After a tough last-second loss on Friday at Sacramento, the Utah Jazz return home to host the Phoenix Suns on Monday night in Salt Lake City.
The Jazz hope to pick up where they left off at home as they earned a 129-108 season-opening victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.
Utah followed that with a competitive outing in Sacramento before coming up just short in a 105-104 loss. The Jazz had multiple chances to win late. They missed the opportunity to grab the defensive rebound that led to Domantas Sabonis’ go-ahead bucket with 6.4 seconds left, then Keyonte George’s game-winning, buzzer-beating fadeaway missed the mark.
Despite the loss, Utah has looked better early than many might’ve expected — considering they’ve been picked by pundits to finish with the worst record in the NBA.
“This has the makings of a really fun team to be a part of, because it is a team,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “There’s a lot happening in our organization right now that’s trending in a really positive direction. It’s great for us to go through that moment at the end.”
The Jazz didn’t get a great look in the waning moments. George hurried a turnaround attempt from the elbow after a timeout and inbounds pass, but it’s those kinds of moments that the franchise hopes will pay off as their younger players garner invaluable experience.
“We haven’t been in a lot of situations like that, and you can’t really script them,” George said. “The best thing for us is actually being in those moments and getting live reps.”
George has played well for Utah, finishing with 18 points and 10 assists versus the Kings after totaling 16 points and nine assists against the Clippers.
“We want these experiences,” Hardy said. “You have to go through tough moments together, go through high-pressure moments. I love that this game was on the road. It’s good for our group to feel those moments, because you can’t simulate them. We work on situations in practice all the time, but it feels nothing like what that just felt like.”
The Suns hope to end their three-game road swing the right way after suffering back-to-back one-sided losses to the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets.
Phoenix is concerned about its defense after allowing 126.0 points per game in its first three outings. Denver downed the Suns 133-111 before they fell 129-102 to the Clippers on Friday.
“We’ve got to be better. There’s no excuse for that,” Suns coach Jordan Ott said. “We’re going to have to be better defensively. This is a defensive-minded group at times and we just lose our way, but we’re three games in. There’s a sample size to all this. A lot of that is who you play. I think we’ve played some good offenses. We’ll keep looking, find ways to guard better, find ways to attack better, but 133 (points), doesn’t matter where you’re at, that’s probably not going to get it done.”
On the bright side, the Suns are getting closer to the return of injured players Mark Williams (knee) and Jalen Green (hamstring). Also, Devin Booker has scored 30 points twice in three games to lead the Suns offense.
Phoenix swept the four meetings with Utah last year and has won 10 straight against the Jazz.
