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BROOKLYN, New York — With a 105-94 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday, the Utah Jazz have suddenly won two games in a row.
Both of them came on the road (Utah has won just two games at the Delta Center) and both in less-than-pretty fashion. On Thursday in Detroit, the Jazz were in a dogfight — literally at times. On Saturday in Brooklyn, Utah had to overcome a woeful offensive start.
The Jazz had five players reach double figures — led by Lauri Markkanen's 21 points — but opened the game shooting just 38% in the first quarter, including 10% from 3-point range.
By the end, though, it was a comfortable victory for Utah. The Jazz held an opponent under 100 points for just the second time this season and went up by as many as 20 points in the second half.
"That's two games in a row that we've won ugly," said Jazz coach Will Hardy, whose team won consecutive games for the first time this season. "It hasn't been because of just pretty offense the whole game. There are nights in the NBA where you can win just because you make a ton of shots."
Saturday wasn't one of those nights. The Jazz shot 14-of-41 from the 3-point range and were just 47% from the field. Markkanen struggled to a 3-of-13 night from behind the arc.
"We didn't make any shots in the first half, but we stayed in the game with our physicality and defense," Markkanen said.
Utah scored just 19 points in the first quarter but by the end of the first half they had taken the lead for good. Hardy said how the Jazz responded after struggling in the opening quarter gives makes him optimistic about his group moving foward.
"For us to win these two games on the road and fight through some tough offense, makes me proud as a coach," Hardy said. "The team is competing at a high level. They're flying around, defensively and executing."
All good things, right? Well, that depends on who you ask.
With the win, the Jazz improved to 7-20 and are now in the fifth spot in the tank race. And they lost to a team that Saturday clearly has the lottery on its mind.
After a surprising start to the season, Brooklyn traded away point guard Dennis Schroder to the Golden State Warriors last week in order to get worse. And, well, the Nets certainly looked pretty bad against Utah.
Brooklyn went 7-of-41 from 3-point range and accomplished a rare feat in committing more turnovers (19) than the Jazz (18).
The Jazz played well, but it was against a team designed to lose. That meant some pockets of Jazz fans were undoubtedly doing some hand-wringing over the back-to-back wins — especially due to how Saturday's game played out.
Utah was led by Markkanen, Collin Sexton, Jordan Clarkson, John Collins and Svi Mykhailiuk against the Nets with each reaching at least 13 points. That's three veterans (Sextom, Clarkson and Collins) who are expected to be in trade discussions leading up to February's deadline, and a journeyman (Mykhailiuk) who probably isn't part of the team's long-term future.
What about Utah's young players? Well, Keyonte George missed the game with an ankle injury, Brice Sensabaugh had 8 points and 18 minutes, Isaiah Collier was scoreless in 16 minutes, and Walker Kessler struggled with foul trouble but finished with 5 points, seven rebounds and four blocks in 21 minutes.
Cody Williams and Kyle Filipowski, meanwhile, are currently on assignment with the Salt Lake City Stars.
But lottery odds and development talk aside, the team is just happy to get a couple in the win column.
"There have been some hard moments here in the last three weeks," Hardy said. "But I think the way the team has just continued every day to do the work, not dwell on the last game very much and continue to push forward is is something that we're going to have to cling to because there will be more tough games ahead."
