The Utah Jazz fell to the disharmony of their power men in the decisive moments.
Utah Jazz suffered a stinging overtime loss in basketball's NBA league, though Lauri Markkanen scored 22 points, the power spinner of the last rounds Collin Sexton 28 and a substitute Jordan Clarkson 33.
The Houston Rockets won at home 127–126, when the backs Sexton and Clarkson, who otherwise played perfectly, fell out of tune at the most important moments.
Markkanen gave the Jazz a 126-123 lead a minute and a half before the end of overtime, but it was the visitors' last basket and they squandered their lead.
Markkanen collected nine rebounds in the game and hit from beyond the arc worse than usual: he attempted a three-pointer 11 times but succeeded only three times.
One of those huds came 48 seconds before the end of the actual game time. Kolmonen would have already taken the Jazz to a five-point runaway and an almost certain victory, but Alperen Şengün tied the Rockets with two free throws 20 seconds before the buzzer.
The Turk was the most efficient player in the entire match with 37 points.
Throwing back man Collin Sexton's aggressive drives to the basket have been the most important parts of the Jazz's recent great streak. This time, too, he broke into the penalty spot in his trademark style in the last minute of overtime, but a seemingly easy jump shot from close range hit the crossbar. To top it all off, in the aftermath, Sexton entered the Rockets Jabari Smith Junior's to the bend of the ankle.
Smith Junior put the Rockets ahead by a point with his last free throw with 36 seconds left, and it was also the last basket of the game – even if it didn't seem like it at the time.
Şengün appeared to seal the win for the Rockets by making two free throws with nine seconds left. However, Jazz's hopes were rekindled when he failed twice.
The Jazz's super substitute Clarkson got to a shooting spot that looked more certain than Sexton just three seconds before the end – normally he succeeds from a similar spot nine times out of ten – but it wasn't even close.
The center also played their part in the ineffectiveness of the decision moments by Walker Kessler notoriously shaky free throws. In the last moments of the third period, he got a double try from the line once and twice in overtime, and each time he succeeded only with his first.
Jazz lost the first two sets and was at worst 17 points behind, but fought to even in the third set. Throughout the fourth period and overtime, the teams were almost neck and neck.
The victory would have been important for the Jazz, because before the match, the Rockets were only two wins behind it, aiming for a place in the playoff qualifiers from places 7–10. The Jazz are now ninth in the Western Conference and the Rockets are 11th.
The loss was the second in a row for the Jazz, but even in their previous match against the rock-hard Oklahoma City Thunder, they performed well, so a small backwater is not a cause for concern.
Before these two losses, the Jazz had won six games in a row. They have still won 12 of their last 16 matches.
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