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What’s the opposite of winning an NBA Championship? Probably dropping a 20 point lead (11 going into the fourth quarter) at home, and losing by one point. Yep. The Utah Jazz (18-12) lost to the Sacramento Kings (12-17) 94-93. It was looking like a legit blowout for the good guys, and then, well, and then Kings coach Dave Joerger decided to sit DeMarcus Cousins (harried to 11 points off of 16 shots by Rudy Gobert) and his team went on an immediate run. Cousins would finish the game and get to the line quite a bit because the Jazz had to foul at that point. But it’s clear that he was outplayed. And it is even more clear to me that his team plays better when he’s sitting.
Utah was going to win this, but didn’t. And I’m not going to write much more about this. Barf. Gordon Hayward finished with 28 points, but missed a shot that would have made it a tidy 30 and a Jazz win. Rudy Gobert had 17 and 14 with 3 blocks. The Jazz missed nearly 20 threes and got out rebounded on the offensive glass. The injuries (no George Hill, Rodney Hood, Alec Burks, and Dante Exum) didn’t help, but Sactown was without some guys too (Rudy Gay, Omri Casspi). This would have been a good night to see someone step up off the bench. Trey Lyles, Joe Johnson, and Raul Neto were -11 in +/-. Wasn’t great.
Ty Lawson dropped 19 off the bench. He’s a pretty okay player when he’s not picking up DUIs.
Anyway, this is the second loss in a row — the last time they did that was in November. So that’s not too shabby. Utah will try to avoid dropping three in a row, they will host the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.