The Utah Jazz and the Houston Rockets played in what was clearly an end-of-season game for two teams going in different directions this offseason. Houston won easily, 140-106. Houston is a talented but imperfect team that was able to out-talent the Jazz, who are playing a rotation of developmental players, rookies, and 10-day contract players. Utah is currently in the 5th spot of the lottery, hoping to potentially catch the Sacramento Kings and move into 4th. The Rockets are in the 5th spot in the Western
Conference playoff picture, hoping to jump to 4th.
With both teams at almost exact opposites of the standings spectrum, it’s hard not to feel better about the future of the Jazz compared to the Rockets. Houston cashed their chips to bring on Kevin Durant and started the season hot, but have slowly been on a downward trajectory. Losing Steven Adams was a big loss, and they haven’t been right since a recent group chat story involving Kevin Durant during the All-Star break. The Jazz are having to rest every player and sign a group of 10-day contract players to make sure they keep their pick this season. With Jaren Jackson Jr. waiting to join an already interesting core of Keyonte George, Lauri Markkanen, Ace Bailey, and Walker Kessler, it’s hard not to think the Jazz could pass up the Rockets as soon as next season. And what if the Jazz win the lottery?
That said, this is a recap of what happened tonight. Utah lost by a lot, but were able to show some real improvement from some of their young core. Cody Williams scored 27 points on 10/16 shooting from the field, he was 7/10 from the free throw line with 11 rebounds. Oh, and he also dished out 4 assists. Quite the line from a player who was getting called a bust after an up-and-down rookie season. Now, it’s clear that Williams is a player who will be a part of the rotation in future seasons. How much is the question?
Ace Bailey continues to show the flashes of a bright future with his combination of shooting and now impressive drives to the rim. Bailey has been the opposite of his scouting report, where he was called a selfish chucker. Instead, he’s a player who looks for the pass, rebounds, and defends hard while also shooting the ball at a higher level than expected. Tonight, Bailey had 22 points with 6 rebounds, and it didn’t look particularly hard for him to get there.
Brice Sensabaugh was solid again tonight with his 20 points, 5 assists, and 3 rebounds. It’s the 5 assists that are really encouraging. To start the season, Sensabaugh had a style of play that stopped the ball and hurt the flow of the offense. Now, Sensabaugh is looking more and more comfortable playing within the offense and not looking to shoot every time he has the ball. His shooting has also improved, and he’s scoring an impressive amount regardless of the opponent. That scoring is going to make him a valuable player the Jazz can call on in the future when they need scoring off the bench.
Finally, Kyle Filipowski is proving he’s an effective NBA rotation player. His scoring is legit against a wide variety of opponents. Tonight he was solid with 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists. He’s proving that he can be an effective weapon off the bench as a power forward. Utah will need him next season for depth, even though it may be difficult to find minutes for him. At times, they may use him as a “break-glass-in-case-of-emergency” center if they need a stretch five that can score, but that comes with real problems on defense. That said, Utah has a known commodity in Filipowski, who can score on good efficiency, and his contract makes that really valuable.
Utah now has just four games left and will be watching the standings really closely. There’s a reasonable chance they pass the Kings, but that will take the Kings making silly mistakes. On second thought, maybe that’s a real possibility.
