Jazz holds off Pistons in a “super physical, ballsy, ugly, nasty” game

DETROIT – The doorbell didn’t ring, but Jordan Clarkson and Ron Holland looked like they didn’t mind if they heard one.

Clarkson and Holland were in the middle of a melee in the third period as both competed like they were on the verge of a title shot. No punches were thrown – things actually broke up fairly quickly (both players were ejected, though) – but that alone highlighted the physical nature of Thursday’s game.

And after a no-show in Los Angeles earlier this week, the Jazz showed they had some fighting spirit in them – both figuratively and literally. The Jazz posted their best first quarter of the season with a 126-119 victory over the Detroit Pistons, ending a three-game losing streak.

“It was super physical, hectic, ugly, nasty. There are turnovers, there are fouls, there are fights, there is a tension in the game and in the arena that we really haven’t seen this year,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said.

Or since he took over the jazz job.

Hardy said he wasn’t sure he’d seen a game like Thursday’s in the last five years; it had a little bit of everything. Outstanding bumps and taunts, some hard fouls and several bloody stoppages. Keyonte George got into a fight with a fan on the sidelines and Paul Reed pushed Clarkson twice after one play, leading to a fake fight at center court.

A total of seven technical fouls were assessed on Thursday.

“We have spoken to the group in such a way that this is good. That’s the good part. The chaos is good, the heights and emotions are good,” Hardy said. “This is a situation that is good for us. Let’s redefine them in our brains. There is no reason to panic. I wish every game was a bit chaotic and disruptive like this. I don’t wish everyone would bleed. I don’t wish we played every game – I’m sure that’s taken out of context – but I think the excitement in the building was just good for our group.”

John Collins said it was one of the most physical games he had played this season and it was good to see how the team stuck together.

“We didn’t care how stressful the game got and we just understood that if we played basketball together, we would come out victorious tonight, and we did that,” he said.

However, early on it didn’t look like the game would be close enough to even get heated.

The Jazz scored 48 points in the first quarter on some spontaneous shots. Utah was 15 of 23 from the field and 9 of 13 from 3-point range in the quarter and took a 29-point lead after 12 minutes. The 48 points were just one point shy of the franchise record for points in a quarter.

So the game is over, right? Not quite. Detroit cut Utah’s lead to 6 in the second quarter.

If Utah’s 48-point quarter drew attention, so did its 27 turnovers. The Jazz committed ten of them in the second quarter to help the Pistons get back into the game, and that built the tension in the game.

Especially with the way Detroit defended. The Pistons shined with on-ball and off-ball actions. They took the Jazz full court, which really caused problems for the Utah Guards. They held a body of Lauri Markkanen as he tried to navigate the perimeter. Walker Kessler had difficulty finding screen space.

“They were physical with everyone,” Hardy said.

Powered by great nights from Collin Sexton (30 points, seven assists, six rebounds), Keyonte George (28 points on 7 of 13 from 3-point land) and Markkanen (27 points and 14 rebounds), the Jazz were still able to hold their own Pistons.

“I think the best thing about this game was that there were emotional moments for our group that come with the terrain of a game like this, but it didn’t break us,” Hardy said. “We were together in those moments and I thought the team communicated really well in a lot of those moments.”

He saw this as a sign of growth for his team. On the road against a team that wanted to mix things up, the Jazz found ways to respond.

Shooting definitely helped with that. Utah was 20 of 40 from 3-point range and scored six times in the fourth quarter, including a dagger from George with 58 seconds left. This is the blueprint for overcoming 27 giveaways. If those shots weren’t coming so quickly, the Pistons’ aggressiveness might have been harder to overcome.

“It obviously takes a toll, but you have to deal with it, and something that comes with winning – winning hurts a little bit,” Collins said.

But something less than losing.