Tank job? Spurs snap 16-game losing streak by topping uninspired Jazz

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SALT LAKE CITY — Chin up, Jazz fans. At least you didn't have to endure a full season of what took place on Tuesday.

Tuesday's Jazz squad, which featured heavy minutes from the likes of many end-of-bench guys, was the type of game most expected to be the one Will Hardy would be forced to throw out for much of the season.

There were poor possessions, bad shots, some laughable passes, and just overall terrible basketball being played. Combine that with a San Antonio Spurs team that was mired in a long losing streak, and it was a pretty unwatchable game at times.

For 62 games, the Jazz looked like it was competing for a playoff spot. Their 63rd contest, though, may have finally revealed their hand.

With a chance to pull into a tie for the sixth spot, Utah found a way to lose to a team who had lost 16 straight games. Utah fell to San Antonio 102-92 on Tuesday at Vivint Arena.

Was it a full on tank job? Maybe …

Utah was without Jordan Clarkson (right thumb sprain) and Collin Sexton (hamstring strain), and then lost Ochai Agbaji in the third quarter when he left with a lower leg bruise.

With a roster already gutted by trade deadline moves, the Jazz had to resort to end-of-bench players like Simone Fontecchio, two-way wing Johnny Juzang — who made his NBA debut — and a much maligned Rudy Gay to play significant roles. And, well ... things kind of went as expected.

Utah finished with 94.0 offensive rating, which is a full 6.0 points lower than their previous season low.

Lauri Markkanen had 28 points and 10 rebounds, but faded in the second half. Markkanen was 7-for-11 in the first half and 2-for-10 in the second half, and without Markkanen hitting shots, the Jazz didn't really have anyone else to pick up the scoring slack.

"They played much harder than we did," Hardy said. "I think tonight was a very poor example by us of playing team basketball. I think we were very stubborn as a team tonight; we just refused to adjust. The game kept telling us over and over again what to do, and we sort of just refused."

What did they refuse to do?

"Pass. Yeah, pass," Hardy said. "When you have the ball and there's multiple people that are wearing a jersey, not like yours in front of you, you should throw it to somebody else. And we had 20 turnovers to prove that we just sort of refused to make the simple play over and over and over again."

Which begs the question: Did the Jazz just have a bad game or did they simply not try to win? Or is it a little bit of both?

There's no secret the Jazz aren't a title contender. Markkanen has proved he's a bonafide star in the league — he had 28 points on 21 shots, and it still felt like a bit of an off night — but the Jazz need a lot more pieces before they are ready to go on a deep playoff run. A higher draft pick helps get them one.

With the standings still jam-packed in the Western Conference, Utah is still ninth after the surprising loss, and the Jazz still have a chance to improve their lottery odds.

Maybe that's why Hardy opted to see what Juzang had in him and played him 15 minutes, which was about double what the more proven Juan Toscano-Anderson got in the game. And maybe that's why he chose to go to a super small lineup instead of inserting Damian Jones into the game; and maybe that's why Hardy only used five of his seven timeouts.

Or maybe it was just a bad game with a depleted roster. Time will tell.

"All of our guys are NBA players, too," Markkanen said when asked about the different lineups on Tuesday.

Fontecchio hasn't proved he can shoot at the NBA level, Gay is a shadow of what he once was, Kris Dunn is on a 10-day contract, Udoka Azubuike may not be in the league next season, and Juzang played his first NBA game ever on Tuesday. All those guys played major minutes on Tuesday.

"We've played a lot of basketball this year where it's not about a primary scorer," Hardy said. "It's about moving the ball and playing a lot of off ball action and passing. I think that those lineups are still fully capable of playing where we want to play."

They just didn't do that on Tuesday, but maybe the Jazz management weren't all too sad about that.