The Utah Jazz were doing so well. Doing, past tense. A reference to a time passed by. A fading, distant memory. And why do we put it like that? Well, simply put over their last seven games, they're 2-5. The thing killing them is their defense. Specifically off the bench. They aren't good enough defensively elsewhere to carry Jordan Clarkson playing 30 minutes a game.
While he can give you 14-17 points per game, depending on the night, he's always going to give up more than he gets you. If he were on a better defensive team, that may not be as much of an issue, but on the Jazz, he's holding the team back. As is Keyonte George, who has looked good on offense lately. But as good as he is on offense, he's that bad, if not worse, on defense.
Normally, though when the team struggles in one aspect, they can rely on their two-part engine; Lauri Markkanen and Collin Sexton, to power the team through, but fatigue has caught up to the team. Markkanen specifically has shot poorly in three of his last five games, all losses, for the Jazz. Against the Pelicans, Knicks, and Nets he's a combined 31% from the floor.
Sexton has struggled as well, though not as much as Markkanen, at least not shooting the ball, but defensively he looks a bit sluggish. The wear and tear on the season is catching up, and the rate of play the Jazz are being tasked with doing this past week has been hard on them, clearly.
But a break is coming. The team has to play again on Thursday but is off until Sunday. After that, they're off again until Tuesday, Feb. 4, before playing again on Feb. 6. So the Jazz will basically go four days while only playing one game, and being able to stay home while enjoying that time off.
Hopefully, that gives them a bit more pep in their step or the post-All-Star game record is going to nose-dive.