Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson was on a minutes restriction Saturday night, but that was quickly forgotten when he started his fourth-quarter scoring binge, writes Sarah Todd of The Deseret News. Utah had planned to be careful with Clarkson, who had missed nine of the previous 11 games with a thigh contusion, but coach Will Hardy left him on the court as he helped seal a victory at Toronto.
“On a little bit of a minutes restriction, which I disobeyed, he came off the bench and he brought great energy,” Hardy said. “It didn’t feel like he’d been gone for a while with the way that he was playing.”
Clarkson wound up playing 30 minutes and scoring 30 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter as Utah erased a 17-point deficit. He played alongside Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, Ochai Agbaji and Kris Dunn, and Hardy was reluctant to change that lineup while the team was playing so well.
“We had a couple of guys who played like 19 or 18 straight minutes,” Hardy said. “That was just because I felt like that group had a great rhythm. They had good energy. That’s a moment where, as the coach, you’re trying to stay out of the way and not ruin a good thing, so credit to the team. They’ll get to enjoy the next two days with their families.”
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- Coach Chauncey Billups blames the lack of an “alpha” player for the Trail Blazers’ slow starts, according to Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian. Bad first quarters have been a constant problem for Portland, even in a winnable game against Washington this week in which the Blazers shot 1-of-7 on three-pointers and committed five turnovers in the opening 12 minutes, leading to a 33-24 deficit that they weren’t able to overcome. “We’ve got some good players and some guys that are going to be All-Stars in this league,” Billups said. “But right now, we don’t have that dude that you can just throw it to and he can just kind of get us going for the first four or five minutes of the game. We just don’t have that. So we’ve got to do it collectively.”
- Billups was honored to be among the nominees for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame this week, per Ryan Clarke of The Oregonian. Billups was a six-time All-Star during his playing career and was named NBA Finals MVP in 2004. “That’s the holy grail. That’s it right there,” he said. “Being mentioned in that class is incredible for me. I dreamed about a lot of things in my life and in my career, but I didn’t dream that big.”
- The Thunder are hoping Keyontae Johnson can become their next G League success story, Rylan Stiles writes for Thunderous Intentions. The 50th pick in this year’s draft signed a two-way contract and will spend most of the season with Oklahoma City Blue.
I said it before but this Portland roster is deep and could have reach the 10 seed position, but Billups has not find the right way of playing those guys bc of the late Dame trade and bc most of the vets expect to be trade by tde … Ain’t no alpha bs helping them winning now, some guys : Brogdon are not into the blazers process