Jazz happy to learn crucial end-of-game lesson in win

SALT LAKE CITY — Jazz coach Will Hardy wildly jumped up and down to try to get his team's attention.

Lauri Markkanen had just cashed in a shot from behind the arc to give the Jazz a 3-point lead with 4.4 seconds left, and Hardy was trying to get his team organized for Detroit's final Hail Mary of a play.

Things didn't go the way he was hoping.

Considering how the rest of the game went — the 302 combined points set a new Delta Center record — it shouldn't have come as a surprise the game didn't end on a defensive stop. Hardy, though, wasn't asking for that; he just wanted a foul.

His team, for whatever reason, didn't get the message.

Alec Burks raced up the court and was met by Collin Sexton at halfcourt. Instead of fouling, Sexton tried to stop Burks from getting any further down the court. That just allowed the former Jazz guard to get off a 30-foot off-balance 3-pointer. Like most shots Wednesday, it went in.

"As a coach, I would always rather learn lessons after a win than a loss," Hardy said.

That ending sequence was easier to stomach after the Jazz pulled away in overtime for a 154-148 win over the Pistons, and it provided to be a learning experience for the team, too.

As soon as Burks' shot went through the net, Sexton turned to Jordan Clarkson.

"I should have fouled, right?" Sexton asked.

"No one told you," Clarkson responded.

Clarkson said it was up to him, as one of the team's veterans, to be on top of that.

"In those situations, we've all got to be communicating — me being next to him in that play, I could have been screaming and telling him," he said.

Especially since, in those moments, emotions can take over. It didn't matter how loud Hardy or assistant coach Jason Terry, who was signaling to commit a foul, yelled; they weren't going to overpower the Delta Center crowd that had been sent into bedlam.

"I saw Will jumping on the sidelines trying to yell, but, obviously, we can't hear anything," Markkanen said. "We've just got to recognize that as players."

It's something the Jazz have gone over multiple times, starting as early as training camp. Hardy is meticulous about end-of-game situations. He reviews the last two minutes of each game every day — and then brings that info to his team.

"If we put the film up behind me right now it would all make sense, but you make a big three and there are four seconds left, and the whole building's going crazy and everybody's scrambling around trying to find their matchups and figure out what's happening," Hardy said.

So chalk it up to a learning experience. Next time they find themselves in that situation, chances are it will be different.

"Those are possessions and things that are going to help us in the future," Sexton said.

Burks made a great shot, but the Jazz now know not to let opponents even get one up.

"Those are learning moments for our team," Hardy said. "We're trying to become a really good team that wins consistently, and with that comes situational basketball and winning in close games. That's what the best teams do."

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