CHICAGO — The Utah Jazz were beat by the Chicago Bulls, 126-118, Saturday night at the United Center.
The Jazz were coming off a win in Houston that snapped a five-game losing streak and the Bulls were on the second night of a back-to-back set, but the Jazz made things hard for themselves in the final quarter.
Here are three keys to the Jazz’s loss:
- The Jazz went into the fourth quarter with a five-point lead and the Bulls would eventually get up by as many as 10 points, forcing the Jazz to try to dig out of a hole in the final minutes. The Jazz defense allowed 42 points in the final 12 minutes, including a combined 27 points from DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine.
- The Bulls were shooting 33.3% from deep through the first three quarters and then went an incredible 6-of-7 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter, making things even more dicey for the Jazz.
- Lauri Markkanen had 28 points, 16 of which came from dunks. But he shot just 2-of-7 from deep and missed two really good looks in the final moments which could have closed the gap a little bit more for the Jazz.