The Utah Jazz came into Thursday night's game missing a few parts - in addition to Jordan Clarkson and Keyonte George being out, Lauri Markkanen was held out due to hamstring recovery and Talen Horton-Tucker was a surprise scratch with left foot soreness. Thus the Jazz were down to 10 healthy players (with Johnny Juzang flown in from the G-League).
Going up against the Detroit Pistons, losers of 24 straight games, the hope was that the Jazz would win and get some much needed rest. However the Pistons were having none of that, and kept it close throughout the first half.
Without much of their scoring, the Jazz relied on Kelly Olynyk, Collin Sexton, Simone Fontecchio and Ochai Agbaji for much of the offense.
After a 10-3 run early in the 4th Quarter, the Jazz went without a basket for nearly 5 minutes, allowing Detroit to hang around far too long as the game was 106-104 Utah with 3:37 remaining.
At that point, the Jazz snapped into action. John Collins hit 2 free throws, then an Olynyk steal led to a dunk by Collins, then a 3 by Olynyk, and Collin Sexton then tipped in a Collins miss to make it 115-106. The final score was Utah 119, Detroit 111.
Kelly Olynyk led the Utah Jazz with 27 points, 6 assists, and 4 steals. It was his best offensive game of the season and much-needed.
All 5 Jazz starters scored in double figures (Olynyk 27, Sexton 19, Fontecchio 16, Dunn 13, Collins 13).
Ochai Agbaji had 18 points off the bench along with 2 steals.
Cade Cunningham led the Pistons with 28 points, 7 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals and a blocked shot, but also had 6 turnovers. He was followed by Jaden Ivey (24 points, 7 assists, 3 steals) and Marvin Bagley III (22 points).
The Jazz forced 20 turnovers and came up with 15 steals and 7 blocked shots.
It wasn't pretty, but the Jazz got the win and extended Detroit's misery to 25 straight losses. Now the Jazz (11-18 record) move on to Toronto for a Saturday night game against the Raptors (11-16 record), and they should have Markkanen and THT back in the lineup for that one.