3 keys to the Utah Jazz’s 129-119 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Utah Jazz are now 0-2 on their six-game road trip after a 129-119 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night.

Here are three keys that contributed to the Jazz’s loss:

• For the second-straight game, the Jazz struggled to score while the Thunder were able to get easy open looks and knock them down. The Jazz only converted on 29.7% of their 3-pointers, while the Thunder shot 39.5% on 38 3-point attempts on Sunday.
• This time, the Jazz were without their leading scorer, Lauri Markkanen, who was sidelined after getting a knee to the back when he fell on the court Friday night. Without Markkanen, the Jazz were forced to use some lineups that didn’t have a clear scoring option.
• Jordan Clarkson returned to the lineup after missing a couple of games with a thumb sprain, but as the game progressed on Sunday, Clarkson was holding onto that right thumb and seemed to be in a little bit of pain. Though he scored a team-high 18 points for the Jazz, he didn’t quite seem like his usual self.