Game Recap: Utah Jazz fall to Portland Trail Blazers 102-94

This game was a perfect game for the tank. We had a very injured Portland team, a team the Jazz could stick around to make the game just interesting enough but still come out with the loss in the end.

If you are not on the tank wagon, this loss was hard. Utah held a 9 point lead in the 3rd quarter and watched the game slip away during the 4th quarter.

Ty Corbin says that Portland rode their veterans in the 4th quarter to a win, while our youth caused us to lose. I would just like to say that that is false. Lillard carried the Blazers for the most part in the 4th quarter and if it wasn't for Kanter we wouldn't have even been in this game.

EDIT

I have to include Moni's transcription of Ty's exact quote and her recap of who actually did what in the 4th quarter

** Tyrone Corbin on the loss
I thought the pressure in the fourth quarter, give their veterans credit…They came out right from the beginning of the fourth. We got a turnover, they got a 3-point shot, we got, made another, a mistake, and they scored on it, and they ran from there.* So, give them the credit. Their veterans took ‘em through in the fourth, and we didn’t respond to it. You know, that’s part of growing with a young group, what it takes to finish games out.**
* Re "give their veterans credit": Damian Lillard, a second-year player, scored 14 points in the 4th quarter, including 11 straight and scoring and assisting on 16 of the Blazers’ 19 points from the "they ran from there" point.
** Re "we didn’t respond to it" and "that’s part of growing with a young group": Just for the record, Richard Jefferson and Marvin Williams both played 7+ minutes in the fourth.

3 Positives

1. Enes Kanter! Kanter was a beast. I love seeing Kanter have a good game. I know we lost so it will add to his 1- 5 gazillion record as a starter but all the same it was fun to see him have a good game. Kanter tied his career high in points with 25, Kanter also had 3 blocks , 4 assists and 10 rebounds.

2. Trey Burke had a very respectable game shooting 8-16 from the floor. Burke finished with 21 points. Its really really nice to see Burke find his groove after hitting that rookie wall pretty hard, the weeks leading into the All Star break. Burke lead the charge in the 3rd quarter which helped the Jazz build a 9 point lead.

3. We saw Burke, Burks and Hayward on the court together to close the game. Granted it was just maybe a minute but we still saw it!

3 Negatives

1. Marvin Williams. Marvin Williams was pretty invisible out there. Marvin scored a measly 4 points and only grabbed 3 rebounds. If you are going to play power forward for the Utah Jazz you better grab more rebounds than 3 and you better score more points than 4.

2. 4th quarter TOs. The Jazz had 5 turnovers in the fourth quarter. That will not cut it during a close game on the road.

3. Getting outrebounded 45-40 when Portland was missing three of their bigs. We have to rebound the ball. Maybe if Gobert and Kanter would have gotten some burn together we would have seen more rebounds.

Overall the Jazz put up a valiant fight on the road. They did especially well for Favors being unable to play. Kanter and Burke made this game a lot of fun to watch. I found it interesting and not surprising that RJ and Marv still got their minutes despite horrible play for most of the night and despite the fact that its past the trade deadline, so we know Ty wasn't playing them just to showcase them. Anyways that doesn't matter, what matters is that it was a fun game to watch for the most part and we keep seeing our future getting better and better.