Wednesday night’s Utah Jazz game saw the Chicago Bulls come to town, a team with a similar record. It seemed like another chance for a Jazz team to get a win, in a season finale that is one of the toughest in the NBA, with victories are hard to come by.
To add to the difficulty of getting a win, Keyonte George and Taylor Hendricks joined Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler on the injury report tonight.
As a result, the starting lineup consisted of John Collins, Luka Samanic, Brice Sensabaugh, Collin Sexton and Kris Dunn.
The Bulls made the Jazz pay early in this one, scoring seven 3-pointers in the first quarter as Jazz defenders took time to rotate on the perimeter.
The 2nd quarter continued this trend, as the Bulls made 6 more from deep, to extend their lead to 63-54 at halftime.
In the 3rd, the Jazz kept things tied, as John Collins, Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson combined for 22 of Utah’s 29 points in the period, but the Jazz still gave up 30 points to being led by 10 going into the final period.
In the 4th, the Jazz woke up and decided to make a game of it, reducing the gap to 2 points (101-99) at 7:32 on a jump shot from Omer Yurtseven. The Bulls scored a few baskets over the next few minutes as the Jazz cooled down before John Collins scored a 3 at 5:23 to end the drought.
With a little less than 3 minutes, the Jazz came back to 2 on a jumper from Brice Sensabaugh, then equalized shortly after with a dunk from Clarkson. The game remained close until the final seconds, at 117-116 for Chicago when a foul by Collin Sexton on DeMar DeRozan to stop the clock sparked an altercation.
This happened near the Chicago bench and play was stopped for over 6 minutes while officials sorted out what happened.
John Collins and Torrey Craig both received technical fouls, as did a Bulls assistant who got involved. In the end, they offset Techs Collins and Craig and gave Utah a free throw for the Wizard’s T, before DeMar DeRozan got to the line for Chicago, allowing the two to give the Bulls a lead by 2 points with 9.1 seconds remaining.
After a Utah timeout, the Jazz went into halfcourt, with Jordan Clarkson taking a parking 3 a little too early in the running clock. However, Chicago’s Coby White went out of bounds rebounding the ball, giving Utah the ball again with 4.1 seconds left and one more chance to win or send it to overtime.
The Jazz came back after a timeout, and Collin Sexton had a super open look, so much so that he hesitated before pulling the trigger on a 3, which missed, and the game ended with a victory for the Bulls 119-117 in a heartbreaker. for Jazz and its fans.
John Collins led the Jazz with 25 points, 13 rebounds and 2 blocked shots on the night.
Collin Sexton scored 24 points and also had 4 rebounds and 7 assists.
Brice Sensabaugh scored 15 points and 12 rebounds in 30 minutes, his best performance for the Jazz so far.
The Jazz (28-35) advance to Saturday’s home game against the Denver Nuggets (42-20).
The Young Bull flies to Utah. dark. Following. The Young Bull has a great season
