Bailey impresses, but 76ers' late run finishes Jazz in 126-116 defeat

SALT LAKE CITY — A battle between two of the top rookies in the NBA, Ace Bailey and V.J. Edgecombe, took place Saturday night at the Delta Center.

Bailey outperformed his rookie opponent and gave the Delta Center crowd plenty of eye-popping plays. He threw down some impressive dunks and picked up five blocks on the defensive end to showcase his athletic ability.

But it was Edgecombe and the Philadelphia 76ers who came away victorious with a 126-116 win over the Jazz Saturday night.

Bailey, the rookie out of Rutgers, scored 25 points and added six rebounds and four assists to go along with his five blocks.

"I think he's grown more defensively than offensively," Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. "The things that he's done defensively in terms of recognizing the situations earlier, getting himself in position earlier, is allowing him to cover so much distance."

On top of Bailey's standout defensive performance, Elijah Harkless disrupted the 76ers' offense most of the night to finish with five steals and a block of his own. The defensive-minded Harkless echoed the sentiments of his head coach when asked about the growth he's seen from Bailey on the defensive end.

"Just his attention to detail has gotten much better," Harkless said. "He has athleticism that I don't think I've seen before, so it's good to see him finally implement that at such a young age."

Bailey has shown quite a bit of improvement in his game, and the increased workload since the All-Star break will only give him more reps and opportunities to grow.

"Ultimately, what we want is for Ace to be a winning player on both sides," Hardy said.

Utah and Philadelphia traded buckets for much of the first half, with neither team able to break away from the other. It wasn't until the fourth quarter where the game started to swing the Sixers' way.

Edgecombe finished with 22 points, but Quentin Grimes led Philadelphia in scoring with 25 points and helped be a catalyst late in the fourth quarter to secure the win.

After a John Konchar and-one gave the Jazz a 2-point lead, the 76ers closed out the game on a 20-8 run to bury Utah.

"There's a difference between playing poorly and shooting poorly," Hardy said. "I think tonight we shot poorly — from the 3-point line in particular. Didn't finish great in the paint, but I thought we played really good basketball tonight."

The Jazz shot just 22.5% from 3-point range after making just nine of their 40 attempts. Philadelphia didn't fare much better from deep, but they shot nearly 10 points better from the field.

Utah got some standout performances from some of their more recent acquisitions, including Kennedy Chandler, who shined in his debut with the Jazz. He posted 19 points, which was a career-high.

"He scored 19 points, but I thought he made a lot of really good decisions," Hardy said. "He moved the ball great. I thought he handled himself great. It's not easy to do what he just did in terms of stepping in. I thought he played great."

Chandler was signed to a 10-day contract Friday, and the 23-year-old point guard hasn't seen NBA action since he appeared in 36 games as a rookie with the Grizzlies in the 2022-23 season. Chandler has averaged 15.3 points, 8.9 assists (which led the G League), 2.6 rebounds, and 1.8 steals.

"I was so excited, cause this is what I've been waiting on," he said. "The grind of the G-League is very hard. It makes you sometimes doubt yourself to wonder, 'Do I still keep trying? Do I still keep pushing myself? Does anybody still have faith in me as a player?'"

Another recent G League call up for Utah was Bez Mbeng, who made his first NBA start Saturday night. The Yale product racked up 13 points, seven assists and six rebounds, showcasing a little bit of everything in the near 45 minutes he played.

"He has shown that he's a really fast learner in terms of how to put himself in positions to be impactful," Hardy said. "The defensive stuff that he's doing is inspiring to everybody. He gets his hand on the ball, deflections, sticks his nose in there."

Despite another loss for the Jazz, the growth of many young players has been apparent this season. Finding out which pieces will best complement the proven talent on the roster remains a must if the Jazz are going to compete for the playoffs next season.

Hardy said he's confident from what he has seen recently from the team, saying: "These are the moments where you're reminded of all of the growth that's taking place."

"This is a wins and losses business, and I recognize that, but for us to get to where we want to go, we have to learn how to play winning basketball consistently. I think the guys are getting so much better."

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