3 winners and losers from the Utah Jazz’s loss to the Sacramento Kings

Winners

Lauri Markkanen

Lauri Markkanen needs to do a better job on the perimeter. Steph Curry goes 5-7 on the night, you take it because it could’ve been 9-11. If Harrison Barnes goes 5-7 on the night, you have to start wondering where your life went wrong. It’s not all on Markkanen, team defense in the NBA never is all on one guy, but Markkanen has to play better on defense. Now, we say that to say this; he had a solid offensive night. He had a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, two steals an assist, and looked comfortable all night on offense. There are going to be nights like this from Markkanen on defense, as he’s not going to be as quick as every forward he faces, but he balanced out a shoddy defensive outing with a very solid offensive one.

John Collins

As with Lauri Markkanen, there were struggles from the defense and he and John Collins had to carry that. Collins got beaten up by Domantas Sabonis, and that’s not in dispute. He, however, did play much better offensively than he previously did in the preseason. 15 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, and a steal; not a bad stat line. Shore up the defense, and the Jazz may have something with Collins in the lineup.

Jordan Clarkson

If Jordan Clarkson’s defense was cheese, it’d be Swiss, because there’s nothing but holes in it. That said, he had a wonderfully efficient offensive night. He led the team in scoring, putting up 24 points, had a nice six assists to only two turnovers, and shot 50% on the night. He’s not a good defender at all, case in point the 51 three-point shots the Kings attempted, but he did his job which is to produce offense. Is he the answer as a starter? Maybe not with the rotation as is, but no one can say he wasn’t as good of a version of Jordan Clarkson as he could be. We know what he is and what he isn’t and this is the best Clarkson can really be.