Jazz Didn’t Have Enough Spark In 102-101 Loss To Kings

Nov 1, 2019, 11:40 PM

Head coach Quin Snyder of the Utah Jazz reacts during the first half of the NBA game against the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena on October 28, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

BY CLEON WALL, KSL SPORTS

KSL Sports

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Jazz needed several kicks-in-the-butt to get their team going in their 102-101 loss to the Sacramento Kings. One player not using his posterior correctly cost Utah the victory.

With the Jazz leading 101-100, Kings forward Nemanja Bjelica shot a wide-open 3-pointer from the corner. It was lucky he missed it. It was unlucky for forward Bojan Bogdanovic, who did not box out Harrison Barnes. Barnes flew into the lane and put back the miss to give the Kings their final lead.

“The last possession kind of epitomized (the loss),” said Jazz head coach Quin Snyder. “We gave up 11 offensive rebounds.”

💔💔💔 pic.twitter.com/YT7nzdPHcs

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 2, 2019

Donovan Mitchell’s last-second shot was off the mark and the Sacramento celebrated their first victory of the season.

Snyder also bemoaned the fact that the Kings also scored 28 points off of 17 Jazz turnovers.

“We didn’t do the things we needed to do to win, things we can control.”

Plenty of players had to kick-start Utah at different times of the game and no one was bigger than Rudy Gobert in the 4th quarter. His defense on De’Aaron Fox’s drives late in the contest provided Utah with the opportunity of coming back from a 9-point deficit in the final period. Gobert also hammered home an alley-oop jam to cut the Kings lead to 100-99.

Mitchell and Mike Conley also provided the points in the final period to put the Jazz in a position to win. They scored 9 of Utah’s final 11 points including Mitchell’s acrobatic shot that gave Utah a 101-100 lead.

📹| @spidadmitchell was our leading scorer with 24 points—his fifth 20-point night of the season. pic.twitter.com/E4bZQraahI

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 2, 2019

Both players also missed a free-throw a piece that could have helped near the end.

Mike Conley said it shouldn’t have been so close at the end and that they lost the game in the first quarter.

Utah was down by 11 points near the beginning of the second quarter. That’s when Donovan Mitchell and Emmanuel Mudiay had to provide the spark to get back their team back into the game. The two guards nailed back-to-back-to-back-to-back mid-range jump shots and cut the Kings lead to 3.

Conley and Donovan Mitchell also kicked the Jazz into gear in the 3rd after Conley had turned the ball over twice and the Jazz were now down by 8 points. Conley’s lay-up and 3-pointer cut the Kings lead to 3. Mitchell then nailed two mid-range jumpers, canned a 3-pointer and made a couple of free throws to give Utah a 77-74 advantage.

Utah’s boots in the rear never lasted. That usually came back to sloppy play and turnovers.

“We’ve got to be tougher with the ball,” said Snyder. “I thought they were physical with us and more precise and more forceful.”

Mitchell finished with 24-point, 2-assists, and 3-steals while Conley had 19-points 4-assists, 4 steals, and 4-turnovers. Gobert finished with 15-points, 16 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots.