I hate to be the negative Nancy. But the jazz don’t play well on the road. I hope I’m wrong

GAME NOTES:

Welcome back Jordan Clarkson! Although he didn’t shoot the ball well, he was absolutely our best playmaker tonight.

This was another gritty all around team victory. I like how with Lauri out, it becomes everybody’s responsibility to score, and get it done. We did that tonight, and we did that Saturday as well.

Let’s start with Keyonte George. He had 12 points at halftime, and cooled off the second half. This was one of the worst playmaking games I’ve seen, highlighted by a bad pass on a fast break, and I think it is because he feels the pressure to score with Lauri out. His defense was great in the first half, even getting a few stops on Ingram and a few steals. He finished with a team high (and career high) 19 points on 6-14 shooting, 3-8 from deep, 4-6 from the line. 3 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 steals, 5 rebounds tonight.

Simone Fontecchio was very impressive tonight. While his stats don’t jump out at you, he was looking to bother Ingram all night, and it was relentless. Offensively, 4-9 shooting, 3-8 from 3, 3-4 from the line for 14 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals in 28 minutes. I’m really glad that Fontecchio is getting his moment to shine, and his defense looks much improved from last year. He was playing like a dog out there

John Collins looked more involved than he did Saturday. It seemed like Hardy was trying to get him involved in sets, and get him a few early shots. It worked, and he hit both of his 3’s in the first quarter and overall looked more comfortable and fluid in the offense. He ended up with 12 points on 4-9 shooting (2-3 inside the arc), 2-6 from deep, and 2-3 from the line. He didn’t light up the glass like he has earlier in the season, but it’s nothing to worry about in my eyes.

Jordan Clarkson came back from his sickness, and looked great from a playmaking perspective. Shooting, not so much, although he hit some clutch buckets for us. 4-16 shooting, 2-9 from 3, 6-6 from the line, 16 points, 10 assists(!!!), 1 turnover (!!!), 4 rebounds. He had probably the best playmaking game of his career, and it really elevated us when our offense was going stale in the third quarter especially. I’m proud JC is able to make those plays when needed, hopefully he is able to use this as a catapult into a great season.

Omer Yurtseven got the start over Walker Kessler again, but I don’t know how much longer Hardy can keep Kessler out of the lineup. Omer looked pretty good, and provided some good defense on Valanciunas which is all you can ask for. 7 points, 10 rebounds (5 offensive), 2 assists, 2 blocks in 22 minutes tonight. He has surprised me with his toughness since he got inserted in the lineup. I’m a fan of his and I hope that he continues to get minutes when our lineup gets more set.

Kessler was an absolute monster off the bench. Whatever injury he had must’ve been terrible because he looks like a whole new player since coming back. To start the season he was sluggish, couldn’t handle the ball, and struggled to box out. Now he is doing it all. 14 points on 7-9 shooting, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks. I’m glad he is back to his normal self on both ends. His impact defensively is huge.

Ochai Agbaji has looked great offensively the last two games, again proving me wrong. I haven’t been the highest on him, but his shooting and offensive decision making these last few games have been hard to ignore. Looking at the box score, you only see 12 points on 4-7 shooting, 3-6 from 3, 1-1 from the line, but his impact goes beyond the boxscore. He provided good defense and was ready to shoot whenever he got the ball. Still need to see him handle the ball more, but I’m glad he was willing to shoot and was hitting his shots.

THT didn’t have the best night shooting, but was such a great playmaker tonight. 2-9 shooting, 0-3 from 3, 1-1 from the line, but 7 assists with NO TURNOVERS! That is the improvement we need. While we desperately need his shot to start falling, his playmaking was great tonight.

Kelly Olynyk didn’t do much scoring, but finished with 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 points, and 5 fouls lol. Love Kelly. He fits his role nicely. His connection with Kessler is great, they connected with another alley-oop tonight.

Collin Sexton had such a great game Saturday, it was sad to see him go back to his mediocrity so quickly. While he shot 4-9 and 3-6 from 3, He had no assists with 4 turnovers. His defense was great, snagging two steals and doing a good job on Dyson Daniels and on switches, but the inconsistency is his biggest knock right now. At least THT was handling the ball well.

2 wins in a row!!!

6-11 BABY!

Said it during the Blazers loss but I think when fully healthy Utah still will surprise a lot of people, there are going to be bad games but they have the pieces to take some big games

What a great turnaround, super impressed by this group without Lauri. It seems like the group is starting to buy in more.

Omer, Simone, Ochai, Kessler for their effort on both sides, they deserve a ton of praise for stepping up big time.

The effort, defense and ball movement look so much better…

Keyonte George continues to improve almost every game and getting more and more confident. Just has so much potential man.

Couple of issues I had: Keyonte absolutely should have the ball in those late game scenarios over JC. The ball needs to run through your best court general & distribution. And I’d also like to see our starters come in earlier in close games in the 4th like that.

I hope we can carry this good play on the road and keep playing this brand of competitive & unselfish basketball.

I don’t really know what this teams plan is but man the two suns games and these two pels game were fun to watch! Hoping for more of this!

Keyonte and Walker! Our future (pls ignore my concerns about Walker early this season)

Hi guys, not a Jazz fan but watching Jazz for Yurtseven. I’m not full confident on this take but I think major change in Jazz is playing with a real center all game long. Kessler or Yurtseven, there is always a true 5 in the court. I was really surprised when I saw Jazz tried stretch 5 when Kessler out or his rotation. I think stretch 5 is not a good thing for Jazz or any team in particular.

I think you are gonna Kessler - Yurtseven at 5 and this will be good for Jazz and of course my boy Yurtseven.

Actually he is more talented than he looked. He can score, always ready, hard worker and has a good manner. He will be good.

Don’t give up on this Jazz team yet