After a great game against the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, the Utah Jazz faced off with the Detroit Pistons, owners of a 3-30 record who only recently ended their NBA record-tying 28-game losing streak.
Early on the Jazz struggled as the Pistons were determined to not start another losing streak (they lost to Houston earlier in the week), as the PIstons took an early 33-26 lead.
In the 2nd the Jazz got it together a bit, closing the deficit to 68-66 at the half.
And then it was Jordan Clarkson time. In the 2nd half, Clarkson went OFF and threw in flame balls left and right, going for 29 points the rest of the way and delivering just when the Jazz needed it.
But two former Jazzmen - Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks - decided to make it a ballgame for Detroit.
Bogdanovic was absolutely on FIRE tonight, hitting 8/15 from 3 and scoring 34 points, and Burks was playing HORSE - hitting for 26 points of his own.
In the end, it went to overtime, and the Jazz prevailed, 154-148, tying the Jazz record for most points scored in a game.
This game was a lot harder than it should have been for the Jazz, their final shooting stats were 51/50/90 but allowing Detroit to go 53/46/77 and score 148 points was abysmal. Never give the worst team in the league hope.
Lauri Markkanen had 31 points and 7 rebounds, and Collin Sexton had 25 points and 5 assists. John Collins and Simone Fontecchio had 17 and 16 points, respectively.
Despite a lot of missed calls, the Jazz actually went to the free throw line 35 times and made 32 of them. They had 11 steals and 8 blocked shots (6 by Walker Kessler).
In the end, Jordan Clarkson saved the Jazz in this one, and the Pistons ran out of gas in the overtime so the Jazz escaped what could have been an embarrasing defeat.
Now the Jazz move on to a 3 game road trip against the best of the East, starting Friday at Boston and continuing Saturday at Philadelphia, before concluding on Monday at Milwaukee. Let's hope they get a good night's sleep and hit the road running, because this will be a tough trip.