The Utah Jazz did not start their night off well. The squad scored just 15 points in the first quarter and fell into a 14-point deficit before starting the second quarter. The Jazz looked awful. Bad shot selection, forced shots, and terrible defense. The execution was not there, but surprisingly, the effort was. Almost as if they knew this was their last best shot to win their 30th game of the season, the squad did everything they could to try and get the team over the hump and snap their losing streak.
Sadly, the Jazz could not fend off their seventh-straight loss in a row, and fell to 3-18 since the NBA Trade Deadline while the poor defense was still there, the Jazz really turned it on in the fourth quarter and tried to force the team to a win, despite being down double-digits at some points. The Jazz were able to cut the lead down to just four points with 23.2 seconds left after a key Lauri Markkanen three-pointer.
It looked like the Jazz had an outside shot at victory, but even if they didn't pull it off, they didn't stop fighting, even though they could've easily. It was a testament to the team, but the Jazz failed in the end by bad roster management. For some reason, Kira Lewis, Talen Horton-Tucker, and Omer Yurtseven got action in the first and second quarters, but wouldn't see the court again for the rest of the night.
Luka Samanic would play a chunk in the third, but for most of the last quarter, the Jazz ran a combination of Taylor Hendricks, Collin Sexton, John Collins, Lauri Markkanen, Keyonte George, and Walker Kessler to great effect. Those six combined for a heck of an effort to try to get the Jazz back into the game.
While the Jazz's season has been miserable and one to forget, it was good to see some fight still left in the team. Even if they did come up short.