Utah Jazz suffer a historic loss to the Dallas Mavericks

After a good showing in their last outing, the Utah Jazz had a few nights off while the NBA In-Season Tournament progressed to the knockout round. With a 7-13 record, it seemed like a good opportunity to rest and reset for the team while they were still missing Lauri Markkanen, Jordan Clarkson, and Kelly Olynyk due to injuries.

What the Jazz didn't count on was a historic game from Luka Doncic, the Dallas Mavericks superstar who took it to the Jazz on Wednesday night. The Jazz had no answer for Luka, putting several different players on him, but to no avail, as he ended up with 40 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists on the night, getting the triple-double before halftime.

The Jazz couldn't make shots and turned the ball over a lot (19 times). They were outrebounded as well. About the only positive Jazz team stat was making 15-18 free throws, for 83.3% (the Mavericks were 13-19 for 68.4%).

In the end, the Mavericks blew out the Jazz 147-97 which was tied for the 2nd worst loss in Jazz history, at 50 points.

Ochai Agbaji led the Jazz with 21 points on 50/50/100 splits, but as with all of the starters was a net negative on the night.

Another positive from this loss was the play of Talen Horton-Tucker, who had 11 points on 3-3 shooting from deep and only 1 turnover in his 16 minutes of play.

And Lauri Markkanen was shown doing individual work before the game, on the court so his return may not be far off.

Kris Dunn returned from missing the past several games due to personal reasons and had 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists in 17 minutes of action. Let's hope he is good to go moving forward.

The Utah Jazz move on to a Friday night matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers, at home and nationally televised. Considering the Jazz are much better at home (6-4) vs. on the road (1-10), and have beaten the Clippers once already, there is hope that Friday's game will be more competitive.