Ranking the top 5 Utah Jazz games from the 2022-23 season

Jazz spoil Donovan Mitchell’s return to Utah

While the first two games on this list made the cut because of the individual performances of Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler, this game starts a line of three that make the list because of how intense they were.

Last summer, the Jazz reset the roster, trading Donovan Mitchell—their franchise player of five years—to the Cleveland Cavaliers. So, when Mitchell returned to Utah for his first game back since being moved, all eyes turned to the matchup.

Utah had lost their first game against Mitchell earlier in the season when they traveled to Cleveland, but on January 10, 2023, they got their revenge. (Evidently, January was a great month for the Jazz.)

It was a very back-and-forth game, with Utah going up big in the third and Cleveland marching back to take a seven-point lead in the fourth.

With 1:23 to go in the game, the Cavaliers were up by five points. Jordan Clarkson nailed a three, got fouled, and it was deemed a flagrant 1. Clarkson was then fouled on another three-point attempt and hit all three free throws.

Including Clarkson’s four free throws from those two sequences, the Jazz attempted 10 free throws in the final 1:23, making nine of them. All in all, Utah delivered an absurd 10-0 run in under a minute.

In the end, the Jazz earned a 116-114 win, with Mitchell draining a three as time expired to make the final score appear closer than it was. Not only did the Jazz go on an insane run to win the game, but they spoiled Mitchell’s 46-point night.