Jazz end season with 123-116 loss to Warriors
SAN FRANCISCO (ABC4 Sports) – The worst Utah Jazz season in ten years has come to an end.
Klay Thompson scored 25 points with six 3-pointers, Andrew Wiggins added 19 points, and the Golden State Warriors beat the Utah Jazz 123-116 in the regular-season finale Sunday and wound up with the 10th spot in the Western Conference.
The Jazz ended the year losing 20 of its last 25 games to finish at 31-51, its worst record since the 2013-14 season.
“It’s been a tough season, record-wise,” said Jazz head coach Will Hardy. “I think there’s a lot of positives that we can carry into the postseason. We’ve got some good young players in this roster. But they and we all have a lot of work to do to get to where we want to go.”
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The Jazz played the final weeks of the season without Lauri Markkanen, Jordan Clarkson, Walker Kessler and John Collins, giving playing time to younger players like Taylor Hendricks, Kenny Lofton Junior and Brice Sensabaugh.
“I’m proud of the team for sticking together through such a rough year,” Sensabaugh said. “The locker room has always been high energy and positive. We’ve always had each other’s back, and we kept fighting throughout some hard times. So, I’m proud of the whole group.”
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr rested Draymond Green and Curry, whose 74 regular-season games and 2,421 total minutes are both the two-time MVP’s most since 2016-17. The Warriors are 1/3 this season in games missing both Green and Curry.
Keyonte George scored 21 points to lead a Jazz team that went 31-51 — 10-31 on the road — and missed the playoffs for a second straight season. Utah won two of its final three games following a 13-game losing streak and stretch that featured 16 defeats in 17 games.
“We need to be rethinking everything,” Hardy said. “We’re taking a few days off. We’re going to do our playoff prep and then it’s go time. You have to prepare your body in a way that you can endure not only in an 82-game season, but endure 82 games and then be ready to play in the playoffs. But we all have a lot of work to do to get to where we want to go.”
“You kind of sit back and realize kind of how fast the season went,” George said. “We felt like yesterday we were playing our first game of the year. I’ve learned so much, and now it’s time to get ready for year two.”
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Jonathan Kuminga had a career-high seven assists as the Warriors recorded their 36th game with 30 or more assists dishing out 35. They have won the last eight home contests against Utah and swept the four-game season series from the Jazz.
The Jazz are slotted to have the 8th pick in the NBA Draft, but could move up in the Draft Lottery May 12th.
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