The Utah Jazz and Brooklyn Nets have had similar results since they played each other in New York three weeks ago — and that’s nothing to brag about.
Heading into a showdown on Sunday in Salt Lake City, the Jazz and Nets both are 2-8 since Utah’s home 105-94 victory on Dec. 21.
Along with seemingly being on a similar path to the NBA Draft Lottery this spring, the teams both find themselves shorthanded and on losing streaks — four for Brooklyn, three for Utah.
The Nets played without Cam Thomas, Cam Johnson and D’Angelo Russell in Friday’s 124-105 loss against the Nuggets in Denver. All three were among the seven Nets players listed as out against Utah on the Sunday morning injury report.
On Saturday, Johnny Juzang, Brice Sensabaugh, Jordan Clarkson, John Collins and Keyonte George were among the Utah contingent sidelined for various health issues in the Jazz’s 114-106 setback in Phoenix.
Even without multiple key contributors, the Jazz were competitive against the Suns on Saturday. Utah never led but clawed back within one point of Phoenix in the second half after trailing by 16 in the first half.
Lauri Markkanen scored 24, Collin Sexton netted 20 and Walker Kessler contributed 16 points and 13 rebounds in the team’s third loss to the Suns. The Jazz returned from Phoenix after the game to conclude a back-to-back at home this evening.
Jazz coach Will Hardy liked that his team outrebounded, outscored the Suns in the paint and fought back despite shooting 43.8 percent from the field. The Suns shot 51.2 percent overall.
“You feel like, man, if we played that way five more times against them, we’d probably win more than we’d lose,” Hardy said. “So we’ll bounce back tomorrow. It’s the great part about the NBA is the games keep on coming.”
Rookie Cody Williams was a bright spot for Utah. He hit 5 of 10 shots with two 3-pointers en route to a career-high 13 points. He also had two rebounds and two assists in 22 minutes.
“It’s about playing within the scope of the team, using your skill set and trying to help us generate good shots,” Hardy said. “I think Cody’s done a good job of that. I’m really happy with his progress.”
The Nets are coming off of a game on Friday in which they played fairly well for about three quarters before coming up short.
Ben Simmons provided some highlights in his return from a four-game absence. He had 10 points and seven assists but wished the Nets had continued to “play with pace” to keep up with Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets.
“Yeah, I just don’t think we kept that pace up,” he said. “You know, we had spurts where we did it and we looked good, and the ball’s moving and guys are driving. Then spurts where we weren’t pushing the ball, they were getting easy buckets and kind of deflated us. It slowed us down.”
Brooklyn coach Jordi Fernandez was disappointed that his starters didn’t keep the same mojo that his reserves while getting the Nets back in the game in the second half.
“I’m proud of the guys, the effort, the resilience getting back into the game,” Fernandez said. “We were not good enough. We did not deserve it. And we’re going to have to watch film and work and be better.”
Markkanen led Utah to the 11-point win in Brooklyn three few weeks ago with 21 points.
–Field Level Media
