The Jazz 'fight for one another' in big comeback win over Raptors

TORONTO — With 5:17 left in the game, Toronto's Pascal Siakam put the Raptors up by 13 with a midrange jumper. By that point, it was looking pretty clear it was going to be a comfortable win for Toronto.

The Raptors had led through the entirety of the game and had easily answered any Utah run. Fortunately for the Jazz, though, five minutes is an eternity in today's NBA. Utah closed out the game on a 22-4 run to stun the Raptors 122-116 Friday at Scotiabank Arena.

The finish was reminiscent of the first weeks of the season, when the team everyone expected to be bad shocked the NBA with a 10-3 start. Turns out, Utah's not done shocking, yet.

The same narrative surrounded the Jazz again. The front office had gutted the team's depth at the trade, seemingly sacrificing a playoff push for a chance for a future asset and cap space. The Jazz were an emotional wreck on Wednesday as they suffered their worst loss of the season — a game that began moments after they found out four players had been traded.

Two days later, the resolve that has characterized this Jazz squad was back.

"Last game, that's a hard day," Jazz coach Will Hardy said. "You are right there at the deadline, moves are happening right before the game. It's hard emotionally to maintain focus. … Today, I just felt like everybody was a little more settled. The nerves of the trade deadline are over, the uncertainty of all that is over, which helps settle everybody's mind."

That allowed the team to come together for a remarkable finish.

Collin Sexton scored 8 points during the closing minutes, using his remarkable speed to get to the rim. Lauri Markkanen had 5 late points, including a 3-point play that gave the Jazz their first lead of the game with 1:43 left.

Walker Kessler scored 4 points in the final five minutes and finished a half-court alley-oop from Talen Horton-Tucker. That was just one of four assists from Horton-Tucker in Utah's furious comeback.

"A lot of the guys made big plays down the stretch, but most impressed with our defense — 55 points in the second half, 20 in the fourth quarter, 4 in the last five minutes of the game," Hardy said.

That defense allowed the Jazz to cut the lead quickly, too. Toronto led 112-100 with 4:53 remaining, but the Jazz tied it up with a 12-0 run capped off by Sexton's 3-point play with 2:34 left. All in all, Utah scored on 11 straight possessions to turn what looked like a sure loss into a statement victory.

"Tonight was one of those games where we had to play together," Sexton said. "It was one of those games where we had to fight to the end and fight for one another, and that's what we did."

The Jazz snapped a three-game skid and are still right in the mix of the play-in tournament.

Markkanen led the Jazz with 23 points, nine rebounds and five assists; Kessler finished with 23 points and nine rebounds; Sexton added six assists to go with his 22 points; and Olynyk had 15 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.

"On the road, a really tough place to play … just proud of the team's effort," Hardy said. "Everybody was locked in all the way through the game. Everyone who touched the court participated and had big plays, so a great team win on the road."

And a healing one, too.

It had been a tough week for the Jazz. The trade deadline was a dark cloud hanging over everything. The team admitted it played a big factor in their last two losses — not coincidentally, those were the worst losses, margin wise, of the season. On Friday, they got a chance to move on.

"We got a lot of talented guys in this locker room that want to come and get better each day and compete together, play together, and you saw that tonight," Olynyk said.

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