When the Utah Jazz and Detroit Pistons meet Wednesday night in Salt Lake City, neither team will be trying to end a lengthy and looming streak — one for futility, the other for a triple-double drought.
The Pistons snapped their ominous NBA record-tying 28-game losing streak over the weekend by defeating the Toronto Raptors 129-127. That made their next outcome — 136-113 blowout loss at the Houston Rockets on Monday — a bit easier to swallow.
“I thought about it the last day,” Pistons coach Monty Williams said about Detroit’s letdown performance. “When you’re fighting for a win like we were for so long and you get one, I’m sure there’s emotional stuff that I can’t explain, but when you’re in our situation, you got to recover quickly.”
Former Jazz players Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic scored 21 and 14 points, respectively, for the Pistons against the Rockets. Jaden Ivey added 19 points and Jalen Duren amassed 14 rebounds to go with a dozen points.
“We are one of the youngest teams in the league, so no one should outwork us ever, and that’s what happened tonight,” Bogdanovic said. “They kind of outrun us, outworked us, and that’s got to stop.”
Utah contributed to Detroit’s historic skid, as Kelly Olynyk scored 27 points to lead the Jazz to a 119-111 win on Dec. 21 for the Pistons’ 25th consecutive loss.
Jazz coach Will Hardy called that outcome, which came on the tail end of a road back-to-back, “a really, really good team win for us.”
The Jazz topped it on Monday night when they made an incredible 87-point turnaround in a 127-90 victory over Dallas. The Mavericks beat the Jazz 147-97 in their previous matchup Dec. 6.
“Eighty-seven point swing is kind of wild,” said Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen, who had 17 points against the Mavericks on Monday. “It feels good to start the year off right.”
That wasn’t even the big news of the New Year’s Day game, either.
Jordan Clarkson ended Utah’s near-16-year triple-double drought, registering 20 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds against the Mavericks.
It was the first triple-double by a Jazz player in the regular season since Carlos Boozer compiled 22 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists against the host Seattle Supersonics on Feb. 13, 2008. Utah won the game 112-93.
Utah competed in 1,256 regular-season games and players from other teams notched 1,205 triple-doubles during that triple-double-less stretch, according to the Jazz.
Clarkson’s feat, which resulted in a loud celebration by Jazz fans and teammates, was also the first triple-double for a player off of Utah’s bench since Mark Eaton totaled 12 points, 14 rebounds and 12 blocked shots on Feb. 5, 1983.
“It meant a lot,” Clarkson said. “Honestly, I think I’m the — well, I am — the longest(-tenured) player here. Just breaking that record, seeing all the team and the guys, it just felt good. … It was a very cool little milestone to put on my list.”
The former NBA Sixth Man of the Year even received a congratulatory message from Boozer, who texted him, “Congrats on the triple-double.” Boozer had no idea he’d have to wait 5,801 days to send it.
–Field Level Media