In a showcase of terrible defense, the Sacramento Kings lost to our loveable and upstart Utah Jazz team tonight 119-128. This Sacramento team is going nowhere fast and clearly seem to be sellers…Demar Derozan, Zach Lavine, Domantas Sabonis, and probably anyone else not named Keegan Murray could or should find themselves with new jerseys by the trade deadline. That is, if anyone wants them. With that being said, Zach Lavine played will with 34 points and 4 three pointers, and Murray continues to look great for the team.
This also happened to be a Group A matchup for the NBA cup that didn’t matter, since both teams are 0-3 and already eliminated.
The Jazz continue to look okay in spurts, but struggle to hold leads. After jumping out to a decent lead by the end of the 1st quarter, Utah did let Sactown slowly come back, and it would’ve looked a lot worse if Sacramento had been able to find a consistent offense.
This game was another dominant one for Lauri Markkanen (28 points, but only 2-13 from three) with rising star Keyonte George providing fantastic point guard play, shooting well and putting up a stat line of 31 points 6 assists and 5 rebounds. The biggest story of the season at this point, Key is looking to hold on to the lead ball-handler role and continues to withstand both Isaiah Collier and Walter Clayton Jr (the duo continue to look solid in limited minutes as first guards off the bench). Tonight was a fantastic showing for the young Jazzman.
A couple of bigs were shooting well and rebounding well off the bench for most of this one. Kevin Love was stroking the three and Kyle Filipowski is looking better each game. Unfortunately, Jazz rookie phenom Ace Bailey went out early in this game with a right knee contusion and did not return to play. He ended the game with 17 min and 5 points as a starter. Brice Sensabaugh seems to have found his stroke again and caught fire in the 2nd half, ending the game with 20 points on 6-11 shooting (2-5 from three).
Another storyline of this season continues to be which young guys can find consistency on a night-to-night basis and show that they undeniably belong in the core of this team moving forward. Lauri, if not traded, has solidified his spot. Kessler as well. Keyonte is becoming more and more difficult to write-off, with defense and shooting consistency being his biggest weaknesses. The rest of these young fellas have struggled to find that needed consistency, with Ace Bailey the one showing the most promise. Taylor Hendricks, John Tonje, and Cody Williams could eventually show a little more, but are currently serving a much-needed stint in the G League with the SLC Stars.
Utah does not want to win, however. That much has become clear. As long as we are playing the youth, remaining competitive, and losing close games…this season will be a success. Anything else added on to that will be gravy (Keyonte breakout is gravy at this point). This would be a terrible draft to give up a top pick as most of the freshmen in college basketball are having historic seasons. A top 10 pick would do wonders for the future of this team.
I’m just happy the Jazz are fun to watch and the young guys are playing hard. It’s fun to see vets like Kevin Love, Svi, and Kyle Anderson providing that mentoring this team has so desperately needed.
The Jazz will be at it again on Sunday afternoon in the Delta Center against a fantastic Houston Rockets team.
