A close loss by the Utah Jazz against an improving Phoenix Suns team.
The last time the Utah Jazz faced the Phoenix Suns, it didn’t go well for them. Phoenix drubbed the Jazz by 22 in a pre-Halloween matchup in a game where the Suns were missing both Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.
This time, Booker was healthy and playing, which could have led to a bigger blowout. However, the Jazz came ready to play this time and hung with the Suns, keeping it close and making several strong runs to counter Phoenix’s scoring bursts.
The result went down to the wire, as the Jazz fell 131-128 at home.
The Jazz played well overall, shooting above 50% from the field and 40% from 3-point range. But they allowed Phoenix to do the same, leading to a high-scoring affair that was tied at halftime, 75-75.
Jordan Clarkson had his 3rd 30-point game as of late, getting 37 and responding to each Phoenix run with some flamethrowing scores of his own, whether from 3 (5-10 on the night) or elsewhere (9-16).
For such a high-scoring game, both teams took care of the ball – 8 turnovers a piece, for 16 total.
The Jazz had 10 blocked shots, a nice total without a pure shot blocker on the court (Walker Kessler is still out with an injury).
Kevin Durant led Phoenix with 38 points, and even at age 35 looked like the future Hall-of-Famer that he is, scoring effortlessly against smaller Jazz defenders much of the night.
Devin Booker had 24 points and 15 assists for Phoenix, who was without Bradley Beal again – they found out today he will be out at least 3 weeks due to continued back issues.
The Utah Jazz fall to 4-8 on the season and 2-1 for the In-Season Tournament. They will face Phoenix again on Sunday, November 19th, at the Delta Center.
Their next In-Season Tourney game will be on the road against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, on Tuesday night, November 21st.
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