In the first half of Thursday night’s action at the Delta Center, the Jazz took a 50-30 lead and looked like a team that was playing well and ready to head into the All-Star break with its head held high after two encouraging wins over Los Angeles teams.
That euphoria didn’t last long, as the Clippers crawled their way back and eventually defeated the Jazz 120-116 in overtime.
It was a case of the Jazz snatching defeat from the jaws of victory as they struggled to keep control of the ball, turning the ball over 26 times to give up 20 points off turnovers.
“I think in general their physicality really bothered us,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said of Thursday’s turnovers. “Their switching bothered us. It made it hard for us to deliver the ball against the switch.
“I thought there were sometimes where we tried to make passes that were a little bit too tight,” Hardy continued. “I thought there were times where we just played into spaces that didn’t provide us opportunities to create an advantage.”
Before it all went bad, the Jazz earned their early lead at the 3-point line, shooting 13-of-23 from beyond the arc in the first half.
The Jazz’s collapse started in the final seven minutes of the second quarter. Los Angeles outscored Utah 24-10 in that stretch to cut the lead to 60-54 at halftime. The Clippers largely got it done at the free throw line, with 18 attempts in the first half.
Los Angeles then went on a 8-0 run in the fourth quarter to take a 100-99 lead — its first advantage since the first quarter. The game stayed tied 108-108 as Hardy took a timeout with 1.1 left on the clock after an Isaiah Collier offensive rebound.
The Jazz were unable to capitalize out of the timeout and the Clippers took the 120-116 overtime win. Norman Powell torched Utah with a season-high 41 points, while All-Star James Harden flirted with a triple-double to post 32 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
“It’s always good to compete,” said Keyonte George, who finished with 13 points and nine assists off the bench. “Obviously, James (Harden), (is an) All-Star, so to just share the court, I wouldn’t say (I was) starstruck, but I have the chance to go out and compete and go back and watch the film and see how he’s manipulating the game.
“At the end of the day, I feel like in this league it’s all about learning,” George continued. “How fast can you pick up on things, how fast can you be able to make an impact on the game?”
Tonight’s loss wasn’t a total bust for the Jazz, who were without Walker Kessler, Jordan Clarkson and Colin Sexton. Kyle Filipowski especially had a nice night in the absence of Kessler, putting up a career-high 20 points with 10 rebounds for a double-double before fouling out in overtime.
“I think Flip gives us a different look,” said Hardy. “Obviously, early in the game some of the spacing, the popping, knocked down some threes and pulled Zubac away from the rim a little bit. They started veering his pops, which was good for us in general. We also try to use him as a playmaker. Coming out of halftime and having him handle some of the pick-and-rolls and have guys set screens on Zubac and see if we can create some confusion.”
Alongside Filipowski, Lauri Markkanen also led the Jazz in scoring with 20 points while pulling in six rebounds. The young guard duo of George and Collier continued its solid playmaking with a combined 17 assists.
The pair also had a high number of turnovers on Thursday, as Collier coughed up seven and George four. Hardy stressed that Thursday’s turnovers are not something he is especially worried about.
“When you look at it we had 11 of them between our our young guards, but it would be hard for me to point at that because we’ve been the beneficiaries lately of some really high assist-to-turnover games from those two guys,” Hardy said. “I feel like it would be unfair of me to say, ‘It’s because they’re young’ because they were young yesterday and they played great and took care of the ball.”