The Jazz came close to being held up against the Lakers. Except that a slight communication problem between Collin Sexton and his coach, Will Hardy, condemned the Jazz to another defeat.
A priori, this meeting between the Jazz and the Lakers should not hold any surprises.
And yet.
Despite the great performances of the Anthony Davis / LeBron James duo – 60 points between them – Utah clings behind a great collective performance where all the members of the major five exceeded the 10 mark points.
The Mormons are holding on so hard they even have the match point.
Collin Sexton rushes up the floor at full speed with only a handful of seconds remaining and manages to force his way through the Lakers defense to score the winning basket. The Jazz Hall is exultant except there is a catch.
While the Utah leader penetrated the Lakers defense, Will Hardy found it was better to extinguish this little grain of madness by taking a timeout. A choice which proves fatal for him and his players.
Collin Sexton had the shot to win… but Will Hardy took a time out and it was the Jazz who reached a new milestone in the world of tanking pic.twitter.com/vgouDuXnT7
— Tibo ???????? (@MNThibault_) https://twitter.com/MNThibault_/status/1863427402484899874?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
A decision with disastrous timing erasing any possibility of accounting for this potential game winner. Possession at the end of the timeout is a catastrophe and the Jazz fail to create an opportunity to snatch victory.
The Lakers got out of this quagmire, not without shaking their chins, and the Jazz suffered another defeat. This setback is done with style and shows that in terms of tanking, it will be difficult to seek the franchise of Salt Lake Citythis season.
Utah continues to sink into the depths of the West with a deserved last place and only the Pelicans manage to follow their insane pace of defeats, but for how long?
