Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 124-121 loss to the Atlanta Hawks from The Salt Lake Tribune.
1. The final sequence
Will Hardy predicted he’d see four or five shots from Hawks star Trae Young that he simply didn’t have an answer for.
“I assume there’s going to be four plays tonight where the players look over at the bench after they score, and my reaction is honestly going to be like, ‘Hey, he’s awesome.’ Just run back to the other side,” Hardy said before the game.
Little did he know, one of those plays would be the buzzer-beater.
After Utah clawed back to tie the game at 121, Young took the inbounds pass with under three seconds left, jogged up to half court and heaved it.
The 49-footer went in, giving the Jazz one of the more painful losses in a season full of them.
“This is one you just shake their hand and move on. It was a hell of a finish and a hell of a shot,” Hardy said.
You could nitpick and say the Jazz shouldn’t have afforded Young two uncontested dribbles and a heave.
“If you had to come up with something, you can try to just [cut] him off,” Lauri Markkanen said. “That’s a tough shot and kudos to him.”
Hardy didn’t share the critique: “There’s nothing to be upset about with the end of the game.”
What makes Young’s shot harder to stomach is what happened the play before. With the Jazz down three, Hardy’s out of bounds play was snuffed out by the Hawks.
Walker Kessler set a down screen to get Markkanen open — who finished with 35 points and hit eight threes. The Hawks switched the screen, putting 6-foot-7 Dyson Daniels on the 7-foot Kessler. The read, for in-bounder Isaiah Collier, was to feed it to Kessler if they got the switch.
But the Hawks tipped it, the ball came loose and Collin Sexton streaked in to corral it. Rather than throw it up with six seconds left, he worked on Hawks guard Vit Krejci and hit a three to tie it.
It was all for naught. Two seconds later, Young was the one waving to the crowd — not Sexton.
“For him to make that shot, it does suck,” Sexton said. “If it is anybody, it’s him, Steph [Curry], those two guys are going to make it for sure.”
2. The young guys and Jordan Clarkson
In some ways, if the Jazz are going to tank, this is how you draw it up. A close game, where the Jazz looked competitive, but still a step toward the ultimate goal of this season: a high draft pick in June.
The Jazz got better in the ways Hardy cared about — particularly with some of the younger players.
Kessler flashed his improved offensive rebounding — with eight offensive boards. He had three critical offensive rebounds in the final six minutes that led to six points. He finished with 11 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Jazz keep pace with Atlanta down the stretch.
“He’s doing a better job of staying on the top side [of defenders] and using his length,” Hardy said.
It’s better than the “swim move” type rebounding technique that tends to be all-or-nothing for Kessler. His improved strength allows him to wedge into defenders more — not needing the swim move to get around players on the boards.
Rookie Cody Williams played key minutes down the stretch, too. He scored just four points, but Hardy liked his decision making.
“I think his time in the G League has helped him get a lot of opportunities to handle the ball, make decisions,” Hardy said.
The Jazz were able to do all of this while Markkanen still had a vintage Markkanen game with a season-high in points.
“It is definitely a learning environment,” guard Patty Mills said. “And there is no better way to do that than in the game situation. The thing about the NBA is you have to be a pro. And being a pro is learning on the fly. So these situations on the floor, it is great opportunities to help these boys. Even more so than practice.”
For those interested in the tank race, the young guys figure to get more key minutes over the next few weeks.
Jordan Clarkson won’t return for two weeks due to plantar fasciitis. It makes more room for guys like Williams in the lineup.
3. Quin returns
Former Jazz coach Quin Snyder returned to Utah again with the Hawks. But he hasn’t completely forgotten his Salt Lake roots — or its coffee.
“There is a place close to my house called Mend, they have good hats,” Synder said of his current coffee joint. “Publik has a lot better T-Shirts.”
Either way, he has a team positioned to make the playoffs out of a weaker Eastern Conference. The Hawks are now 19-18 and employ the second-fastest pace in the league.
The driver is still Young, which made the first half of tonight’s game even more perplexing.
Atlanta scored its first 53 points without a Young bucket. He added plenty of assists — finishing with 24 points and 20 assists. But it was the points in the paint that killed Utah early.
The Hawks had 24 points in the paint in the first quarter. Utah adjusted a bit after — allowing just 14 points the rest of the way. But then Young got going, including the game-winner.
“It’s the NBA, good players sometimes make shots like that,” Markkanen said. “He’s obviously one of them.”
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