A night of redemption for Brice Sensabaugh and Ace Bailey

Brice Sensabaugh had never heard anything like it. He stood at the free throw line as the Utah Jazz fans at the Huntsman Center filled the arena with ‘MVP’ chants — and they were meant for him.

He’d heard a crowd jeer and chant ‘overrated’ back when he was in high school, so this was a definite upgrade. But it made him nervous.

“Yeah and you see I missed it because I was so spooked,” he said of going 1-of-2 at the charity stripe while the fans were chanting ‘MVP.’ “But no, it was pretty cool.”

At that point, he already had 32 points, easily pacing the Jazz with a hot hand that had lasted the whole game. But one misstep almost ruined the night.

Just 70 seconds later, with 12.4 seconds left to play against the Memphis Grizzlies, Sensabaugh got a touch pass from Ace Bailey in the left corner. All he had to do was pass to an open Kyle Filipowski. With a one-point lead, the Jazz would have either had an easy bucket, or forced the Grizzlies to foul. But Sensabaugh decided to drive baseline and split his feet before dribbling, turning the ball over with a traveling violation.

If there was any hope of redemption for Sensabaugh it would have to come on the defensive end. The Jazz pressed and switched everything, flying between passing lanes with their arms up. And Sensabaugh came up with a steal with 5.4 seconds left.

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“I was heated about the turnover,” he said. “I shuffled my feet a little bit and Flip was wide open. But it got me heated, so I was ready to just go get a stop. Basketball is 50-50 — 50% offense, 50% defense. So if you can get it back on the defensive end then you did the same thing to seal the game. So I was proud of that."

The crowd once again chanted “MVP!”

But Sensabaugh wasn’t the only one hoping for some redemption. Bailey struggled to get going on Saturday, admittedly dealing with some first-day butterflies. But on Monday night, he felt more at ease and finished the night with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting overall and 3-of-5 from 3-point range, adding seven rebounds and three assists.

“I mean, in Game 1, first NBA game, there were some jitters here and there, just too excited,” Bailey said. “But the second one just talked to the vets and they told me to calm down and let the game come to you, and that’s what happened.”

It certainly helped that Jazz head coach Will Hardy was sitting court side and every once in a while would call Bailey over to him to reassure him, tell him to play hard and have fun.

“It means a lot,” Bailey said. “At 18, he’s calling me over to let me know that I’ve got a big role, a big, big role. So I’ve got to fulfill (that) and he’s got trust in me.”

Bailey is right about being young and having a big role, and the Jazz know it will take quite a bit of time for him to fully realize his potential and step into the big shoes they want him to fill. But there’s no denying the raw talent and on Monday night he showed that he has the ability to rebound from an off night and redeem himself.