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MEMPHIS — If there ever was a game for the Utah Jazz to pack it in early, it was Wednesday in Memphis.
The team was down by 24 points in the first half and were without Lauri Markkanen and Collin Sexton. And it was also the last game of a long road trip right before the All-Star break.
All signs pointed to waving the white flag early.
Except that's not at all what happened. When Ochai Agbaji leaked out for a one-handed dunk with 1:28 remaining — a play that elicited a primal scream from the rookie — the Grizzlies' once sizable lead was down to just one.
The Jazz ultimately lost 117-111 to the Grizzlies at FedExForum, but in a season full of shocking feats, Wednesday's stands as the most impressive.
"They made some big plays down the stretch, and we weren't able to convert a couple of late in the game, but that's the way it goes sometimes," Jazz coach Will Hardy said. "I think that if our team plays with that competitiveness, and if they play that together for the rest of the year, we and our fans will be very proud of this team."
Utah, frankly, had no business being in the game. The Grizzlies started off 10-of-17 from 3-point range and Jaren Jackson Jr. dominated both sides of the ball as the Jazz struggled without two starters and another rotation player.
Markkanen missed the game due to right knee soreness, and Rudy Gay didn't suit up due to an illness. Sexton exited the contest early with a left hamstring injury, leaving the Jazz extremely shorthanded against one of the best teams in the Western Conference.
Throw in some early poor shooting — the Jazz were 3-of-19 from 3-point range in the first half — and, well, things got out of hand quickly. Remarkably, they didn't stay that way.
The Jazz slowly cut into the lead; and after a Talen Horton-Tucker 3-pointer with 8:45 left in the fourth quarter, it was all they way down to a 3-point deficit.
Even when the Grizzlies responded with a 10-1 run that appeared to, once again, give Memphis control in the final minutes, the Jazz went on a 10-0 blitz of their own that was finished by Agbaji sprinting past everyone on his way to his one-handed hammer.
The Jazz's chances didn't come to an end until Horton-Tucker threw an errant pass out of bounds with 13 seconds remaining and Utah down by 3. The final result was a loss; it just didn't feel that way. The game was about as close as the team could get to a moral loss as a professional.
So what was the secret to the second-half charge?
"Because we good," Jordan Clarkson said with a laugh. "They hit a lot of shots early; we didn't. We're trying to figure out what the hell is going on with different lineups and new guys playing. We figured it out, and then it's a close game."
Simple enough.
The Jazz got more comfortable playing in different lineups and the shooting started to even out as the game got close at the end. That all makes sense, but the will of the team to keep competing and clawing back was impressive.
"They don't make excuses, like they don't blame anybody else," Hardy said. "They don't point fingers, they don't cry and whine when things aren't going their way. They all take their responsibility when they're not playing great or when we're not playing great. Everybody just tends to look at what they can do better, and that's been a mantra of our team."
And it's why they've continued to exceed expectations this season. It's why what happened on Wednesday was far from shocking to Hardy; he's seen that type of grit and competitiveness all season. It would have been much more stunning if they had done the convenient thing and started their break early.
"At this point, what makes me believe is that I've seen it like 40 times already," he said.
Kelly Olynk had 28 points and 14 rebounds in what was arguably his best game as a member of the Jazz. He played 38 minutes and finished with a plus-minus of +15. (Yes, those other minutes went pretty poorly.)
Horton-Tucker finished with 15 points, seven assists and seven rebounds, and Jordan Clarkson added 20 points and nine assists for Utah.
The game featured the debut of Juan Toscano-Anderson and Damian Jones, who were acquired from the Los Angeles Lakers on the eve before the trade deadline. Toscano-Anderson played 25 minutes and had 7 points and 10 rebounds, while Jones subbed in during the second half and helped spark a Utah rally.
Jones played eight minutes between the third and fourth quarters, and the Jazz won those minutes by 10 points.
The two fit right in to the never-back-down Jazz.
"Our team didn't quit," Hardy said. "That's why we're in every game."
Remarkably, that included Wednesday.
