by Alma Bean
Feature Image: Photo by Rob Gray of USA TODAY Sports.
The Utah Jazz (26-26) looks to get above .500 against the Toronto Raptors (23-29) in their first meeting of the season.
O Canada, Our Team and Naïve Plan
Utah started off hot against Toronto. Starting off the game with a 10-2 run, Utah looked like they were going to run away with this game early. Toronto shot a disappointing yet surprising 10/35 (28.6%) from the field. Toronto’s inability to score can be attributed to Walker Kessler (17/14/1), who had six blocks in the first quarter alone. Originally given four blocks for the quarter, scorekeepers reviewed the quarter and gave him two additional blocks but brought his rebound count from six to four. Utah turning back to their seasonal flaws of turning the ball over and not locking down in transitional defense allowed for Toronto to cut the lead down. Even with momentum on Toronto’s side, Utah was able to finish the quarter with a 31-25 lead.
In the second quarter, Malik Beasley (14/3/2) tried to make sure Toronto couldn’t run away with the momentum. Shooting 4/7 (57.1%) for the half from the perimeter, Beasley managed to outshoot Toronto from the beyond at only 2/12 (16.7%). Mike Conley (19/3/8) tried to do his best Kessler impression as he even stunned the crowd with two blocks in the first half. Even with two blocks from Conley, the talk of the quarter was the technical foul that was called in the second quarter. At first, it looked as if Conley received the first technical foul of his career after looking irate after a foul call. The crowd held their breath along with press row, the technical was called on Kelly Olynyk (4/2/2) and all order was restored. Even as tempers began to cool, Toronto outscored Utah 35-34 in the quarter but went into the locker room trailing 65-60.
Feels Like Home for VanVleet
With Kessler going into the second half on 8/8/6, Utah fans were on triple-double watch. Fans even joked that Lauri Markkanen (28/13/1) should be on watch as well but still needed either nine more blocks or assists. With Toronto owning the boards on the offensive, it is amazing that Utah was able to even hold a lead after over 20 + offensive rebounds for Toronto. Utah head coach Will Hardy seemed angrily astounded at the fact that a team in last for offensive rebounds was able to put up those types of numbers. Even with Utah scoring over 30 points for the third straight quarter, Toronto slowly was crawling back as they trailed 96-92 going into the final quarter.
Utah Jazz on Twitter: “Put that back where it belongs! https://t.co/jS7qpSTWGh” / Twitter
Toronto brought a more aggressive approach for better and for worse. Paskal Siakam (21/10/5) continued to play Ziplock-sealed defense which played in Utah’s favor as he eventually fouled out of the game with just over two minutes left in the game. Positively for Toronto, Fred VanVleet (34/12/10) managed to be the anchor for Toronto throughout the fourth shooting 3/4 (75%) from the perimeter for the quarter after going 1/5 (20%) the previous three. Even with Toronto putting up 110 shot attempts, Utah was able to finish the game with a win 131-128
Utah Jazz on Twitter: “Collin ⤵️ Walker ⤵️ Lauri ✅ #TakeNote https://t.co/zbMrGXJFaC” / Twitter
What’s Next?
Utah will take on the visiting Atlanta Hawks on Friday as they look to continue their three-game home winning streak.