The Utah Jazz were left with both resentment and resolve after suffering the worst loss in club history.
The Jazz hope to keep channeling the latter during Wednesday night’s visit to the Chicago Bulls.
Utah moved past its 55-point home loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday by opening a five-game road trip with a win on Monday.
“It’s a constant progress,” Utah’s Lauri Markkanen said of the defense. “We’ve shown we can do it — it’s just about doing it consistently. (Monday) was a good night to show that we can do it against a good team. We just have to keep working, watching film, and getting better.”
While guard Keyonte George sparked the Jazz with 32 points vs. Cleveland — 28 more than he scored against Charlotte — Utah also reversed its fortunes behind an improved interior defense. Center Jusuf Nurkic contributed 11 points and 17 rebounds in his return from a toe injury and is eager to bring consistency after playing in just seven of the past 12 games.
“Nurk continues to be one of the unsung guys on our team,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “What he does for our group with his physicality, not just on the glass, but also the big plays he made around the basket defensively. And then he continues to help us create the advantage with his screening.”
As for the Bulls, with playmaker Coby White (right calf injury management) out of the lineup in Houston and top scorer Josh Giddey (hamstring) out indefinitely, the team still produced five double-figure scorers on Tuesday.
Guard Tre Jones paced Chicago — which lost for the fourth time in the past five games — with a career-best 34 points on 11-for-12 shooting from the floor. That included five 3-pointers, also a career best. Matas Buzelis followed with 19 points and has at least 15 in seven consecutive games.
White is expected to play Wednesday in the second leg of a back-to-back set. While his return figures to offer a spark, the Bulls also hope for a bounce-back effort from counterpart Ayo Dosunmu, who runs the second unit and had just seven points on 3-of-8 shooting against Houston.
“He’s very, very good in the open court, but I also think there’s opportunities — with the way he’s shooting the ball — where he can’t be turning down shots,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “He needs to take those. So the decision-making on when to shoot, when to pass, when to drive — all of that stuff needs to continue to get better.”
Utah would sweep the season series with a victory after outscoring visiting Chicago 150-147 in double overtime on Nov. 16. Markkanen scored 47 points against his former team while George drilled the game-winning 3-pointer with two seconds left in double OT.
White scored 27 to pace Chicago.
The Bulls have won five of the past six games in the series, with Nikola Vucevic posting a double-double in four straight games vs. the Jazz while averaging 19.3 points and 11 rebounds.
