Improved defense is helping the Utah Jazz rediscover winning basketball.
The Jazz are coming off one of their better defensive performances in recent games, when they rallied to beat Dallas 116-114 on Thursday after clamping down on the hot-shooting Mavericks late in the fourth quarter.
Utah will look to parlay that streak-buster into a second consecutive win when the Jazz face the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night in Salt Lake City.
After falling behind 107-100 with less than five minutes left in the fourth quarter, Utah held Dallas without a field goal for nearly four minutes to pull away late. Lauri Markkanen, who finished with 33 points, scored three straight baskets to fuel a 12-0 run that gave the Jazz a 112-107 lead with 1:41 left. Utah ended the game by scoring on seven of nine possessions while denying the Mavericks opportunities to strike back.
“Our defense (Thursday), I thought was great,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “We had some really long stretches where we guarded the paint well — the fourth quarter, they only had four paint points.”
Utah hit its low point defensively in a 137-117 loss to Portland on Monday, giving up 114 points through three quarters. The Blazers ultimately shot 53% from the floor and made 19 3-pointers.
The Jazz players were challenged in a team meeting ahead of Wednesday’s 129-125 overtime loss to Oklahoma City to lock in defensively and avoid embarrassing themselves on that end of the court.
They received the message and responded with much tougher defense in back-to-back outings against the Thunder and the Mavericks.
“We’ve shown that we can do it multiple times this season,” Jazz guard Brice Sensabaugh told the Deseret News. “So I think these two games are good stepping stones for us to move forward.”
While Utah ended a five-game slide Thursday, Charlotte is hoping to snap a two-game skid by getting back on the road. The Hornets have enjoyed success away from home recently, winning three of their last four road contests.
In both of its latest losses, Charlotte was snakebitten by game-winning baskets in the closing seconds.
Immanuel Quickley drained a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the top of the key to lift Toronto past the Hornets for a 97-96 victory on Wednesday. A night later, Pascal Siakam scored on a driving layup with 11.5 seconds left to help Indiana edge Charlotte 114-112.
LaMelo Ball came off the bench for the first time since 2021 in the loss to the Pacers and flourished in a sixth-man role. Ball made seven 3-pointers and finished with 33 points and eight assists.
Bell, who has played on a minutes restriction recently because of injuries, shuffled out of the starting lineup to get him more crunch-time minutes. He took on the redefined role without argument.
“He had a great pop (Thursday), great energy,” Charlotte coach Charles Lee said. “He gave us a huge boost off the bench … obviously his play and his performance helps the team, but also with his open-mindedness to come off the bench to try to help the team, it just shows another area of his leadership, of his selflessness.”
The Hornets have won four straight games against the Jazz. Charlotte beat Utah 126-103 in North Carolina on Nov. 2.
