So, that was ugly. The Utah Jazz got spanked by the Memphis Grizzlies 105-91 on Wednesday night, bringing an end to the wave of good outings they recently had. The Jazz had won two games in a row, both against a game New Orleans Pelicans squad, and there was hope, however fleeteing, that if they defeated the Grizzlies on Wednesday night and pulled within four games of .500 (7-11), then there'd be hope for the season.
After all, the Grizzlies are trash, the Jazz should be able to defeat them, even without Lauri Markkanen.
Nope.
That did not happen. The lack of Markkanen was huge for the Jazz, who on the night, shot 37.8% from the floor. It was a truly pathetic shooting effort from the Jazz, who looked far more disinterested than normal, and guys like Jordan Clarkson and Talen Horton-Tucker again popped up in the discourse for their poor showings on both ends of the court.
They shot just 27% between the two of them and scored 17 points total. They had a combined -21 BPM on the night, and they both really held the team back. But this isn't new. They've been sabotaging the team, either intentionally or unintentionally, all season. We don't think they're doing it intentionally, but their lack of effort and selfish style of play has crippled the Jazz more times than not.
And they did it again against the Grizzlies. Just when you think this team is gaining momentum, the two of them show up and hamper them. Now, no one played well against the Grizzlies. There isn't a star to be handed out. Walker Kessler, John Collins, Collin Sexton, Keyonte George, Simone Fontecchio, and everyone else all played badly.
The only guy you can give a break to is Kelly Olynyk, to a degree, as he didn't kill the team but he didn't help them either. The only player who had a positive BPM was Luka Samanic, who got six minutes of action when the game was already out of reach. It was a truly pathetic showing from the Jazz.