Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- The Utah Jazz tied its season's longest losing streak with a 126-118 loss.
- Toronto Raptors Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley led a decisive 16-0 run late.
- Jordan Clarkson noted team unity despite challenges, as Utah faces Minnesota next.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz tied its longest losing streak of the season Friday with a 126-118 loss to the Toronto Raptors at the Delta Center.
The previous eight-game losing streak was in the second half of January, after which the team went on to win five games in February. The last Jazz win came on Feb. 28.
Seven of the eight losses on the current streak have come by single digits, and Friday's matchup against the Raptors was no exception.
Both teams were missing their starting centers in Jakob Poetl and Walker Kessler, allowing for a more free-flowing offensive game that went back and forth for most of the 48 minutes.
Toronto led early, but Kyle Filipowski tied the game at 50-50 with a 3-pointer in the final minutes of the first half. He finished 3-of-5 from 3-point range for 18 points to trail only Jordan Clarkson's 19 on the night for the Jazz.
Utah led 58-56 at halftime thanks, in large part, to outshooting Toronto 10-4 in made 3-pointers, but a 16-0 run at the end of the third quarter and into the fourth by the Raptors made a Jazz comeback improbable. Toronto's star duo of Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley both reached 20 points during the big run for the visiting Raptors.
Clarkson hit a 4-point play with 5:40 remaining to cut the deficit to 7 and provide some hope and entertainment for the fans who stuck around. He finished as the team's seventh different leading scorer over the eight-game losing streak.
🚨 FLAME (and we cannot emphasize this enough) ON 🚨#TakeNote | @jordanclarksonspic.twitter.com/vQhDAIdULz
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) March 15, 2025
Raptors rookie Jamal Shead hit a pair of 3-pointers over the final five minutes, however, and Toronto went 4-of-4 from the free-throw line to extend its lead and create a streak of its own with three wins in a row and six in its last seven.
"I think that's just the competitive spirit in our group," Clarkson said of the late comeback attempt. "I feel like we're all together and we have great vibes, and we try to keep it that way. Even though the season ain't been going the way we wanted it to, I think as a group on the whole we've been staying together, sticking through and keeping the family, the family."
Head coach Will Hardy said the absence of Kessler proved to be a disadvantage of being "undersized" in the matchup.
Lauri Markkanen was the leading scorer in the first half with 16 points but did not play in the second half, making Filipowski the only true big man in the rotation for the final two quarters. Trade deadline addition KJ Martin was forced to play center in a makeshift "small-ball" lineup despite being just 6-foot-6.
The guard play of rookie Isaiah Collier remains solid, however; he added 16 points, seven assists and five rebounds in a game-high 36 minutes. He passed Deron Williams for the third-most assists by a rookie in Jazz franchise history on Friday.
Utah travels to Minnesota for a one-off against the Timberwolves on Sunday before returning to the Delta Center for a six-game home stretch beginning on Monday against the Chicago Bulls.
