Ranking Every 2019-20 Utah Jazz Game: Games 64-51

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah Jazz, like the rest of the NBA, are on hiatus amid the coronavirus outbreak that has sidelined professional sports across the country. Whether the league will continue its season this summer, or whether the season will be considered a loss remains to be seen.

With 64 games under the Jazz belt, and a record of 41-23, leading the team to the fourth seed in the Western Conference, there’s reasons for both optimism, and pessimism about the team’s season. With that in mind, KSL Sports has ranked all 64 games from the Jazz in order of worst to best, starting with the 14 worst losses of the season so far.

64. Jazz Burned By Suns 131-111 At Home

Simply put, there is just no good explanation for the Jazz falling to the Phoenix Suns by 20 points in front of their home crowd. With the Jazz sitting 15 over .500, and the Suns 10 games under the breakeven mark, Phoenix casually walked into Vivint Smart Home Arena as steamrolled the Jazz.

Despite being tied at 62 at the half, the Jazz allowed 69 second-half points while managing just 49 of their own en route to the drubbing. To make matters worse, former Jazzman Ricky Rubio had the best game of his season scoring 22 points, handing out 11 assists, grabbing six rebounds, while amassing seven steals in the blowout.

Ricky Rubio stuffed the stat sheet last night as he led the @Suns to a big win over the Jazz. ☀️

22 PTS, 6 REB, 11 AST, 7 STL, 65.7 FPTSpic.twitter.com/Td9Ni9qYQR

— NBA Fantasy (@NBAFantasy) February 25, 2020

63. Jazz Mauled In Toronto 130-110

Though the result was eerily similar to the 20 point loss handed to the Jazz by the Suns, the Jazz loss to the Toronto Raptors couldn’t have felt differently.

The Raptors led by 17 after one quarter, led by an astonishing 40 at the break, before casually rolling into a 20 point blowout. The Jazz were truly never competitive against a team that felt like their east coast equivalent,  trying to prove they can reach championship heights without a true superstar on the roster. Pascal Siakam led Toronto to victory with 35 points.

62. Jazz Fall To Timberwolves 112-102 in Utah

To the Jazz credit, the Minnesota Timberwolves weren’t yet the dumpster fire they would become before season’s end, but this still felt like a bad loss. With both teams hovering just above .500 on the season, neither franchise was off the start they wanted, but hopes had been high in both cities.

The Jazz managed to hang with the Timberwolves through most of the game, but hot shooting from Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Tows ultimately undid the Jazz, and perhaps gave the Jazz their first taste of their inability to guard small-ball offenses. Towns finished with 29 points, including nine in the fourth quarter on 3-5 shooting to put the Jazz away.

No Jazz player reached the 20 point mark.

61. Jazz Beat On Late Kings Tip-In 102-101

It was only the Jazz second loss of the season, but unfortunately, it came against the previously winless Sacramento Kings. With the Jazz lead 101-100 with just seconds remaining, Nemanja Bjelica missed an open three-point shot giving the Jazz an opportunity to secure the win. Instead, Harrison Barnes swooped in for the offensive put back to give the Kings a one-point lead with 2.9 seconds remaining.

Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell missed a good look from three that would have given the Jazz the win, but the shot rimmed out. To make matters worse, the loss quickly extinguished the joy sparked by a win over the Los Angeles Clippers two nights earlier.

60. Jazz Blasted By Shorthanded Rockets 126-117

Losing to a conference foe always hurts. Losing to a team you’re in a direct battle with for playoff seeding hurts worse. Losing to a potential playoff foe at home with a rest advantage at your back while they’re sitting their three best players is just about as bad as it gets. Oh, and the Jazz allowed an opposing player to score 50 points.

The Rockets came into Utah on the second night of a back to back, sitting James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Clint Capela, essentially gifting the Jazz a win.

Instead, Eric Gordon scored a career-high 50 points, easily attacking the Jazz stagnant defense and stealing a game in Salt Lake City.

59. Jazz Spiked By Spurs 113 to 104

After entering the All-Star break with a league-best four-game winning streak it seemed the Jazz were once again on the precipice of a long stretch of high-level play during the second half of the season. Mike Conley was back and healthy with the team, while Mitchell and Rudy Gobert were fresh off their All-Star debuts.

The San Antonio Spurs had a different idea and simply outworked the worked the Jazz in Salt Lake City. The Spurs led by 19 at the half, 18 after three quarters, and coasted to an easy nine-point victory. Any expectations that the Jazz had officially arrived as NBA contenders were quickly dashed.

