by Elmer Mejia | On Friday afternoon in Orlando, the Utah Jazz took on the San Antonio Spurs. Four Jazz starters weren’t available to play. Three of them were because of injury: Mike Conley, Donovan Mitchell, and Royce O’Neale. Rudy Gobert was just resting as they have back-to-back games. The only starter on the team today was Joe Ingles, which allowed for bench players to contribute more than usual.
The Jazz started the game off slow as the Spurs took advantage of Utah missing their star players. The Spurs scored 36 points in the first quarter while the Jazz scored 27.
In the second quarter, Joe Ingles and Jordan Clarkson took over the scoring for the Jazz. The Spurs continued playing well and went on to lead the half time score 60-50.
As the third quarter started, Clarkson continued scoring. The Jazz got close to the Spurs, 78-72, with 6 minutes left in the third quarter. Joe Ingles didn’t play in the second half which meant that the Jazz bench had a chance to show what they could do.
In the fourth quarter, the Spurs kept scoring but the Jazz ended up winning the quarter 27-23. It wasn’t quite enough from the young Jazz players, though, as they ultimately lost 119-111.
Miye Oni started an NBA game for the first time in his career and had 14 points, seven rebounds and a steal. The Jazz leading scored was Jordan Clarkson with 24 points. He also had two rebounds and four assists.
With this loss, the Jazz went down to fifth place in the Western Conference with a record of 43-25. The Jazz will play again on Saturday when they will meet the Nuggets.
Featured image via Deseret News.