many facets of the game, he might be the best rebounder in the NBA. Tshiebwe collected 11 rebounds, six of which were offensive.
Isaiah Collier breaking the franchise rookie-season assist record. With his 416th assist of the season, Collier passed John Stockton’s nearly 40-year franchise rookie record. While this assist total doesn’t even rank in the top-50 for rookie seasons totals in the NBA all-time, it does show that the Jazz have placed a lot of trust in Collier, something they haven’t done all too often with young guards before.
The Jazz come home on Wednesday to take on the Portland Trailblazers.