58. Jazz Dropped By Grizzlies 107-106

Inarguably losses that break win streaks hurt worse than most, which has made this Jazz season particularly difficult to fully embrace. Perhaps the best example of the pain Jazz fans have felt this season came on a 107-106 road loss against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Before anyone in the NBA was taking the Grizzlies seriously as a playoff contender, the Jazz walked into Memphis riding a four-game winning streak that would get snapped thanks to the late-game heroics of Rookie of the Year favorite Ja Morant.

Mitchell appeared to get fouled by the Grizzlies Solomon Hill on his last-second shot attempt but no foul was called and the Jazz left Memphis with the loss.

57.  Jazz Outmatched in San Antonio 127-120

Every loss to a non-playoff team hurts at season’s end, but losing to a short-handed non-playoff team stings just a little bit more. Playing without forward LaMarcus Aldridge, DeMar DeRozan carried San Antonio to a seven-point victory over the Jazz behind a season-high 38 points.

The Jazz allowed San Antonio to shoot 56 percent from the floor for the entirety of the game, including 15-22 in the first quarter for 68 percent. It simply wasn’t the Jazz night in the second loss of what would become a five-game losing streak.

56. Jazz Drowned By Lakers 121-96 In Utah

Sometimes returning home is the cure for team’s during a particularly rough stretch of basketball. In other cases, it simply allows fans to see what damage is being done to their team in person.

That was the case for the Jazz who after they’d lost four out of five games on an East Coast road swing, only to catch the Lakers once they returned to Salt Lake City. The Lakers crushed the Jazz by a season-worst 25 points as no starter for the purple and gold reached the 30-minute mark. The loss was the last on the end of a 1-5 stretch early in the season.

55. Jazz Axed By Nuggets 98-95 At Home

It’s hard to believe games regularly finished with neither team scoring 100 points for long stretches of the NBA’s history. When both the Jazz and Nuggets failed to reach the century mark in early February it felt like watching two teams who had been bare-knuckle boxing for 15 rounds.

Despite shooting better than 50 percent from both the field and the three-point line, the Jazz lost to the Nuggets who had just seven available players in uniform, handing the hometown team their fifth straight loss.

All-Star center Nikola Jokic had 30 points, 21 rebounds, and 10 assists in what was easily the most impressive performance by any individual Jazz opponent this season.

Nikola Jokic erupts scoring a triple-double with 30 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the short-handed Nuggets on a comeback road win in Utah.#DENUTA pic.twitter.com/6OuPpuvAJV

— Stadium Astro (@stadiumastro) February 6, 2020

54. Jazz Plowed By Trailblazers 124-107 At Portland

Sometimes a force of nature is so strong you know it cannot be stopped. That’s what the Jazz faced when Damian Lillard, in the midst of the hottest streak of his career, matched up with the slumping Jazz.

The former Weber State guard 51 points on 17-29 shooting, and helped lead the Blazers to a 30-19 second quarter that all but secured the victory for Portland by halftime.

The Jazz had had three days off to prepare for the red-hot guard but ultimately it didn’t matter.

53. Jazz Outpaced By Indiana 121-102 On The Road 

After barely getting outdueled by the league-leading Milwaukee Bucks two nights earlier, the Jazz walked into Indiana with a false sense of confidence.

The Jazz allowed three separate Pacers starters to score 20 points or more, led by All-Star forward Domantas Sabonis, kicking off a string of poor performances on the road against Eastern Conference teams.

52. Jazz Made History By 76ers 103-94 In Philly

Sometimes the final score doesn’t reflect the way a game actually felt, as was the case for the Jazz loss in against the Philadelphia 76ers.

At face value, the Jazz lost by just nine points, but in reality, they trailed by 20 points through much of the game before a last push in the fourth quarter trimmed the deficit to single digits.

Jazz offseason target Tobias Harris led the 76ers with 26 points.

51. Jazz Outshined By Nuggets 106-100 In Denver

Falling to the third-best team in the conference on the road is hardly a bad loss, but it hurts knowing the team could have managed a victory had their star player done anything resembling an average basketball performance.

The Jazz lost to the Nuggets by only six despite Donovan Mitchell scoring four points on just 1-12 shooting.

Oh, and it happened on the same night he was named to his first All-Star game.

Stay tuned to KSLSports.com as we rank all 64 Utah Jazz games this season from best to worst.

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