The Jazz flew into Sacramento fresh off a tune-up exhibition game against a local senior center decisive win over the Los Angeles Clippers, ready to test themselves against the Sacramento Kings, another
California team with an eclectic assortment of players. Russell Westbrook. DeMar DeRozan. Zach Lavine. Domantas Sabonis. The Kings, while formidable, would have been an absolute force had they been assembled in 2017.
First Quarter
The Jazz opened up the scoring on a Svi Mykhailiuk three-pointer. Walker Kessler forced Domantas Sabonis into a turnover, and Kyle Filipowski hit a layup off a nice Eurostep on the other end. Lauri Markkanen got on the board at the 10:19 mark, hitting two free throws. Flip continued to impress, hitting an effortless shot from distance and putting the Jazz up 10-4.
Zach Lavine answered with a 3 of his own as the Jazz defense looked discombobulated, leading to a Will Hardy timeout.
The Jazz stumbled a bit coming out of the timeout, with Walker and Flip committing offensive and defensive fouls, respectively. Lauri put the lead back to 3 with a nice putback jam, and Keyonte extended it to 5 with a nifty layup. The teams continued to trade buckets and turnovers. Taylor Hendricks, Brice Sensabaugh, and Ace Bailey checked in, Keyonte came up with an amazing block, and Brice cashed in. Former Jazzman Russell Westbrook checked in at the 3:53 mark, as did Jusuf Nurkic. Zach Lavine drew a foul and hit two free throws. The Jazz missed on their next two possessions, and the Kings took the lead on an and-1 with 2:58 remaining in the quarter.
Out of the media timeout, Will Hardy went with Walt, Brice, Ace, Nurk, and Taylor Hendricks. Brice hit Nurk on a pick and roll, who finished with an easy lay-in around Domantas Sabonis. Ace got caught with a defensive 3-second call, leading to a 4-point swing for Sactown. DeMar DeRozan hit a tough midrange look over Taylor Hendricks, stretching the lead to 6 points. Lauri Markkanen drew a foul on the offensive end and hit one free-throw, with a double lane violation bringing the ball to center court. The Jazz won the tip, Ace got mugged going to the rack, and Zach Lavine made the Jazz pay with a midrange from the top of the key, ending the quarter and giving the Kings a 31-24 lead.
Second Quarter
The Kings failed to cash in a 2-for-1, and the teams traded bricks for a few possessions to open the frame. Jusuf Nurkic commenced the scoring with yet another pick and roll layup, assisted by Flip. The Kings turned it over again, Lauri Markkanen hit another bomb, and the Jazz pulled within two. Sacramento remained ice cold, Walter Clayton Jr scored, and Coach Doug Christie called timeout, as the Jazz tied it up at the 9:49 mark. The Kings scored out of the timeout, WCJ answered, and the score remained knotted at 33 for a bit, until Malik Monk drilled a 27-footer. This prompted a timeout by Coach Hardy.
The Jazz came out of the timeout flat. They struggled to hit their spots, the Kings hit a 3, and Brice Sensabaugh traveled. Their scoring woes continued, with Sacramento stretching the lead to 8 before Brice stopped the bleeding.
At the 5:21 mark, Coach Hardy swapped Lauri for a scuffling Ace Bailey, and Keyonte hit a shot in the paint to cut the deficit to 4. The two teams traded blows, headlined by Keyonte George (at both ends of the floor). Dennis Schröder baited him into a questionable foul, DeRozan scored, and Svi completed a 4-point play on the other end, trimming the Sacramento lead to 3 once again. Keyonte hit Lauri from halfcourt for an easy bucket with about a minute to go, the Kings missed, and the Jazz failed to cash in on their last possession. The Kings, too, used their final possession to lay a brick, and the halftime score stood at Jazz 46, Kings 49.
Third Quarter
Svi began the quarter by scoring on a wide-open drive and Zach Lavine answered after catching Key in the air. Key responded by drawing three free throws, hitting all three and tying the game at 51. After an exchange of several turnovers, Lauri Markkanen untied the knot from deep, prompting a Kings timeout.
They made the Jazz look silly on the other side, and Dario Saric nailed a 3 of his own. Sabonis and Schröder regained the lead for the Kings at the 7:42 mark and Walker Kessler answered. Sabonis scored over Walker again, and Lauri took advantage of a mismatch to tie it back up. Zach Lavine and Malik Monk went on a mini-run to put the Kings up 4, and Will Hardy called timeout.
