Utah Jazz coach Will Hardy admitted his team’s performance in their 147-97 thrashing by the Dallas Mavericks was “horrendous”.
The Jazz lost by 50 points or more for the third time in the calendar year, tying an NBA record, as Luka Doncic tore them apart, scoring 40 points and notching 11 rebounds and 10 assists across three periods.
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Hardy, whose side have won just seven of 21 games this season, said: “That was an absolutely horrendous performance from start to finish. I really don’t know how to describe that game.
“Credit to the Mavericks – they shot the ball very well, especially early, kind of continued it throughout. Shooting 45% from three, they made 22 threes tonight, which is tough to overcome. Haven’t been disappointed in our team very often this year, but I think tonight, from the beginning of the game…
“It’s hard to place what the reason is, but it seemed like the Mavericks were moving at a different pace than we were from start to finish.
“Defensively, it was poor. When you play guys like Luka and Kyrie [Irving], you expect there to be six to seven shots made in the game where there is nothing to say about them other than they’re both awesome players.
“I thought early in the game, our offense was actually pretty good. We did a good job keeping it simple, finding the corner. Then, as the game went on, they continued to make shots – it puts a lot of pressure on every offensive possession, and that’s when our turnovers started to hurt us.”
welp, it’s over. pic.twitter.com/r4dsYrxrgR
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) December 7, 2023
Doncic’s dominance saw him record the 60th triple-double of his career to move past Larry Bird into ninth on the all-time list
“Pretty amazing,” said Doncic. “I don’t know what to say, honestly. We all know who Larry Bird was, so it’s pretty special.”
