Jazz embarrassed again — this time by a bad Portland team
Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
PORTLAND — Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy didn't mince words in the hours leading up to his team's games against the Portland Trail Blazers Wednesday.
During his pregame availability, he said there were two things he cared about when it came to his young team: playing hard and passing.
"We're at a point now where if you're not willing to do both of those things, you cannot play for the Utah Jazz," Hardy said.
Those stern words came in the aftermath of Utah's no-show against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday. League rules dictate that a team has to play five players; otherwise, Hardy — based on his own rules — may have been forced to sit just about everyone.
Portland had lost eight straight games and has been the worst offensive team in the NBA. Getting a chance at the suddenly reeling Jazz was just what the Blazers needed.
Portland rolled to a 121-105 victory over Utah and looked like an offensive juggernaut in the process.
It was Utah's third game in four nights, all in different cities — a stretch that started with an emotional double-overtime loss. Fatigue was expected; Hardy didn't want his team to use that as an excuse.
"We can control our effort and we can control our willingness to pass the ball," he said before the game. "I think a big part of it is the piece of your brain that will dig in when you're tired and when fatigue sets in, and you can get sloppy in those areas. But I'm trying to challenge the team on not letting themselves off the hook. Don't make an excuse for why things are happening. Don't look for a reason why things are happening and sort of rationalize bad moments in your brain and make them OK. They're not OK."
They were far from OK in the Rose City.
Utah coughed up 16 first-half turnovers and trailed by 19 points at halftime. Even with a slightly better effort in the second half, the Jazz didn't make a push to get back into the game. Portland led by as many as 32 points in the fourth quarter.
Jordan Clarkson had seven turnovers, Kelly Olynyk and Talen Horton-Tucker had three giveaways apiece, and three other players had two. It was a team-wide issue that made the Blazers' life easy Wednesday.
The Blazers shot 51% from the field, 43% from 3-point range, and scored 31 points off Utah's 24 turnovers. Those were high numbers for a team that entered Wednesday ranked last in the NBA in shooting and offensive rating.
Were the Jazz tired? Certainly, but that didn't mean it hasn't been an embarrassing last couple of games.
"We ask everybody how they're feeling too much," Hardy said while admitting that he was about to sound like a philosopher. "Like, when I was growing up going to school, my parents didn't ask me every morning if I thought I could go to school. If they did, by the 10th day, I would go, 'You know, now that you mention it, I don't feel that good.' But every morning it was my brothers and I getting up and we were all going 'I don't want to go to school' and my parents going, 'You're going to school. That's what's happening.'
"This is the reality of the NBA. It's a fatigue business. You ask any player honestly after opening night, no one feels good. And that's just the way it is. There's a mental piece of that. There's a physical piece of that."
Right now, the Jazz are lacking in both areas.
This story will be updated.
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