Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- The Utah Jazz concluded their preseason with a disappointing performance against the Portland Trail Blazers, losing 124-86.
- The Jazz struggled offensively, shooting just 29% from the field and committing 16 turnovers, while Portland dominated with 20 offensive rebounds and 27 more shots.
- Will Hardy noted concerns, including defensive effort and live-ball turnovers, attributing some issues to training camp fatigue but remaining optimistic about the team's potential as they prepare for the regular season opener against the Memphis Grizzlies.
PORTLAND — The Utah Jazz played their final preseason game on Friday — though, they may have been better off never making the trip to Portland.
At least, that would have saved on some airfare and hotel costs — and the team could have watched some postseason baseball and/or the thriller between BYU and Oklahoma State.
Because the preseason finale was … oof.
The Jazz played their regular rotation in the first half, but the halftime score? Portland 60, Utah 33. Things didn't get better when the back end of the bench got minutes, either. The Trail Blazers beat the Jazz 124-86 to mercifully end the preseason.
"That was, um, not very good," Jazz coach Will Hardy said.
That about summed it up. How bad was it?
- The Jazz shot 29% from the field, including going 4-of-19 from 3-point range.
- Utah had 13 first-half turnovers, many of which were the live-ball variety.
- Lauri Markkanen shot 1-of-9 for just 5 points and was still one of Utah's better plus/minus players (even at -13).
- The Jazz didn't have anyone in double figures until Brice Sensabaugh scored his 10th point with 1:08 remaining.
- Portland got 20 offensive rebounds and took 27 more shots than the Jazz.
Yup, not very good.
"I think, overall, the team has had three weeks of camp, and we've had a couple of bad days," Hardy said. "We've had one practice that we weren't super pleased with, and we had tonight's game."
A few things immediately stood out to Hardy following the game: the effort in running back on defense, the live-ball turnovers (16 in total) and Portland's offensive rebounding.
"If we have games like tonight where the other team is taking 30 more shots than we are, it almost doesn't matter how well we shoot or don't shoot," he said.
It wasn't the most promising final test run for the regular season. On Tuesday against the Sacramento Kings, the Jazz looked like they might be sneaky competitive. On Friday, it looked like they'd only be competing for the No. 1 pick in next year's draft.
Hardy believes, though, that the three weeks of mostly good days are more indicative of where his team will be when it tips off the season on Wednesday at home against the Memphis Grizzlies.
"It would be very easy to be emotional about tonight's game and the way it felt," he said. "I do think that there's a little bit of training camp fatigue right now. This is our sixth preseason game, and everybody is sort of chomping at the bit to get to the games that count, but that doesn't excuse some of the things that we just have to clean up immediately."
