Flurry Of Threes Keeps Utah Jazz Within Striking Distance Of Thunder

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Jazz are trying to fight back from a double-digit second-half deficit with a flurry of third-quarter threes.

The Jazz (4-16) take on the Western Conference-leading Thunder (15-5) at Paycom Center on Tuesday, December 3.

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follow the bull 👀 pic.twitter.com/XpK4y881OP

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) December 4, 2024

John Collins hit nothing but net on two corner threes. Collins’ buckets were sandwiched around an opposite corner triple from Collin Sexton.

Scoring hasn’t been the problem for Utah tonight. The Jazz are shooting 58.1 percent from the field and 43.5 percent from the field. The problem for Utah has been 19 first-half turnovers and 21 total with 5:37 left in the third. Turnovers have led to an 18-9 fast break point advantage for the Thunder.

OKC is shooting 51.5 percent and has attempted 25 more shots than Utah. The Thunder lead 84-65.

Jazz finish NBA Cup play in Oklahoma City

Tonght’s game is the fourth for each team in the 2024 Emirates NBA Cup.

With a 0-3 group play record, the Jazz are eliminated from NBA Cup quarterfinal contention and look to play spoilers to the Thunder instead.

Hues of blue for OKC’s home court in the #EmiratesNBACup! 🔵⛈️ pic.twitter.com/5LlFjjeHKM

— NBA (@NBA) November 15, 2024

Oklahoma City (2-1) currently sits in second place in West Group B behind the San Antonio Spurs (2-1), who beat the Thunder on November 19 to take the NBA Cup Tiebreaker.

Road Heavy Schedule To Test Jazz

After opening December with a tight loss to the LA Lakers, the Jazz embark on a season-long seven-game road swing that will have them zigzagging across the country. In total, the Jazz will go 27 days between games in the friendly confines of Delta Center.

Following tonight’s game in Oklahoma City, the Jazz will travel to Portland and Sacramento before their schedule takes them East. Detroit, Brooklyn, and Cleveland will test Utah before the trip ends in Portland the day after Christmas.

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The @utahjazz will open a brutal December road schedule tomorrow against the West-leading @okcthunder. #TakeNote https://t.co/DQppU8BgOK

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) December 2, 2024

Despite five of the seven games coming against teams with below .500 records, the Jazz are unlikely to be favored in any remaining December games.

Follow the Utah Jazz with KSL Sports

Utah will play the Trail Blazers in Portland on Friday, December 6. Tipoff is at 8 p.m. MT. The game will be televised on KJZZ, streamed on Jazz+, and heard on 97.5 The KSL Sports Zone.

Find sports.ksl.com coverage of the Utah Jazz here.

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Brian Preece is a sports.ksl.com insider covering Locals in MLB and Salt Lake Bees. Follow Brian’s Bees and Beehive baseball coverage here.

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