Utah Jazz turn in terrible defensive performance, fall to lowly Phoenix Suns

SALT LAKE CITY — Entering Monday night’s game against the Phoenix Suns at Vivint Arena, the Utah Jazz had been very good against teams with very bad records. They were 9-1 against the bottom three squads in each conference and had won most of those games in dominant fashion.

The Jazz are reeling, however, and the slide continued as they were dominated by the Phoenix Suns, falling 131-111 for their third straight loss after the All-Star break.

Utah has struggled defensively in those loses, but Monday’s performance was a completely different level of incompetence. Some stats for proof: The Suns shot 56 percent from the field, 60 percent from behind the 3-point line and scored 66 points in the paint. 

The decisive run Phoenix made in the third quarter was indicative of the night it was defensively for the Jazz. The Suns led 84-81 with 3:37 left in the frame when Donovan Mitchell missed a tough shot and Phoenix responded with an uncontested 3-pointer from Cam Johnson. Mitchell made a bucket on the ensuing possession, but Dario Saric responded with another wide-open 3-pointer, extending the lead to seven, 90-83.

Utah committed a turnover a few moments later, and Jevon Carter made yet another wide-open 3 to stretch the lead to double digits. The Suns ultimately led 99-88 heading into the fourth quarter as a smattering of boos could be heard from the Vivint Arena crowd.

The Jazz had given no indication to that point that they could play enough defense to make a comeback, and things only got worse in the final frame. The Suns outscored the Jazz 32-23 in the fourth. After the first quarter, during which Utah held Phoenix to a respectable 27 points, the Suns scored at least 32 in each of the final three stanzas.

Although Phoenix ultimately gained separation via the 3-pointer, the Suns also got just about whatever they wanted inside, finishing 37 of 67 on 2-point shots compared to 22 of 42 for Utah. On one possession in the fourth quarter, Devin Booker missed a 3-pointer, but Mikal Bridges glided in uncontested for a put-back dunk, just another example of how easy Phoenix had it.

1 of 16

2 of 16

3 of 16

4 of 16

5 of 16

6 of 16

7 of 16

8 of 16

9 of 16

10 of 16

11 of 16

12 of 16

13 of 16

14 of 16

15 of 16

16 of 16

Booker led the way for the winning side with 24 points, but four other Suns players scored at least 14. Former Jazz point guard Ricky Rubio was tremendous for Phoenix in his return to the Beehive State, finishing with 22 points, 11 rebounds, seven steals and six rebounds.

The other three Suns who finished in double figures, Kelly Oubre (18) Deandre Ayton (16) and Saric (14) combined to shoot 20 of 27 from the field, with Saric and Ayton going a combined 13 of 14.

Utah’s defensive effort ruined a night that was good offensively for the most part, continuing the trend of the Jazz being able to score rather easily against the league’s worst teams. Mitchell scored 38 points on a very efficient 19 shots, and Bojan Bogdanovic, Jordan Clarkson and Rudy Gobert finished in double figures.

Utah committed 20 turnovers on a foul-filled night compared to 15 for Phoenix, and the Suns scored 27 points off turnovers compared to 20 for the Jazz.

With the loss, the Jazz’s third straight at home after falling just five times at Vivint Arena before the All-Star break, Utah dropped to fifth place in the Western Conference, a game behind the fourth-place Houston Rockets and a game up on the sixth-place Oklahoma City Thunder.

Utah will look to get out of its funk on Wednesday in the fourth game of its five-game home-stand when the Boston Celtics come to town.