This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
For Utah, the numbers proved horrific. Worse then that, they proved too much to overcome.
The Jazz missed 24 of 28 shots in the first quarter of Thursday night's 103-101 loss to the Sacramento Kings. They missed 12 of 13 3-point attempts. Utah scored a grand total of 12 points in the first 12 minutes. And while they were missing practically every shot, the Kings were running a virtual lay-up line at the other end.
So while the furious fourth quarter comeback was nice, and while Rudy Gay's game-winner may have seemed to be the deciding factor, in truth, the Jazz lost this game early. It's hard to fall behind 18 points in the NBA and win games.
Thursday night provided that lesson to Utah.
"You get punished in the NBA in the long run when you don't come out ready to play," Jazz shooting guard Rodney Hood said. "This one hurt. We played horribly in the first half. We fought and scratched and came back in the second half, but it wasn't enough."
The loss extends a disastrous two-game run for Utah. Heading into this week, the Jazz knew head-to-head matchups against Sacramento and the Portland Trail Blazers would prove important. Those three seem to be headed into a battle for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Wins against those two would've been big for the Jazz.
Instead, two losses mean Utah (17-22) is only a game ahead of Portland and the Kings. More importantly, Utah has lost the season series with Sacramento. If the Jazz lose out on a postseason spot by a few games, fans can look at this week as one of the turning points.
To Utah's credit, it didn't fold when it easily could have. Down 98-90 with 1:20 remaining, the Jazz played the foul game, hit some shots, and got themselves to the free-throw line. Suddenly, they had the ball with the chance to tie, and Joe Ingles delivered a 3-pointer from the top of the key to knot the score at 101.
The 17,894 at Vivint Smart Home Arena thought overtime was imminent, but Gay dribbled right, got within 18 feet of the basket and rattled home a jumper over Trey Lyles for the win.
"The slow start played a role in the final outcome," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "It was directly correlated to us not being urgent enough in transition defense. When they are laying it up, sometimes it can be hard to score, especially for us right now. Some of it was missing, we missed a lot of open looks at the basket."
Utah finished the game 6-of-34 from 3-point land, and shot 42 percent from the field overall. Still, the Jazz were able to get back into the game by making shots at the right time. Gordon Hayward went 4-17 from the field, but finished with a team-high 21 points because he went 13-16 from the foul line. Lyles continued his upward trend, scoring 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Trey Burke scored 17 points off the bench, and Rudy Gobert grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked two shots.
But nobody in a Jazz uniform could stop Sacramento forward DeMarcus Cousins, who scored 36 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. Gay had 24 points and nine rebounds, and Rajon Rondo had 13 assists. Gay scored the last eight points of the game for the Kings.
"We knew they'd make a run, because they are a good team," Gay said. "We knew we weren't going to blow them out. They played well, they played solid and hit big shots. They made it a game."
twitter: @tjonessltrib —
Storylines
R Utah rallies from 18 points down to tie the game on a Joe Ingles 3-pointer with 4.4 seconds left.
• Sacramento forward DeMarcus Cousins scores 36 points and grabs 17 rebounds, both game-highs.