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Utah Jazz’s road losing streak extended to six games with loss to Brooklyn Nets

Donovan Mitchell almost had a triple double in the loss.

Utah Jazz v Brooklyn Nets Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images

Game Summary

The Utah Jazz faced off against the Brooklyn Nets tonight at the Barclays Center and it wasn’t pretty. The Jazz were missing a lot of rotation players who were responsible for good defense, including Rudy Gobert, Ricky Rubio, and Thabo Sefolosha; it showed in the play. With the Jazz’s loss tonight, they are now the last team in the NBA without a road win.

The game started ugly on the defensive side of the ball with Brooklyn dropping 39 points in just the first quarter. Some of it was crazy shooting by Brooklyn, but a lot of it was really bad defense on the perimeter as the Brooklyn perimeter shooters were open time and time again.

The second quarter was a draw as the Jazz struggled to close the gap. At the end of the second quarter it looked as though the Jazz would close out the half strong and cut into the lead then this happened ...

The Jazz played with a bit more intensity on both ends in the third quarter, and it led to some more easy baskets like this one.

Unfortunately, the Jazz’s defense just didn’t come to play tonight allowing the Brooklyn Nets to shoot 50% from the field and scorching hot 45% from three. The Jazz got the score to within nine a couple of times in the 4th quarter, but they didn’t have the mustard or the capability of holding onto the ball or stopping the Nets from hitting open threes.

Game Notes

Joe Ingles had game from outside! He had 15 points on 5 shots, 4 assists, 4 boards, and a block. If only he’d shoot another five times, the Jazz would have had a chance. Unfortunately Joe Ingles is struggling to let it fly.

Donovan Mitchell almost had a triple double while playing out of position as a rookie in his 16th game of the season. He learns so quickly. While he struggled at times (and rightfully so), he fared well for his first day on the job in this role. He finished with 15 points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds.

The Utah Jazz actually shot the ball well tonight. Almost 49% from the floor, with 46% from three, powered by Ingles and Raul Neto, but you don’t win a lot of games when you don’t play defense.

Too many turnovers ... again. Jazz coughed it up 16 times, and the starters were at fault here with eleven of those due to Favors, Ingles, Hood, and Mitchell.

Brooklyn had so many wide open threes. The defensive scheme calls for perimeter guys to double players in the post. Brooklyn had at least 5 plays where that led to an open three as they passed it out of the post and around the perimeter. I can’t understand why this is the scheme on defense.

What happened to Ekpe Udoh? Udoh played 15 minutes and had 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 4 fouls, and a game worst -14 in plus-minus. The Jazz’s plus/minus All-Star struggled.

The Utah Jazz will pick it up tomorrow when they face the Orlando Magic at 5:00PM.