League-worst Wizards Narrowly Beat Jazz
League-worst Wizards Narrowly Beat Jazz
Blog Article
The Utah Jazz came up short on Wednesday night in the nation’s capital, in a 125-122 loss to the Washington Wizards.
It was another night when the Jazz’s youngest players were in the driver’s seat — Lauri Markkanen, John Collins, Walker Kessler, Jordan Clarkson, Collin Sexton, Keyonte George and Jaden Springer were all sidelined for a game against the team with the worst record in the league. And there were a lot of great things from young players.
Johnny Juzang tied his career-best with a game-high 27 points, including a late-game trey that gave the Jazz a chance to tie the game on their next offensive possession.
Over the last couple of years, Jazz head coach Will Hardy has worked with Juzang on tweaking his offensive approach, taking him off the ball and making him more of a spot-up shooter and someone who works more in off-ball actions.
“Johnny is continuing to feel his way into his new role,” Hardy said. “Johnny’s put in a lot of work the last two years to become more of an off ball, catch and shoot player, which is not what he was before the NBA. ... It’s nice to see him have some success in tonight’s game, because he’s put a lot of work into it. And even though we’re two years into the process of it, changing your identity on the offensive side of the ball is hard.”
After two years on a two-way contract, the Jazz rewarded Juzang’s hard work with a standard NBA contract last offseason. It was a move that signaled a couple of things for the Jazz — first, it showed that Juzang’s work had paid off, that his willingness to change his game was the best decision career-wise. Secondly, the move showed that the Jazz are willing to invest time and money in the players it sees potential in.
That is the messaging the Jazz hope sinks in to the team’s other young players, including those who had good moments in Wednesday night’s game.
Against the Wizards, not only did Juzang have a good offensive night, but Kyle Filipowski also scored 20-plus points while Brice Sensabaugh, Isaiah Collier, Cody Williams and Svi Mykhailiuk all scored in double figures.
“I think that’s great for us,” Filipowski said after the game. “Just seeing the young guys work together and try to fight for the win, I think that just shows the potential we have moving forward.”
It’s that potential that the Jazz will be paying extra close attention to as the rest of the season unfolds. The injury report will not be kind to the more seasoned players on the roster, but it will give ample opportunity to the rest of the players to show that they are deserving of both time and money.
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