The Utah Jazz Continue To Make Zero Sense After Pulling Off One Of The Biggest Prayers Of The Season To Beat The Warriors

Melissa Majchrzak. Getty Images.

One of the best early storylines of the NBA season has to be the pesky Jazz. The entire basketball world was under the impression they were going to lead the charge for Victor Wembanyama, and then the season start and they simply could not stop winning. Here we are over a quarter of the way through the season and the Utah Jazz are 15-12 and currently sit in the 6th spot out West. Who can honestly say they saw that coming? Nobody. Not any talking head, not any fan, shit not even Danny Ainge. 

You can argue whether this is actually a good thing or not, but that's a topic for a different blog. The purpose of this blog is to talk about one of the most improbable comebacks of the entire season coming via a team that nobody thought would be any good. 

For 47 minutes and 47 seconds, the Warriors looked like they were going to cruise to a much needed win despite Steph taking the night off due to some ankle soreness and both Draymond and Wiggins also missing the game. Jordan Poole was great in his absence (36 points), and Jonathan Kuminga was awesome with 24 off the bench on 10-13 shooting, all they had to do was not fuck up the final 13 seconds.

So what did they do? They fucked up the final 13 seconds

When you're up 4 points with 13 seconds left, it's VERY hard to lose that game. You just can't completely melt down and you're golden. Unfortunately, that's exactly what the Warriors did. It started with a brutal mistake by Klay on the defensive end. I'm not really sure what he was thinking at this moment

Two points here literally means nothing. Let the Jazz take the layup, they'll have to foul and you can ice the game at the line.

What happened to see man/see ball? Instead, Klay did not pay any attention to his man which led to that wide open Malik Beasley three. Credit him for making that shot in that moment, but man what a terrible mistake from Klay in a huge spot. 

No worries though, they still had a lead with 3 seconds left. All you have to do is inbound the ball and not turn it over. You know the Jazz are going to try and poke it loose before fouling. Just hold onto the ball and you're golden. Unfortunately, that's not what the Warriors did. Instead, Jordan Poole lost the ball and the rest was history. 

Talk about a wave of emotion for both sides. There's something about this Jazz team that doesn't quite make sense. It's as if they've been playing this whole season with some sort of basketball magic. It's not like their players stink, but the way they are fitting together is pretty insane. Shoutout Will Hardy who is proving to be one hell of a coach, but it feels like this team plays hard as shit and the Basketball Gods reward them for it. I mean a 4 point deficit with 13 seconds is a loss probably 99.9% of the time. The Jazz were 1-718 when trailing by 4 points in under 10 seconds. That's how big of a prayer this was.

We maybe should have known something crazy was on the horizon the second Jordan Clarkson got tossed. He went from totally calm to squaring up Kuminga in about 0.1 seconds which was very funny

and who knows maybe this gave the Jazz an extra jolt of energy to pull off something crazy. You never know what play can help turn a game and it's hard to argue that one didn't.

For the Warriors, this is as bad a loss as you can have. Not only that, but it now brings them to just 2-11 on the road on the season. At 13-13, this team is in the 10th spot out West with the Wolves right on their heels. Shit, the Thunder are just 1.5 games back. It doesn't exactly seem like the teams that were a surprise to start the year are going to drastically drop off like the Kings or Jazz, and other teams like the Clippers/Blazers/Mavs aren't going anywhere either. I'm not saying the Warriors are going to end the season in the Lottery, but they do have to be careful. There aren't as many layup games in the league this year in either conference and while things are still early they aren't that early. Especially for the defending champs.

But this is the beauty of the NBA and why I keep telling you all to watch every night. There's a good chance you'll end up seeing something crazy and this Jazz prayer was the latest example. Both the Jazz and the Kings are 3 games over .500 right now. Just think about that for a second.