Utah Jazz’s worst game of the season sees them fall to previously struggling Wizards

So, it seems fair to say that the first three games of this road trip have exposed (or at least further illustrated) some problem areas for the Utah Jazz:

• Bojan Bogdanovic is in a full-fledged slump, and seems to lose control of the ball every time he puts it on the floor.

• “Point guard” Donovan Mitchell remains more theoretical than practical at the moment, his on-court decision-making going through some severe downturns of late.

• Everyone else is seemingly following those two guys’ lead and being entirely too careless with the ball.

• Their formerly stingy defense is still generally sound schematically, but has been beset by a lack of effort, with midrange shots being forced but infrequently contested.

You put all those factors together and even a Washington team that came in having lost five games in a row and not having beaten Utah since Feb. 18, 2016, can have itself a night. The Wizards certainly did on Thursday, sending the reeling Jazz to a 131-122 defeat.

Utah was so bad on this occasion that not even the combination of a season-high 42 from Mitchell and a career-high 34 points from Joe Ingles could save them.

Even when they managed to smooth out the rough edges and approach something resembling normalcy, it generally proved unsustainable.

After rallying within 85-77 in the third quarter, they were outscored 15-5 over the rest of the period and went into the final 12 minutes down 18. And after getting within 112-105 in the fourth, they surrendered another scoring spurt that enabled Washington to pull away for good.

Among the further contributions to Thursday’s wreckage: Washington met with little resistance and shot 54.7% from the field, as Bradley Beal (43 points, five assists) and Russell Westbrook (35 points, 15 rebounds, 13 assists), shot a combined 28 of 47 (60%); the Jazz committed 17 turnovers, leading to 24 Wizards points; Utah’s normally strong bench went silent, combining for 19 points as Jordan Clarkson shot 2 for 11; and the Jazz were a mess at the foul line, going 16 for 28 total (highlighted by Rudy Gobert’s miserable 2-for-10 night).

This story will be updated.

from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/3s2Rwdp