Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
DENVER — Jordan Clarkson’s voice broke, emotion overcoming him. For the first time since Sunday, Clarkson spoke about his former teammate, his friend, his mentor. He spoke about the man he referred to as a brother. He talked about Kobe Bryant.
“It’s just been hard, to be honest with you,” Clarkson said. “I haven't really spoken on it, or said anything, I’m still kind of processing. That dude was like superman to me.”
On Thursday, Clarkson put on a performance that would have made his fallen friend proud. It was like he threw on the Superman cape himself.
The Utah Jazz were done. They were on the back end of a back-to-back, had surrendered a 27-1 run in the second half, and were clearly fatigued. There aren’t supposed to be comebacks in these games, there’s not supposed to be another punch thrown. But Clarkson picked the Jazz off the mat.
No, Utah didn’t win on Thursday, falling 106-100 to the Nuggets in Denver, but the Jazz don’t have to look far to find a silver lining from the performance.
Clarkson scored 24 points in the fourth quarter as he willed the Jazz back into the game. He almost single-handedly erased a 17-point deficit, pulling Utah to within one possession with 1:55 to go.
“He was getting to the rim and attacking and was able to free up his shot too,” Snyder said. “ ... He battled his tail off. He was aggressive. I thought he was really good.”
With 8:42 left in the fourth Clarkson made a hook shot — a bucket that represented Utah’s first since the 4:13 mark of the third quarter. It was that span that lost the game for the Jazz. During that time, Utah allowed Denver to go on a 27-1 run, wiping out what had been once an 11-point Jazz advantage.
“That entire stretch we stalled for a lot of reasons,” Snyder said. “It was difficult for us to attack. I think we have to have more resolve. … During that stretch, we obviously weren’t any good and Jordan a gave us a lift and got us going again.”
From the 6:11 to 5:08 mark, Clarkson rolled off 8 straight points. With 3:36 left, he led an 11-1 run by the Jazz (scoring 9 points during the stretch) to pull Utah within 3 with 1:55 left.
It was Clarkson being the hero. He made quick drives to the hoop. He made deep 3 after deep 3. He pulled the Jazz back into the game.
“I was getting open and just shooting the open shot,” Clarkson said. “When I got space, coach telling me to let it go, just trying to do what I can do to impact the game. We were down a bunch at this point ... I was trying to pull us into the game so we had a shot at the end.”
Clarkson was 8 of 14 in the fourth quarter for 24 points. He finished the game with 37.
“He was terrific tonight,” Snyder said. “Our guys knew it. We were looking for him.”
That meant when the game was on the line late, it was Clarkson — not newly minted All-Star Donovan Mitchell, who scored just 4 points on the night — who was taking the game-deciding shots.
Clarkson’s heroic quarter finally came to an end when he missed a deep contested 3 with 1:05 remaining, sealing the Jazz’s already likely fate.
‘He brought us back in the game,” Snyder said. “So if he makes that shot, it seems like he's being aggressive and that's what I want.”
And why Clarkson — who came to Utah with a reputation of being a rogue volume scorer — has fit right in with the Jazz.
“I love him. I love him. Write it down. I love him,” Snyder said. "Sometimes the system needs to be malleable. And he's unselfish. He attacks the rim. He gets to the line. If the system is defense, he's embraced that."
It wasn't the climactic ending that would have made Thursday's game long echo in Jazz fan's minds But it might resonate that way with Clarkson, if only because of how hard this week has been.
“It’s tough, I know he (Bryant) would want us to keep going, keep moving and keep pushing,” Clarkson said.
That's just what Clarkson did. Even in a loss.
