After battling foul trouble and miscues all night, the Jazz had a chance to win but one final error left the Magic on top

Foul trouble was where things started to go sideways, but it was turnovers — and specifically one turnover — that led to the Utah Jazz’s downfall on Thursday night.

The Jazz fell to 2–4 on the 2023-24 season after a 115-113 loss to the Orlando Magic, though the Jazz had a chance to tie or take the lead on the final possession of the game.

Unfortunately, the final play was never fully realized.

After two huge 3s from Lauri Markkanen put the Jazz up by one point, Paolo Banchero drove in for a layup for the Magic to take back the lead.

The Jazz fouled and rookie Anthony Black made one of two free throws, giving the Magic a 2-point lead with 1.3 seconds left to play. The Jazz took a timeout, drew up an inbounds play with multiple options, and set up for a chance to extend the game.

But here’s what happened:

Markkanen, Jordan Clarkson and Keyonte George are all options for an inbound pass on this play. Kelly Olynyk chose to hit George, likely because he was open heading toward the basket.

Had Olynyk waited another second he might have been able to see Markkanen a little better (though a cross-court pass there is risky) or he could have seen Clarkson open at the top for a deep 3. No matter, he chose George, but he passed the ball too low and it went right into the hands of the Magic’s Franz Wagner.

Related

• Magic 115, Jazz 113: Foul trouble and turnovers lead to loss for Utah

• Jazz needed a win like the one they got Wednesday night over the Grizzlies

“The last play was actually executed well,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. “It’s one that we’ve worked on in practice. I thought Keyonte was open. I thought Lauri was open on the weak side and I thought Jordan was coming free at the top. I think Kelly made a good decision because Keyonte had momentum going towards the basket and yeah, the ball was just a little bit low. I don’t question Kelly’s decision making in that moment.”

The silver lining here is that the Jazz came away feeling like they executed the late-game play well enough that they can feel confident getting good looks on their options in the future. Had Olynyk not had any options and felt rushed to get in the inbound pass then the Jazz might be looking at things through a tougher lens.

It was an unfortunate way for the Jazz’s game to end, but considering the foul trouble and turnover the Jazz committed earlier in the night, they felt proud to have come back into the game and had a chance.

Probably pretty obvious to say that Olynyk will be kicking himself for flubbing the final pass, but the Jazz will turn the page and move on.

Up next, the Jazz head out for their first extended road trip of the season with stops in Minnesota, Chicago, Indiana and finally Memphis, where they will play their first In-Season Tournament group game of the year.