The Utah Jazz dropped an airtight contest to the Memphis Grizzlies in chaotic fashion last night by a score of 119-118. A goaltending call on Rudy Gobert was overturned in the dying seconds of the game, resulting in a center court jump ball. Surprisingly, Jaren Jackson Jr won the tip over Rudy Gobert, and then he added insult to injury by hitting the winning three.
This was not a game in which the Utah Jazz can identify a single reason for their loss. Any game decided by a single point never really is. Furthermore, most of the Jazz’s regular rotation players actually turned in quality performances. This piece could easily be 4 studs and 2 duds if we thought that anybody was likely to read 2500 words.
Nonetheless, the Jazz lost, and they now sit at 11-6 on the season. That’s enough to place them third in the standings, but the gap between them and the 14-3 Phoenix Suns is considerably wider than the gap between the Jazz and the fourth seeded Los Angeles Clippers (10-7).
The wolves are at the gate, and we’re not talking about the ones in Minnesota. Although, at 9-8, even the Pups are in reaching distance of the Jazz. The West is wide open, and the Jazz will need to win games a little more consistently if they wish to distinguish themselves as one of the elite teams in the conference.
They weren’t able to come away with a W last night, but they fought to the end and mostly executed. Here are two studs and one dud from their efforts.