It was just about as thrilling as a preseason game can be without the teams’ best players on the court.
Victor Wembanyama had long been sitting, having helped the San Antonio Spurs build a 17-point lead. Meanwhile, Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, Kyle Filipowski and Isaiah Collier were all watching in street clothes for the Utah Jazz Friday night in San Antonio.
But with the Spurs reaching deep into their rotation, the Jazz were able to mount a comeback, forcing the game into overtime.
Ultimately the Spurs came out on top, 134-130. It’s Keyonte George whom many will credit with getting the Jazz into the extra period on a game-tying, deep 3-pointer after they mounted a comeback, but it’s not the result of the game that matters in the preseason.
This is the part of the NBA calendar where we get to see what kind of potential different lineups have, what kind of growth has been made over the summer by individual players and what rookies look like in legitimate NBA competition.
And on Friday night, it was Brice Sensabaugh and rookie guard Walter Clayton Jr. who showed that even when the shots aren’t falling, they can provide value on the court.
Both players are natural scorers. Both have hit more than their fair share of 3-pointers in their respective careers. But on Friday, they both hit just two treys and combined for 4-of-15 from deep.
Rather than let that derail their focus, however, both showed that they were capable of more than just knocking down long balls.
Sensabaugh, using the threat of his shooting prowess in order to drive into the paint, scored a team-high 26 points off the bench, which included him going a perfect 12-of-12 from the free throw line.
Clayton seemed to take the same approach, scoring 20 points off the bench, including a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
“I’ve watched some film with Walt where he’s trying to make every play a little bit too technically perfect — he’s almost trying to be the good guy,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said.
“And Walt’s not a selfish player, but one of his best skills at this point in time is his ability to shoot and score, so I thought tonight, when he was open, he looked for his shot. It makes the defense react to him...because the other team’s having to press up on him because they respect his shooting.”
In addition to his 20 points, Clayton added five assists with just two turnovers, five rebounds and a block to his statline on Friday.
The Jazz closed out the road portion of their preseason slate and will now head home for two more preseason bouts. First up, it’s Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks on Monday at the Delta Center and then the preseason finale will be on Thursday against the Portland Trail Blazers.