It was probably a game the Jazz should have won.
They had numerous chances to — two clear excellent shots, one at the end of regulation, one at the end of overtime. In the end, neither fell, and the Jazz lost to the Rockets, 127-126, in Houston.
The first came to Collin Sexton, who nearly had his third consecutive 30-point game. As the Jazz got the ball back with 20 seconds left in regulation in a tied game, Jordan Clarkson drove baseline, drawing a double team. The open player was Sexton, who had an open 3-pointer to win it at the buzzer, but it missed.
After a close overtime period, the Jazz sent Rockets center Alperen Sengun to the free throw line for two, but he missed both. With no timeout and a one-point deficit, Clarkson drove the length of the court, stopping and popping for a signature 12-footer. It drew only front iron before bouncing harmlessly to the ground.
Jazz head coach Will Hardy gave a loud clap as the buzzer sounded.
“I will live and die with those two looks every time,” he told reporters postgame.
The disappointment was so palpable because the Jazz had played so well to get back into the game in the first place. Just as they had against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday, Utah came out with a subpar level of play, gifting its opposition a 17-point lead midway through the second quarter. The Jazz’s bench lineup especially struggled, as the Rockets level of physicality seemed to really bother those players.
The second half was a different story. Hardy switched the lineups, putting second-year center Walker Kessler with the rest of the starters in place of John Collins — and the Jazz immediately started eating into the Rockets’ lead. The Jazz upped their strength and effort level, led by Kris Dunn’s trash-talking toughness. By the fourth quarter, they’d tied the game.
Then started the Clarkson and Sexton show. The pair took 17 of the Jazz’s 20 shots in the fourth quarter, but to good effect — they scored 22 combined points. More balanced scoring from the Rockets, though, kept pace, until the Sexton miss pushed the game to an extra five minutes.
There, though, the energy ran out. While Lauri Markkanen had a pair of baskets in OT, Clarkson and Sexton finished 1 for 5 in overtime. With 36 seconds left, the Jazz called their final timeout to set up a 2-for-1, and Sexton found space at the rim, only for rookie Amen Thompson to make the game’s best defensive play, coming in from the weak side and surprising the shorter guard with a game-saving block — perhaps a third basket that would have won the game for Utah. The foul against Sengun, the missed free throws, and Clarkson’s miss told the rest of the tale.
It’s not how the Jazz would have liked to have started their six-game road trip, to be sure. The team stays in Houston Saturday night and will practice in the city Sunday, before traveling on Monday to New Orleans. Then, they’ll play the Pelicans, the current 5th seed in the Western Conference, on Tuesday.
