“Lauri Markkanen is one amazing talent” – ESPN reacts to Utah Jazz beat OKC Thunder 124-117
Started quickly but then the thunder came back and at the end of the first quarter took a fivepoint lead the Thunder led by seven at halftime thanks in large part to the work of Chad holgren and Shay gilis Alexander how about jayb oh my gosh with authority but
The Lori Markin in L Utah Jazz had the final run they run away with a victory 124 to 117 was the final hi there and welcome back into the B Sports Oklahoma Studios Thunder live John rigan Nancy liberman you know sometimes you just have two well evenly matched teams and you know I
Think fish mentioned it during the game these type of games have great value even when you lose them because they’re so tightly contested they give you you learn from them no matter what well again it was a playoff type atmosphere how they played possession by possession
Big Shots certainly by Lor Marin and uh but it really was the fourth quarter when the Jazz shoot 56% in the fourth we shoot 32% obviously the game lies somewhere in there but I have a couple things here first 48 rebounds uh you know you you can’t get
Out rebounded 60 to 36 I mean that that’s a problem the bench points disparity 4523 and then points in the paint I mean it’s just too much and and you know I I points in the pain 60 to 36 yeah so they kept going in and in this team has a
Problem with length they had a problem with Walker they had a problem with marketing on both ends of the floor and that’s problematic mention the seven-point lead that the Thunder had at halftime in the third quarter was what really turned the tide in this game that
Was quite a run a 19-3 run at one point in this quarter Nance by the Utah Jazz well you’re seeing all these buckets are going right to the front of the rim so you know they’re getting easy second uh second shots they’re following their you know the driver they’re going right to
The rim and then this opened up the three-point shot Markin and had a man in his face but they had eight threes in the second half and now you get those breakout baskets you know I I don’t think it’s important to say that you know in the fourth quarter in a game at
Salt Lake with you’re dealing with the altitude I mean you don’t really want to come out and say that but in many cases that’s a homec court advantage to be able to have that in the fourth quarter because you’re pushing you’re pushing you’re pushing the other teams used to it
You’re not yep and certainly uh the Thunder have you know fought through that both in Denver and in Utah before tonight uh the Jazz with just a little more gas at the end uh but jayd dub made it interesting it was unbelievable oh my God 13 points for jayd dub in that
Fourth quarter he was three out of four from distance Nancy yeah I mean you could just see he has so much confidence in his game right now he plays so hard when he gets the ball passed out to him he’s locked he’s loaded he just does so
Much for this basketball team and it was like he didn’t even miss three games yeah and if yeah and then Utah again with Markin who finishes with 33 in the game and and but again he’s not the only one they’ve got a they’ve got a good team then well they’re not just catch
And shoot threes Lori Marin can take one two dribble and again you got a seven-footer who’s shoot shooting over you on a couple of those you know Jay will D they’re there but the contest is not as good as the height of the release
So you have to give Utah I mean this is a really good young talented team they’re well coached they can shoot the ball they can take you off the dribble with George and seon they did that and really the descrip frees that we talked about points in the paint and rebounds
That it’s a game killer all right let’s take you back to Utah Now Delta Center is where we find Chris fiser and Michael cage they are standing by to help us wrap this one up guys yeah thank you John these are the kind of games that you want to play in
If you’re a young team the Thunder have been playing in Michael for the fourth time out the last five games it’s a single digit margin this game was pretty much decided in the fourth quarter because the Thunder did a great job early in the fourth quarter kind of
Stabilizing the game when Utah went on that 160 run Jaylen Williams does what he does early in the fourth quarter the thunder come all the way back at the trailing by as many as eight points they take the lead but just not enough down the stretch too much shot making by Utah
You got to give credit to Keon George and low Markin and they knocked down some big shots late in the fourth quarter well I I thought keontay George was the Difference Maker in the late late in the fourth quarter cuz a couple has those busted plays he knocked down a
Three another busted play he hit that that dead center three that kind of loosened up the scoreboard a little bit and you know what the Jazz did a they were the Jazz they got to the offensive glass um they did a good job of getting to the paint but the Thunder
Offset that would knock him down some threes you knock down 19 threes tonight I mean you like that number as well you shoot over 50% from downtown and at the same time all you want to do you talk about what couple of games left before Allstar break is try to give yourself a
Chance to win the ball game you know this would be tough here in this altitude you knew this would be tough after a double overtime loss you came in and you played a fabulous game and you got to give your opponent credit sometimes when you talk about they made
The shots at the right time the Thunder took the lead in that fourth quarter after taking a 12-point lead in the third quarter so a lot of back and forth that eventually fell favor to the Jazz yeah the two things that were really favorable to Utah those points in the
Paint and those Second Chance opportunities that’s what Utah rode and then they’ve knocked down some shots late so just not enough for the Thunder down the stretch but John and Nancy they are going to get three days off before their next game coming up on Saturday and that’ll certainly be welcome a
Chance to rest a chance to practice uh a chance you know a short trip the next time to Dallas back to rest mostly rest and repeat you know yeah that’s exactly right um but the Thunder we meent you mentioned it early n made 193s and shot a ridiculously high number they were
Over 50% from Beyond the beyond the three-point line if you look at the 48% they shot on the field and over you know from the fou from three as you just mentioned you look at the stat sheet low turnovers and you go this is really great and they were finding them
Look at the the beautiful ball movement stepping in you know for Chet one more time just you know Williams just freezing the defense makes that shot an open shot Shay is just Shay playing at a super high level and giddy shot has gotten so much better it’s a thing of
Beauty uh they were all you know locked in and loaded from distance and you know when they as as we mentioned they make 19 threes to the Jazz only 14 threes I mean that’s a big disparity in points that that ja made up elsewhere obviously
Right but you I’m going to I’m going to go back to Second Chance points right so we’re going back to rebounding 19 points off of 15 offensive rebounds and a team that has this type of length right there you do a good job of you know contesting
But you have to box out turn one more time uh maybe it’s a you’re a little bit tired and now here goes Collins and he gets another easy basket that’s what John Collins does the kick out you know here comes Kelly driving down the basket John Collins right there at the rim so
Again it’s easy to say that the 19 points off 15 offensive rebounds they’re going to look at film and they’re going to say okay you didn’t box out here out here and if we could clean that up and they will clean it up because they’re smaller team you have to do the Dirty
Work and the Dirty Work is early and often and and you you’re the first one who hits when you’re boxing out you have to go to that person so they’ll clean it up yep that’s something that they will no doubt have a little chance to work on
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“Lauri Markkanen is one amazing talent” – ESPN reacts to Utah Jazz beat OKC Thunder 124-117
