The Utah Jazz were in the middle of mounting a major comeback over the Golden State Warriors in the fourth quarter of their Thursday night contest. They were down by 18 to start the period, and yet with less than 10 seconds to go in the contest, the Jazz had trimmed the lead to one and they even had the ball with the chance to take the lead.
However, what ensued for the Jazz was a tragedy of errors. After Lauri Markkanen missed a semi-open corner three, John Collins was able to retrieve an offensive board, taking advantage of the Warriors' lack of size. However, the Dubs defenders converged quickly on Collins. As a result, Collins became flustered and overthrew a pass that was meant for Keyonte George, giving the ball back to Golden State.
This is an insane way for an otherwise amazing game to end.
— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) February 16, 2024
The Warriors then proceeded to make two free throws courtesy of Stephen Curry, and the Jazz were unable to send the game overtime after Collin Sexton missed a wide-open triple, sealing a 140-137 loss for Utah. Now, all that's left for head coach Will Hardy is to ponder about the what-ifs, especially on the crucial play where Collins threw the ball into the stands.
“When John got that offensive rebound and pivoted out, I thought the ball was going out to Collin [Sexton] at the top of the key,” Hardy said, per Ben Anderson of KSL Sports. “That’s not the way that it worked out so I’ll get to spend the next five days thinking about if there was a half-second there that I could have called timeout.”
Indeed, when John Collins retrieved the ball, it took him about 2.5 seconds before he let go of the basketball. So Will Hardy definitely would have had time to call a timeout. But the Jazz head coach said that he saw Collin Sexton wide open at the top of the three-point arc (he was) and had he called a timeout, they would have missed the opportunity to get the ball to a red-hot shooter's hands.
Nonetheless, Collins isn't exactly the best playmaker in the world, so perhaps it was the best call for the Jazz to ask for a timeout to draw up a play. The play they drew up on the final possession was a good one anyway, so they should just chalk this loss up to inexperience even though the manner in which they lost the game will not sit well for them entering the All-Star break.
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