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SALT LAKE CITY — Walker Kessler’s long reach got to a shot on the perimeter.
With just under 3:30 remaining in a 1-point game, Kessler blocked LaMelo Ball’s 3-point attempt. The block was good, but the rest of the finish was less so.
The Jazz couldn’t secure the rebound after the blocked shot, which led to an open 3-pointer by the Hornets. That was the beginning of the end for Utah in a 117-112 loss to the Charlotte Hornets Wednesday at the Delta Center.
“We all just sort of died when the ball was in the air,” head coach Will Hardy said. “Keyonte (George) went for the loose ball — didn’t get it — and we ended up giving up a corner 3. Then the offensive execution sort of went away with it. It was like that moment took all the air out of us”
Hardy chalked it up to a learning experience for the young team. The Jazz closed with George, Isaiah Collier, Walker Kessler, Cody WIlliams and Brice Sensabaugh — all players 23 years old or younger.
And the moment might be beneficial in adding more young talent to the team. The Hornets are one of four teams with worse records than the Jazz, and the loss pulled Utah into a virtual tie with Charlotte in the lottery standings.
While those might be at the forefront of many fans’ (and, to be honest, Jazz executives’) minds, it wasn’t for the players.
For them, Wednesday’s game ended in disappointment. There was the bad inbound pass by Collier that led to an easy 2 points on the other end; there was the offensive foul by Kessler on a roll to the basket; there was the off-balanced 3-point shot by George when there was plenty of time left on the shot clock.
It wasn’t the cleanest finish the Jazz have played this year.
Tanking win? Sure, but that’s not what the players wanted.
“But these are a lot of young guys that are all learning together, and I could not be happier with the trend of our team’s play,” Hardy said. “I think if you look at where we were six weeks ago or two months ago to now, we’re playing way better basketball on both sides of the ball, and that’s all I can ask for.”
That much is true. Even with odd lineups — Utah started three rookies and a two-way player — the Jazz found a way to stay in the game against a team perceived with more talented. Yes, the Hornets have a bad record, but they have building blocks in Ball, Brandon Miller and Mark Williams, who all scored over 20 points on Wednesday. The Jazz, meanwhile, were without Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, Jordan Clarkson, John Collins and Johnny Juzang.
Hardy said that was a sign of a team growing together and not just individually.
“They’re developing this collective attitude that they’re in it together,” the coach said. “With a lot of young players, the concern is that they start to compete with each other; and part of that’s natural, and part of that’s good. But if it’s too much about the competition between the guys that tears away at the fabric of the team, I haven’t felt that at all.”
That collective unit helped push the Jazz to a 13-point lead in the second half. George had 26 points and six assists, Collier finished with 11 points and 10 assists, and Sensabaugh added 19 points and four rebounds.
The team, though, for better or worse, just couldn’t finish.
“The margins between winning and losing are very small and you walk out of here feeling terrible,” Hardy said. “But I know that it wasn’t 48 bad minutes. It was 45 pretty good minutes, and then three minutes at the end where we didn’t execute it our best. But it’s a really good experience for our guys to be in this situation, to feel those moments and deal with them together.”
And may be even better in the long run that they get that experience — and still lose.
Rebuilding seasons are odd, indeed.
