Recruit guard Darrin Peterson scored 18 points in 26 minutes JazzHe did play in Wednesday’s 117-111 loss to San Antonio, but he didn’t play at all for the final seven minutes of the game, including all of overtime. Spare wing Brice Sensabaugh checked in with 2:06 left in the fourth quarter and hit a 3-pointer to help Utah send the game into overtime, where he scored the team’s only six points on two more 3-pointers.
“We have to clean up the enforcement,” head coach Will Hardy said after the loss when asked why Peterson didn’t play the last seven minutes, trans Shreyas Ladda of The Salt Lake Tribune. “At those moments of the game, you have to be able to execute the game plan. I think Darryn takes a lot of steps forward, but at that moment, I felt it was better to go with Bryce.”
While the Jazz coach wouldn’t expand on his reference to cleaning up the team’s “execution,” Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune (Link to Twitter) points out that Peterson makes a mistake on offense and/or defense when talking about Hardy. Still, Hardy suggested the lineup decision late in the game had more to do with his faith in Sensabaugh than Peterson’s charge.
“Brice is someone we trust and he had a little fresher legs as well.” said Hardy. “He’s got a real knack for scoring and using his body. It’s not just threes. He’s going to hit the three by accident, but he’s really good at getting to the defender and making some pull-ups. That was a time we needed to score one-on-one.”
We have more from the Northwest:
- Although the start of the season was successful Nuggets a star Nikola Jokicthe three-time MVP reached a major milestone on Wednesday when he registered 21 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in a win over New Orleans. How Brett Martel of the Associated Press writes, it was the 200th regular-season triple-double of Jokic’s career, making him only the second player ever to reach the milestone. Jokic needs 10 more triple-doubles to break even Russell WestbrookRecorded 209 career triple-doubles.
- Robert Williams missed Thursday’s game against Memphis with a sore left knee, but Trail Blazers head coach Mika Nori downplayed the issue, telling reports that the decision to bench the big man was largely preemptive, according to Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. Freeman notes Portland sorely missed Williams in first loss of season as backup center Brendan Carlson and Micah Potter scored just three points and four rebounds for a -18 plus/minus overall.
- Facing his former team for the first time, Trail Blazers security guard Ja Morant was forced to leave Thursday’s game against the Grizzlies early with a left hamstring injury, according to the Blazers (Link to Twitter). No word yet on whether the injury will force Marant to miss extra time. He finished the night on the bench with a bandage around his left leg, – writes Freeman.
