Utah Jazz Thrashed By Thunder In Battle Of Shorthanded Rosters

Oklahoma City played without reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and rotation regulars Lu Dort, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Alex Caruso. Utah missed Lauri Markkanen, who was scratched before Sunday’s game due to an illness.

Kyle Filipowski led the Jazz with 21 points, while Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren each scored 25 for the Thunder.

Walt Clayton Jr. capped the best week of his young NBA career by scoring a career-high 20 points on 8-12 shooting and adding a team-high nine assists.

Over his last five games, Clayton Jr. has averaged 12.0 points and 5.4 assists while finding his rhythm from deep. He has hit at least one three-pointer in each of his last four games, including five threes in the last five quarters.

“Walt has been a score-first guard for most of his life, so it’s hard when you’re a young guard, and you come in, you’re trying to walk this line of, ‘Well, I gotta get the other guys involved,’” Jazz coach Will Hardy said.

After hesitating to shoot early in the season, Clayton Jr. has become more decisive with his reads, leading to better results.

Clayton Jr.’s increased minutes have come at the expense of Isaiah Collier and Brice Sensabaugh, who played just six minutes each in Sunday’s loss.

“Minutes are earned, standards are clear, there’s a baseline level of execution that needs to happen,” Hardy said of the two guards’ limited opportunities. “I think those two guys get a lot of opportunity, but there are certain moments where it’s unacceptable.”

Collier and Sensabaugh combined for two points and one assist, and the Jazz were outscored by 14 during their time on the floor.

“Isaiah and Bryce are wonderful human beings, and they’re coachable. I enjoy coaching them,” Hardy added. “But sometimes minutes are the only thing that really makes it glaring enough that you have to change some of the things that you’re doing.”

The Jazz trailed 10-1 early and went into halftime down 26, leaving fans little to cheer about.

A series of game presentation and clock malfunctions, however, added unexpected drama.

Midway through the second quarter, with the Thunder pulling away, the fog machine behind Oklahoma City’s basket, traditionally used for pregame festivities, began firing during live action.

It went off during two Thunder free throws and a fastbreak alley-oop before officials stopped play.

After a brief pause, the machine fired again before being shut down completely.

Then, one minute into the third quarter, the clocks behind both baskets malfunctioned.

The game clock froze at 11:03, and the shot clock stayed at 24.

Officials halted play for several minutes to fix the issue. After repeated attempts failed, they resumed the game without functioning clocks, forcing in-arena announcer Marque Denmon to call out the time until a backup to the main control system was deployed.

The delays provided a brief distraction in an otherwise lopsided game.

Starting Monday, the Jazz will play only two games over the next 11 days—a pair of consolation matchups added after failing to advance in the NBA Cup.

Utah visits the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday before hosting the Dallas Mavericks next Monday.

After that, the team gets two more days off before returning to a regular schedule against the Los Angeles Lakers on December 18.

“I think having a little break in the schedule is good for the players physically,” Hardy said. “I think everybody in the NBA, at this point in the season—there’s a lot of people that are banged up.”

Aside from Walker Kessler’s season-ending injury and Georges Niang’s ongoing rehab from a broken foot, the Jazz have stayed relatively healthy.

Keyonte George, Ace Bailey, and Svi Mykhailiuk have appeared in all 22 games, while Jusuf Nurkic, Brice Sensabaugh, Kyle Filipowski, and Lauri Markkanen have missed only one game each.

With a mostly healthy roster, the Jazz plan to use the break to improve while managing stamina.

“Our group needs to practice, so we’re going to have to choose wisely in terms of how much time we give them off their feet, because there are some things that we need to rep on the court,” Hardy said. “But we’ve got 60 games left, and so there’s a long way to the finish line. We need to try to maximize the recovery that we can get in this little pocket.”