Salt Lake City – Heartbreak at Energy Solutions Arena tonight as Jazz give up a 3 point lead in the final seconds of regulation and go on to lose in OT to the Sacramento Kings.
The Jazz started out well, and took the lead early in the first quarter and got up by as many as 10 in the second until the Kings woke up and took back the lead in this see-saw battle. Halftime ended with the score 50-47, Jazz up again.
The Kings came out red hot in the third quarter behind DeMarcus Cousins (28 points, 7 rebounds for the game), and outscored the Jazz 27-20 to enter the fourth quarter up by 4. The Jazz rallied, keeping the score close then seemingly took over the game on an amazing block by Gordon Hayward (22 points, 4 rebounds), which lead to a Trey Burke 3-pointer, that tied the game 84-84 with 5:25 left. Burke had 19 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists in the game. Jazz played great defense and on the following possession took back the lead 86-84 on a Gordon Hayward jumper. But the Kings wouldn’t let up, and kept it close, by making shots and fouling until Ben McLemore hit a 3-pointer to again tie the game 97-97 with 3.2s left.
In overtime, the Jazz only hit one bucket and one 3-pointer, while the Kings scored 15 behind Isaiah Thomas’s, 26 points, 8 assists, to get the win, and improve their record 5-13. Definitely a hard one to swallow. The Jazz fall to 4-18, and play Portland next on Monday.
Update: Jazz lose to Portland 105-94.