'Just put it behind me': Collin Sexton reflects on final missed 3 in Jazz's loss to Bulls

SALT LAKE CITY — Collin Sexton stalked the ground.

It was moments after he saw his end-of-game 3-pointer bounce off the rim, leading to the Utah Jazz's 119-117 loss to the Chicago Bulls Wednesday at the Delta Center. The Jazz guard couldn't get his eyes to look up.

It hadn't mattered that he had recorded 24 points and seven assists, or that his 3-pointer with 1:40 remaining gave the Jazz a short-lived lead, or that the Jazz were without Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, Keyonte George, and Taylor Hendricks. After the final buzzer, fair or not, it appeared Sexton was choosing to bear the full weight of the loss.

Sexton eventually left and got dressed in the backroom, and then left the locker room while avoiding reporters' gazes. To his immense credit, he returned a few minutes later to answer questions about the gut punch of a loss.

"Just put it behind me," Sexton said of the missed shot. "Just put it behind me and know that another opportunity like that is coming, so be ready for it."

He knows that more than most — even if that thought, too, is painful. It was just three weeks ago that he had a similar opportunity: On Feb. 15 against the Warriors, he got a clean 3-point look that would have sent the game into overtime; it didn't go in.

"You live with those shots," said Jordan Clarkson, who had 15 points and five assists. "We know him as a player; he's gonna keep going, keep doing what he does."

Sexton has been one of the best surprises of the season for the Jazz, turning from a bench player to one of the more productive starting guards in the league. The Jazz have figured out how to efficiently use his elite ability to break the paint.

"This era and the way that defenses have changed suits him well," Jazz coach Will Hardy said. "He's really hard to guard one-on-one, and all the switching puts him in a lot of situations where he's attacking a switch."

As the season has progressed, his decision-making has improved, leading to more assists, a better shot chart and overall better efficiency.

A missed shot or two at the end of games doesn't change any of that progress.

"Basketball is a very difficult game," said John Collins, who had a season-high 25 points and 14 rebounds. "I mean, end of the game, a lot of pressure on that shot, nobody's blaming him. We all know it's a 48-minute game where a lot of guys made some mistakes. We all could do better."

That's true. The Jazz trailed by as many as 12 points in the game and by 10 in the opening moments of the fourth quarter before rallying to take a late lead. They gave themselves a chance at the end, but the final shot — or shots (Clarkson also missed a 3-pointer seconds before Sexton's attempt) — just didn't go down.

"I thought the team really executed well. We got two good looks that didn't go, and that's kind of the way it goes sometimes," Hardy said.

That didn't provide much solace for Sexton moments after the game, though. That just shows how much he still cares, even if the Jazz are slipping further and further out of the postseason chase. Wednesday's result was most meaningful when it comes to this year's draft — and a loss may have been what the organization preferred.

The Jazz are now in the No. 10 draft position. If they remain there or higher, they will keep their pick. But that didn't seem to matter much to the players, though.

"We fought and we fought down to the wire," Collins said. "Everybody stepped up. We had a lot of guys out. And I just feel like we made a team effort to consistently compete and leave it out on the court."

Related topics