SALT LAKE CITY — One more week.
And, yes, it does feel like that is a week too long.
The Jazz allowed a team to score over 140 points for the third straight game on Sunday. This time, it was to old friend Quin Snyder, whose Atlanta Hawks bested Utah 147-134 at the State Farm Arena.
Utah has now lost 19 of its last 20 games and 20 straight on the road.
Whether you agree with the strategy or not, that’s all been by design. Utah has tanked its way to the bottom and is now three games away from securing a top-five pick at worst (though the organization is hoping for much better after such a slog of a season).
The good news: It’s all almost over.
With just three games left, the Jazz (16-63) clinched their first sub-20 win season in franchise history.
Hey, you can’t say they haven’t committed to a full-on rebuild.
“There are people that are starting and will start in tonight’s game that wouldn’t necessarily start on a really, really good team,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said before Sunday’s game. “And that’s not a shot at them; they’re young. There aren’t that many rookies that come into the NBA or second-year players in the NBA that are starters on contending teams.”
The hope is that in a few years, some of those players will be ready to help a Jazz team that is actually trying to win.
That goes for players who weren’t starting either — like, second-year guard Keyonte George. The Baylor product had a career-high 35 points on Sunday, shooting 10-for-19 from the field and hitting seven 3-pointers.
“Tonight is an example of the overall talent that Keyonte has — being able to score in a variety of ways,” Hardy said. “It’s a moment where his talent is really obvious.”
George shot over 50% from the 3-point line and got to the line nine times. Hardy said he liked how he attacked closeouts and how he used angles when running pick-and-roll. He also got to the free-throw line (something that may be his best NBA skill right now) nine times.
“What was getting me in the game was trying to dictate things defensively,” George said.
That sounds good, but it’s probably not all that accurate, especially on Sunday.
George has the worst defensive rating in the NBA. While that stat has plenty of noise, it also passes the eye test; but he’s not alone in his struggles there. Utah is the worst defensive team in the NBA, and that has only gotten worse as the injury reports have gotten longer and longer — especially with Walker Kessler (nasal fracture/concussion protocol) sitting out.
“The size factor in tonight’s game really hurt us on the defensive side,” Hardy said.
To be fair, Atlanta’s was anything but good against Utah, as the teams combined to have the third-highest-scoring regulation game in the NBA this season (The Hawks’ 81-64 lead at the half probably had something to do with a lesser effort following halftime).
That made for some nice stat lines for Collin Sexton (27 points and six assists) and Isaiah Collier (17 points and 12 assists) in their returns back home to Atlanta.
And soon they’ll be able to go back home for more than a couple of days.
The long tanking season is almost at an end.
