The Utah Jazz won their fifth game of the season last night, coming back from 17 down in the first half to blow the doors off the (still) woefully under-manned Oklahoma City Thunder.
It didn’t look promising in the first half, though, as the Thunder looked well on their way to stealing a much-needed road victory over a division rival. At a certain point, Jazz head coach (and possibly possessed human being) Quin Snyder lost his shit on the sidelines, stormed down the court and picked up a technical foul as he screamed at the referees. Clearly, the Jazz players had no intention of getting a similar chewing out in the locker room at halftime, as they stormed back to trail by only two at halftime.
It was a rout (the other way) from there. Serge Ibaka, Oklahoma City’s third option, continued his underwhelming start to the season, shooting 2-of-13 from the field for only six points total. Ibaka is now shooting 45% from the field on the season — nine percentage points below his career average. Jeremy Lamb was the high point man for OKC with 19, but it took 15 shots to get there.
After Tuesday’s 98-81 loss, the Thunder now sit at 3-9 with only one road win to their name, and are expected to at least finish November without the services of Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook. The schedule is somewhat favorable (Denver, Utah, New York in the next week and a half), but after dropping a close home game to the Pistons on Friday, nothing seems to be a guarantee these days. Even if they go .500 in their six games, they’re staring 6-12 in the face at the beginning of December. And there’s still no guarantee their superstars will even be back at that point.
On the flip side, the Jazz didn’t win their fifth game last season until December 11th, so they’re showing signs of life as their rebuilding process chugs along. Young talent — including promising rookie Dante Exum (in limited minutes) — combined with Snyder’s fiery attitude, no longer makes them the easy out they’ve been over the last few seasons.
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