The Utah Jazz didn’t have enough juice to squeeze out a road victory on their back-to-back against the Golden State Warriors, losing 117-134 to effectively drop them to a 5-12 record on the season.
It’s nothing completely unexpected on the Jazz’s behalf to be sinking deeper into the Western Conference standings, heading into the year, the general consensus for this group was to focus on development, young players, and draft odds, set to take on the ups and downs to come with it.
But for head coach Will Hardy, while there’s moments that times are bound to be tough like they were against the Warriors, especially defensively, the focus to try and fix those lapses on a nightly basis need to come with more urgency.
“Our team, we have to continue to focus on trying to take care of the things that we can, recognizing that in different moments of any NBA game, there’s gonna be spectacular plays made by the other team. We’re playing against the best players in the world. But we have to continue to address the things that are gonna be unacceptable for us defensively,” Hardy said after losing to the Warriors.
Will Hardy Wants Jazz to Focus on the Details
In a league like the NBA and for a young, developmental team like the Jazz, every night is bound to be a test with the type of talent on the other side of the floor. That becomes especially true when facing the Warriors in the Chase Center with Steph Curry leading the charge, who had 31 points and six on his behalf.
Games like that are no small task to take on, and in a back-to-back road trip, that becomes even tougher for this budding Jazz core. But at its core, that’s simply the grind of the league and the challenges that come with the job. Hardy has made it clear in the past how important it is to understand that the league is an every-night business.
Nov 18, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy reacts against the Los Angeles Lakers in the second quarter at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
The Jazz had a few positive performers to come out of another double-digit loss. Keyonte George continued to have his year-three hot hand with a 28-point outing. Ace Bailey had a career-high of 21 points and showed some nice flashes offensively as a collective.
But when it comes to the Jazz’s defensive consistency, turnover issues, and nightly intensity, those are factors that Will Hardy wants to see his group turning around, and if they can, the results can begin to fall in their favor.
“As a team right now, we have to continue to fight, to focus on taking care of a few simple things each night, and the rest will fall where it may.”
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