The Will Hardy era is on.
Despite a very strong first half performance, Utah’s inexperience with each other played a part against the cohesive Raptors as the Jazz fell 114-82 Sunday night in Edmonton, Alta.
“I think there was some good to take away,” Hardy said after the game. “Obviously there are things we need to improve a lot on. For me it was a story of two halves.”
With 14 new players on the roster – 10 of whom have seen action – Lauri Markkanen stood out the most.
After an incredible performance at EuroBasket last summer, Markkanen continued to show how his game has improved after dropping 20 points in 24 minutes. He added five rebounds and two steals, shooting 7 of 12 from the floor.
Another bright spot for the Jazz was the play of guard Collin Sexton, one of the key players in Donovan Mitchell’s trade a month ago.
In his debut, he had 11 points off the bench, including a 3-for-4 performance from beyond the arc. One of the most talented scorers in the league, Sunday’s time on the pitch was Sexton’s first action since last November when he suffered a knee injury and missed the remainder of the 2021-22 season.
While growing pains are expected under Hardy — especially given the number of new players the Jazz are trying to incorporate — it was clear that Utah will do precisely what Hardy wants them to do.
“I want a team that competes. … I want a team that cares about winning,” Hardy said earlier this week. “I understand there are individual aspects to playing at this level, but I want people who are just focused on winning basketball games for the Utah Jazz. … We’ll be tough, we’ll play with passion, we will be a team.”
Despite the final score, the Jazz fought back throughout the game – especially in the first 24 minutes when they entered the half trailing 50-49. Their physical style of play was evident as they forced 10 turnovers in the first half, 23 in total.
“We didn’t make a lot of shots, but we executed well, kept well in the half court,” Hardy said. “In the second half we got a bit disorganized and our communication wasn’t very good.”
Rookie Walker Kessler added 11 points, while Jordan Clarkson had 7 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds.
The Jazz continue their preseason road trip to Portland to face Damian Lillard and the Blazers on Tuesday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. MST.
“It’s a new band learning from each other,” Hardy said. “There’s adversity in any NBA game, and tonight we didn’t handle that adversity very well at the start of the second half.”