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CHARLOTTE — There was a play about midway through the second quarter that encapsulated Lauri Markkanen's night on Saturday.
He spun into the paint and had a pretty good look from just outside the restricted area. His shot came up short. No worries, though; he got the rebound for what was now an uncontested put back attempt ... except that came up short, too. His chances weren't done there. He tipped the rebound to himself and put up another shot right at the rim. This time, though, it was swatted away.
Three chances at the rim, three misses. That summed up how the night went for the Utah Jazz's best player.
Markkanen went 3-of-22 from the field and 1-of-9 from the 3-point line; it was by far his worst shooting night of his Jazz career. Before Saturday, Markkanen's worst shooting night was a trio of 4-for-13 games. He hadn't shot under 30% this season, but on Saturday, he shot 13%.
Good thing he could laugh it off.
With Talen Horton-Tucker picking up the scoring slack with a "spectacular" 37-point night, Markkanen was allowed to sheepishly smile at his rare off night.
"It got pretty ridiculous," he said. "You can't really do anything but laugh about that. I mean, they were all good looks; they felt fine. I guess it was just one of those nights."
Markkanen has had some slow starts this season, but usually things turn around by the end of the game. So he kept waiting … and waiting … and waiting … and waiting for the shots to fall. But they just never did.
"That kind of thing can happen," Markkanen said. "So it hasn't happened in a while."
Jazz coach Will Hardy said he was happy with how Markkanen played. The shots that he took were the same he has taken all year. He had open 3-point looks and he was aggressive as he attacked the basket; the ball just didn't go down.
"I thought Lauri played a good game," Hardy said. "Like, in terms of the shots he was taking, the looks he was getting, the attacking that he was doing, he just didn't convert anything."
Emphasis on anything.
Markkanen has been one of the league's top second-half players this season, but on Saturday he was 1-for-8 after halftime and 0-for-4 in the fourth quarter.
"But we got the win, and that's the most important thing," Markkanen said.
He knows who he can thank for that: Horton-Tucker. And he was thrilled to see his teammate lead the Jazz to victory.
"He's been working his butt off the whole year. To see him have a night like that, makes everybody feel good," Markkanen said. "We needed that today, obviously. Thank you, Talen, for picking it up and really carrying us to this win."
And letting Markkanen laugh off his rare poor night.
