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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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.
SALT LAKE CITY — Jazz coach Will Hardy was pleading with Jordan Clarkson to get a rebound.
Monday's game — for all intents and purposes — was over. The Dallas Mavericks had waved the white flag and emptied their bench as the Utah lead ballooned over 30 points.
The only drama left in the closing minutes of the Jazz's 127-90 win was whether or not Jordan Clarkson was going to break the franchise's almost unthinkable triple-double drought that was fast approaching 16 full years.
You had to go back to Feb. 13, 2008, to find the last time a Utah Jazz player had a triple-double in a regular season game. On that night, Carlos Boozer had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Jazz to a win over the now-departed Seattle Supersonics.
Clarkson was sitting on 20 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds when Hardy allowed him to stay in the game with 3:48 remaining with one bit of instruction.
"I said get a rebound and call timeout immediately," Hardy said. "I'm obviously not here to mess up a good time. I understand that I would have been maybe the most hated man in the building if I subbed him out."
Still, there was a part of him — a little voice in the back of his head — that worried about the worst possible outcome. What if Clarkson turned an ankle up 30 points as he hunted for a triple-double? But he let those fears fall to the side; history was too important.
When Clarkson jumped up for that final rebound with 2:31 left, the Delta Center crowd erupted. Walker Kessler hopped up and down as the Jazz ran out to meet an exhausted Clarkson.
It was a quirky bit of Jazz history. Since Boozer's big night nearly 16 years ago, triple-doubles have lost a lot of their prestige. Since that time, every other franchise has had at least 10, and a player on the other bench Monday (Luka Doncic) has had 62 himself since being drafted in 2018.
For some — heck, for most — they are an old hat. Not for the Jazz.
"The least impressed person was Luka for sure," Hardy quipped. "He was probably baffled why we all stood up and clapped."
But after being informed of the drought, even Doncic understood.
"That's a long time. I'm happy for them for celebrating," he said. "That's a long time. And they won, so they should be celebrating."
Clarkson, though, wasn't sure if the celebration was going to come.
He got his 10th assist on an outlet pass to Keyonte George, but he was stuck on eight rebounds as the fourth quarter was winding down. With the Jazz energized by the prospect of getting the long sought-after stat line, their defense picked up. Kessler blocked shots, Simone Fontecchio generated steals, and Dallas even airballed a shot out of bounds. The problem? Those didn't lead to rebound opportunities.
"We just turned up the defensive pressure even more," Clarkson said. "We couldn't miss on the offense end. All the way up to the offensive rebound, I was a little nervous."
Clarkson said the accomplishment meant a lot to him. It showed his growth as a player, and he's the one who's been hearing about the drought the longest. Oh, and it was a nice touch that he played with Boozer with the Lakers; Boozer even texted him congratulations after the game.
"It just felt good," Clarkson said. "It was a very cool milestone to put on my list."
The Jazz have been close before. Kessler almost had a couple with double-digit blocks, Kelly Olynyk has flirted with one, and so, too, has Kris Dunn. But the team thought it was "fitting" for Clarkson to finally break the drought.
"I've been close, Kelly's been close, but it's fitting for JC to get it, I think, just because he's the longest-tenured player on the Jazz and, I mean, he deserves it. So for him to get it, we're all ecstatic," Kessler said.
Especially Kessler — whose goofy celebration was one of pure joy — at least when he figured out what was going on.
"Shout out to Walker," Lauri Markkanen joked. "Everybody's been jumping for the last four minutes for him to get a rebound, Walker checks out and is like, 'Oh, he's got nine rebounds.'"
To which Kessler responded with a smile, "made sense why JC was still in."
His coach, though, couldn't wait to take him out — just once history was made.
"It's a cool storyline for sure," Hardy said. "I think based on narratives around Jordan at different times, about just sort of being a gunner, I don't think anybody would have expected him to be the person that would get the triple-double. It shows he's adapted to our group, he's adapted to a new role, and that he's trying to expand how he contributes to winning. It's not just about scoring points.
"If I could have picked somebody on our team right now to break the streak, it would have been Jordan."
