Silver Lining For Jazz After Another Heartbreaking Loss To Kings

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Jazz are now on a five-game losing streak after a 117-115 loss to the Sacramento Kings at home on Tuesday night.

Although it’s a frustrating time for the Jazz and their fans, there is a silver lining to the losing skid. Of those five straight losses, all five games have been lost by five points or less, including the last three games by one possession.

The losing streak started in San Antonio on December 26 after falling to the Spurs, 126-122. Then they went to Golden State and lost to the Warriors, 112-107. After the trip to face the defending champs, the Jazz were in position to win the game in the next three games but Kevin Huerter hit the go-ahead three in the final seconds in Sacramento on December 30. Tyler Herro nailed the game-winning three-pointer in the 126-123 loss to the Miami Heat on Saturday at home. On Tuesday, D’Aaron Fox made the game-winning layup in the final seconds to hand the Jazz a 117-115 loss.

The @utahjazz lose another heartbreaker as Lauri Markkenen's buzzer beater is waived off.

Jazz fall 117-115. #takenote https://t.co/ROFRdX3UAJ

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) January 4, 2023

Will Hardy Comments On Donovan Mitchell’s Career Night

Following a career-high 71 points to go with 10 assists from former Jazzman Donovan Mitchell on Monday night for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jazz coach Will Hardy was asked about the high-scoring performances that have been showcased in the NBA recently.

“It’s a very offensive league,” Hardy said. “The three ball is very deadly. I think the skill level that we’re seeing in the NBA on a night-to-night basis is at an all-time high. Just the ability to dribble, pass, and shoot is unbelievable to me. How talented these guys are top to bottom on every roster. When all of those things come together in one night where you have great shot-making, the benefit of the rules, and the whistle, and you get to shoot a bunch of free throws you can put up a lot of points. It’s hard to say what leads to those performances. We’ve been on the wrong end of one of those this year with [Joel] Embiid scoring 60. You go back and watch the film and that’s why he’s in the MVP conversation every year. He’s really hard to guard and puts you in a lot of tough spots.

“It’s what makes our league the most entertaining league in the world is that people love watching these guys, their talent level is crazy and I think the way the game is set up, it leads to a lot of high-scoring nights.”

Kings Head Coach Tells Funny Story On His First Time Meeting Will Hardy

Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown recalled the first time he met Jazz head coach Will Hardy. KSL Sports Jazz insider Ben Anderson asked coach Brown about the first time they met and that Hardy must’ve been 24 or 25 years old.

“Isn’t he that now?” Brown jokingly asked.

“People don’t know this. But we were roommates in San Antonio,” Brown said. “I had gotten fired from Cleveland. I took the first year off and [Gregg] Popovich, he’s the godfather to a lot of us. So I went down to San Antonio just a couple of times because he invited me. My second year out. He offered me a job, Steve [Kerr] offered me a job with the Warriors. I wasn’t ready to get back into it. So I declined. But Pop said ‘well, you need to do something.’ So I said okay. So he’s like, ‘you can be a consultant.’ So he basically allowed me to be around as much as I wanted and I had one of my sons playing basketball at the University of New Mexico, and the other one is playing football back east at a small college. And so I said ‘pop, I just want the flexibility to go be with them whenever I want.’ He said ‘you come travel with us.’ Basically treated me like an assistant coach. I just didn’t get paid but they gave me perdium, my own hotel room and I was in every meeting when I was there, practices on the floor, the whole nine yards.

“But my living arrangement, I had a room at Danny Ferry’s House. While I was there, I stayed in his son’s bedroom so I had a Spider-Man fat head. Every time I was there, above the garage, Danny had an apartment that Will Hardy lived in. So we crossed paths obviously quite a bit that year that I spent with San Antonio so I’m familiar with him. I thought he looked 15 at the time so I imagined he was 24.”

The Jazz dropped their record to 19-21 on the season. They will hit the road for three straight beginning Thursday, January 5 against the Houston Rockets at 6:00 p.m. The game will be televised on AT&T SportsNet and can be heard on 97.5 The KSL Sports Zone. It can also be streamed on DirecTV Stream and FuboTV.

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