Lauri Markkanen scored 29 points and the Utah Jazz defeated Washington 123-108 on Thursday night, spoiling Brian Keefe’s debut as interim coach after Wes Unseld Jr. was moved to the Wizards’ front office.
“Just got back to our normal self,” Markkanen said. “It wasn’t perfect tonight, but we definitely brought the energy.”
The Wizards revealed earlier in the day that Unseld was out as coach midway through his third season with the team. Washington dropped to 7-37. It has lost six in a row and 12 of 13.
“I was pleased with the process tonight,” Keefe said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well. I think we had 33 assists and we only made seven 3s, so that’s good. We played at the pace we wanted to. If we made those shots, we would have been right there. But I was proud of our resilience within the game. That was really important to me.”
John Collins added 22 points and 16 rebounds to help Utah snap a three-game losing streak.
“Some good games from a lot of guys,” Utah coach Will Hardy stated. “I think John Collins, his activity tonight, his energy level screening and rolling, getting on the glass, 22 and 16 with seven offensive rebounds, I thought he was a huge reason why we won tonight’s game.”
Kelly Olynyk and Jordan Clarkson each had 19 points for Utah and Collin Sexton added 11.
“I thought Kelly did a good job of mixing up popping and rolling,” Hardy said. “In particular, there are two possessions where he recognizes that Daniel Gafford is guarding him. And instead of rolling, pops. He also did a good job digging out some loose balls and finishing around the basket. He had that fade-away in the post that was pretty sweet.”
Kyle Kuzma led Washington with 26 points. Jordan Poole had 18.
The Wizards got off to a good start, leading 13-4, but the Jazz quickly turned it around and led 36-29 after the first quarter.
Washington made it 40-38 a few minutes into the second, but that’s the closest it got. Utah led 64-56 at the half and 98-78 after the third quarter.
“We didn’t hit shots,” Kuzma said. “We played with great effort. Probably one of our best effort nights.”
