In-Season Tournament: Kevin Durant ends Jazz's upset bid with late 3

SALT LAKE CITY — If the NBA wants proof that the In-Season Tournament is working, all it'll have to do is look at Friday night's game at the Delta Center.

Jordan Clarkson had the ball with a wide-open court in front of him. The ball had ricocheted off the rim after Kevin Durant had tried to slam it home with 51 seconds remaining, and it fell into the hands of Clarkson, who took off running.

The thing was the whistle had blown for a foul on the dunk attempt. It was just too loud for Clarkson — or anyone else for that matter — to hear it.

The NBA wanted high-intensity games in November; it got it on Friday.

Durant hit a 3-pointer with 18 seconds left, which proved to be the dagger in Phoenix's 131-128 win over the Utah Jazz in a game that had a bit of everything.

There was an elite performance from Durant, who had 38 points, nine assists and nine rebounds. There was Clarkson just about answering each shot — his deep 3-pointer cut the Suns' lead to 1 with 1:42 remaining — as he finished with 37 points on 14-of-26 shooting.

There were ridiculous plays all night — a touchdown-like outlet pass from Kelly Olynyk to Clarkson, a swoon-inducing pass from Keyonte George, and Lauri Markkanen stuffing Devin Booker at the rim.

In the end, though, the game was decided by Durant being … well, Durant.

As the clock ticked under 20 seconds with the Suns nursing a single-point advantage, Durant elevated over Ochai Agbaji and hit his sixth triple of the night. He was 15-of-22 from the field, and didn't miss until well into the second quarter.

"It was a very hard-fought game against a good team," Jazz coach Will Hardy said. "I think if nothing else, it shows our group that we're capable of playing with really anybody. But for us to get to where we would like to be as a team, and a place where we're really winning at a high level, we've got to continue to grow from an execution standpoint."

That key Durant 3-pointer was one of those times. Agbaji made a pretty decent contest of the shot — "I felt like I literally could have blocked that last shot," he said — but a 7-foot sharpshooter is simply hard to defend, especially with how Durant was rolling.

The Jazz's plan was to get the ball out of his hands, but the double came late and Durant was able to rise and shoot over the top.

"We're down one and we're gonna double Durant, but we don't crowd him and he just shoots it," Hardy said. "Like those little things add up."

Little things like starting the game passive on defense and allowing the Suns to step into a practice-like 3-pointers to begin the game. That put the Jazz immediately behind the eight ball as Phoenix found immediate rhythm from deep and went 7-of-8 from behind the arc in the first half.

Or little things like George's ill-fated drive with just over a minute remaining and the Jazz down by a single point. George made a great defensive play to dig the ball out from the corner, but his off-balance jumper in the paint was one of the few glaring mistakes the rookie has made this season.

"These are opportunities for our team to learn," Hardy said. "We're trying to become a team that wins at a really high level, and that's hard to do. It's hard to do it night to night, and it takes a lot of focus, and I think that this group's capable of it."

And this game, even in defeat, showed that. The Jazz got the best of Durant and the best of Devin Booker, who had a career-high 15 assists, and had a chance at the end.

"As a coach, you hate moral victories and all that crap, but these types of games do show your team that you're not that far away," Hardy said.

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