Jazz Comeback Falls Shorts Against Spurs In San Antonio

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Jazz opened their three-game post-Christmas road trip with a 126-122 loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

Lauri Markkanen scored 32 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while Mike Conley matched a season-high with 17 points.

Three Spurs players scored at least 20 points led by Devin Vassell who added 24 as the Jazz fell to 19-17 on the season.

First Quarter

The Jazz got off to a quick 5-2 start, but the Spurs answered with a 9-0 to build an 11-2 start four minutes into the game.

Collin Sexton continued his strong play from his return to the lineup on Thursday scoring seven first quarter points.

Collin Sexton 💪😤#TakeNote @utahjazz https://t.co/Tu6dlrCXpi

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) December 27, 2022

San Antonio held the Jazz to just 2-10 shooting from the three-point line and never gave up their early lead.

After one the Jazz trailed the Spurs 31-26.

Second Quarter

The Jazz started 1-10 from the floor to open the second quarter as the Spurs built their lead to as large as 12.

However, Mike Conley got the Jazz offense moving with nine second quarter points on 3-4 shooting from downtown.

Mike Conley leads @utahjazz 2⃣nd quarter comeback#TakeNote https://t.co/b1DWCxz4ij

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) December 27, 2022

Conley and Lauri Markkanen each had 14 points for the Jazz at the break, while Keldon Johnson led all scorers with 17.

At the half, the Jazz trailed the Spurs 63-56.

Third Quarter

The Jazz poor shooting followed them into the second half as the Spurs lead rapidly grew to double-digits and stayed there for the remainder of the third quarter.

San Antonio outscored the Jazz 23-13 to open the quarter and led by as much as 20 midway through the third.

🇫🇮Markkanen block leads to Vanderbilt 🪣#TakeNotehttps://t.co/LXUAUn7O6o

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) December 27, 2022

An 8-0 run trimmed the Jazz deficit to 12 late in the quarter.

After three, the Jazz trailed San Antonio 96-82.

Fourth Quarter

The Jazz used a 9-2 run to trim the Spurs lead to nine with eight minutes left in the game, and another late 10-0 run to cut their deficit to just four with 1:23 left to play.

Malik Beasley narrowly missed a three that would have trimmed the Spurs lead to one, and the Jazz were unable to overtake San Antonio.

Mike Conley matched his season-high with 17 points while Markkanen added 32 points and 11 rebounds in the loss.

The Jazz opened their three-game road trip with a 126-122 loss to San Antonio.

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