Jazz fall to Pelicans as Saddiq Bey explodes for 42 amid growing injury woes

SALT LAKE CITY — On the heels of more injury news, the Utah Jazz's lineup continues to shrink every game; and what the team had wasn't enough as Utah dropped the first of two straight games against the New Orleans Pelicans.

For much of the first half, the Jazz kept pace with the Pelicans, but a 22-8 run by New Orleans widened the gap to close out the second quarter. The Pelicans then managed to hold onto the lead for the duration of the game in a 129-118 win after receiving little threat from Utah in the second half.

Ace Bailey bounced back nicely amid struggled from the field after just 4 points against the Rockets. He found a groove in the opening frame and poured in 16 first-half points before finishing with 23 points.

"I thought he settled into the game nicely by keeping it pretty simple," Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. "In Houston, it felt like he was a little sped up, and Houston did a good job of using their physicality and pressuring him. I thought early in the game, he did a nice job of keeping it simple with his reads."

Bailey helped keep the Jazz afloat in the opening half, but a Pelicans onslaught led by Saddiq Bey left no answer for Utah. Bey scored a season-high of 42 points, and contributed seven assists and five rebounds.

Helping New Orleans pull away from the Jazz alongside Bey was rookie point guard Jeremiah Fears, who had an impactful performance off the bench for New Orleans in the first half. Fears totaled just 12 points but all came in the first 24 minutes of action.

"The game got away from us in the second quarter with some sloppy play on offense and not much resistance on defense," Hardy said.

The biggest highlight of the game came when Cody Williams slammed home a dunk over Karlo Matkovic for the poster. Williams must have been feeling bouncy because he tried to dunk on another Pelicans player after jumping from near the free-throw line.

Utah cut the deficit to 10 with 4:40 remaining in the fourth quarter after the Pelicans led by as much as 27; but, the inability to close out the game hurt the Jazz, once again.

Bey hit a 3-pointer to push New Orleans' lead back over double-digits, which crippled the momentum Utah had built up.

Elijah Harkless helped make the comeback slightly possible with a strong individual defensive performance. The two-way guard out of UNLV tallied four steals and a block to go along with 11 points and six assists.

"I enjoyed watching Elijah play," Hardy said. "I thought his ferocity brought a lot to our group. I think it's representative of somebody who doesn't take the opportunity for granted and is fighting every day to try to make his place in this league and I thought it had a huge impact on our team in the second half."

John Konchar also had himself a game on the defensive end, getting his hand on the ball to create deflections and diving to pick up loose balls. For his effort, Konchar picked up five steals and received praise from his coach postgame.

"If there is a ball nearby, his hand will touch it," Hardy said.

Konchar, an undrafted product out of Purdue Fort Wayne, is now in his eighth season in the NBA after carving out a role that has allowed him stay in the league and make an impact as a rotational player.

"I just tried creating a role for myself in the NBA," Konchar said. "Pretty much just gonna play hard, work hard, and dive on the floor and get loose balls and extra possessions for our team."

The hits continue to come for the Jazz after it was confirmed Tuesday Vince Williams Jr. suffered a torn ACL in Monday's game against the Rockets, and Lauri Markkanen suffered a hip and ankle injury in practice on Wednesday.

Shams Charania of ESPN reported during the first quarter that Markkanen will be out at least two weeks after his MRI revealed a hip impingement. The tests on Markkanen's ankle came back clean.

With the loss Thursday, Utah is now 1-16 when Markkanen is not in the lineup this season.

As a result of the injury, the Jazz needed to add some size and depth to their front court and responded by signing center Mo Bamba to a 10-day contract. Bamba has appeared in 22 games (14 starts) for the Salt Lake City Stars this season.

With the loss, Utah's losing streak has now reached four games, but they'll get another crack at the Pelicans with another matchup coming Saturday.

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