Whatever play Will had in mind didn’t develop, Keyonte took it himself, and Lavine hit two free throws to make it 67-62. Utah’s offensive ineptitude continued, until former Jazzman Drew Eubanks tried to start a revenge game against Nurkic, failed, and the Kings gave up a Taylor Hendricks dunk. At the 2:21 mark, WCJ kept the Jazz close as he came off a Nurkic screen and hit a nasty bank shot while drawing a foul. At 1:33, Lauri drove to the basket, got mugged without a call, and was hit in the foot by the ball out of bounds. Will Hardy threw the proverbial challenge flag, thinking the call should be Jazz ball, but was unsuccessful. Before the play, Keon Ellis committed a technical foul. Lauri missed the free throw, the Kings turned it over, and Lauri made them pay, cutting the deficit to two. The Kings had another empty possession, which led to a Flip lay-in. Russell Westbrook stopped the run at the 25 second mark, ending a 7-0 Jazz run. WCJ found Brice for three, but Malik Monk answered at the horn to keep the Kings in front, 78-75.
Fourth Quarter
The final quarter started at a frenetic pace, as Kyle Filipowski missed a layup, Domantas Sabonis made an easy dunk, WCJ hit a three, and Keon Ellis made free throws. Malik Monk remained hot, hitting two threes in quick succession. Lauri tempered that with one shot from deep, and Keyonte hit a pair of free throws, keeping the Jazz close. Lauri checked out with 8:57 left and Brice Sensabaugh came in, promptly taking a shot and hitting nothing but nothing from beyond the arc. Lavine bricked one on the other end, and Keyonte found Flip in the corner, who drilled his shot and tied the game once again.
The Kings produced another empty possession out of the timeout and Keyonte racked up his 14th point on a masterful turnaround shot from midrange, giving the Jazz the lead.
Dennis Schröder answered, followed by a free throw split by Walker. Lauri checked in for Svi at the 6:09 mark, and Drew Eubanks came in to spell Sabonis, missing a pair of free throws. Lauri, Westbrook, Brice, and Lavine all hit triples, Keyonte missed an iso shot, and Dennis Shröder took the lead back with 4:10 to go. At the 3:43 mark, Sabonis and DeRozan returned to the game to close. Will Hardy rolled with Key, WCJ, Flip, Walker, and Lauri, who were promptly embarrassed by Zach Lavine. Hardy called a timeout, but kept the same players on the floor to close. WCJ got an open look but missed badly. With 2:26 left, down by 3, Lauri airballed a shot from 10 feet. Lavine failed to hit a dagger, and Keyonte drew two shots from the charity stripe. He hit both, cutting the deficit to one. Schröder and Lauri traded buckets, Lavine hit a shot with Lauri draped all over him, and Keyonte hit a quick layup at the other end. Keyonte got back on defense and drew a charge on Lavine with 49 seconds to go. Lauri Markkanen drew a foul on Russell Westbrook, sending him to the line. He hit the first and missed the second, with Flip gathering the rebound, but a lane violation by Russ sent him back to the line. He hit the free throw, putting the Jazz up one with 28.8 left.
Dennis Schröder initiated the offense, Walker Kessler fouled Domantas Sabonis on a putback, and the big Lithuanian went to the line to attempt a three-point play. He missed, Walker gathered the rebound, and Will Hardy and the Jazz had 6.1 seconds to make some magic happen, trailing by one. They inbounded the ball to Keyonte, who played hero ball and missed. The tank lives to fight another day.
Final Notes
🎵The final sequence was a bit of a head-scratcher. Keyonte was stuck. Will Hardy had a timeout to burn, yet he didn’t use it.
🎵Ace Bailey was a non-factor. He finished with 0 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist in 13 minutes. Here’s hoping he’s still just feeling the aftereffects of the flu, because that’s never a line you want to see from your top-5 pick.
🎵Rookie guard Walter Clayton, Jr. had a nice game. 10 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists in 20 minutes. For the most part, he looked comfortable both shooting and distributing the ball.
🎵The Jazz will have the weekend to contemplate their life decisions before a tilt with the Phoenix Suns on Monday and a matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers (insert your favorite joke here) on Wednesday.
