Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy found a positive side after his team’s 106-94 home loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday. His team, which will face the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night in Salt Lake City, has now lost three games in a row and seven of their last eight. However, Hardy saw some encouraging signs in the loss to Dallas, who played without star Luka Doncic (wrist sprain).
“Tonight’s a perfect example of there’s a difference between playing bad and shooting bad,” Hardy said. “If the competitiveness, the togetherness, the energy, the fight is at that level every night, there’s a lot of good things ahead in Utah.”
The Jazz showed resilience in the game, especially after falling behind by 20 points in the first half. Despite struggling with shooting, they managed to close the gap to just three points in the third quarter and remained competitive in the fourth.
Utah finished the game shooting just 35.8 percent from the field, making only 23.1 percent of their three-pointers.
Lauri Markkanen led the team with 19 points but struggled with his shooting, making only 7 of 20 attempts, including 2 of 11 from three. Walker Kessler had an impressive performance, making 7 of 9 shots and finishing with 18 points, 10 rebounds, 5 blocks, and 3 steals. However, the other three players who scored in double figures—John Collins, Collin Sexton, and Brice Sensabaugh—combined to shoot 15-for-40 from the field.
“Probably my favorite game of the year. We couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean,” Hardy said. “(But) we guarded well enough to win the game. We competed well enough to win the game. We just didn’t shoot well enough to win the game.”
In their most recent matchup against the Lakers, the Jazz shot better but lost 124-118 on Nov. 19. The Lakers made 55.3 percent of their shots in that win, with Dalton Knecht leading the way by hitting 12 of 16, including 9 of 12 from three, for a game-high 37 points. LeBron James and Anthony Davis each scored 26 points in the win, shooting a combined 19-for-32.
Knecht scored a team-high 20 points in the Lakers’ 101-93 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night.
“There were a half-dozen to a dozen plays that just shot us in the foot even before the late-game stuff,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “We played well enough and hard enough to win against the best team in the West. So there’s definitely good stuff.”
Los Angeles enters this game having lost four of their last five. Redick was encouraged by his team’s defense against the Thunder, noting that the Lakers were only down by one point before Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit a 3-pointer with 1:35 left.
“That was as connected as our group has been on that end of the floor since the first game of the season,” Redick said. “Just, you know, a really outstanding job with a lot of the stuff we talked about.”
This will be Utah’s second home back-to-back set in less than a week. The Jazz were defeated 128-115 by San Antonio on Tuesday and lost 122-103 to Denver on Wednesday.
