Faced with Clippers decidedly not on their plate at the moment, the Jazz players feasted offensively that night. The meal was chaired by a Lauri Markkanen who was more and more comfortable in this role.
The Jazz received this night from the Clippers in really bad shape, who moved to Utah without Kawhi Leonard or Paul George, always pursued by physical glitches (we are mainly talking about load management here). The least we can say is that the Mormons didn’t have to be asked to sink a little more Sailboats in perdition. Major craftsman of this collision in good standing, Lauri Markkanen obviously. True to form this season, the Finn has scored 34 points on the head of the Californians, just to continue to mark their territory as the All-Star Game which will take place in Salt Lake City next February approaches.
34 points
12 rebounds
6 ThreesAnother monster Lauri Markkanen performance 💪 pic.twitter.com/Vvco2k3dhX
— NBA (@NBA) January 19, 2023
Alongside the tall blond, Mike Conley turned into William Tell (5/6 from afar for 17 points scored). If he wanted to look good against one of his suitors, he succeeded. Walker Kessler, he continues, in line with his last performances (13 points at 6/9 shooting, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks). In total, six of Will Hardy’s protégés crossed the 10 unit mark tonight. A great collective performance to surround that of their offensive spearhead. After this success, Salt Lake City players have a clean record and are seventh in the Western Conference.
d̶o̶w̶n̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶r̶e̶
𝐰𝐢𝐫𝐞-𝐭𝐨-𝐰𝐢𝐫𝐞#TakeNote pic.twitter.com/ikRVKB3tZd— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) January 19, 2023
On the Clippers side, nothing is going well. The spiral of injuries seems endless and, on a sporting level, the threat of ending up out of the play-in tournament at the end of the season now seems very real. There are 35 games left for Tyronn Lue’s men to try to raise the bar. In this Western Conference of ruthless density, not finding your cruising speed could be synonymous with shipwreck, and we would be very sorry to see our Frenchies Nicolas Batum and Moussa Diabaté (3 counters this night) being part of it .
The Utah Jazz can always count on the exploits of Lauri Markkanen to stay in the race for the Top 6 in the West. And the Finn could soon be rewarded for his performance with a first selection for the All-Star Game.
