Lauri Markkanen scored 32 points and a lot of threes against the Chicago Bulls. The participation of the Finnish star in the match was at stake.
STT Sports,
Joel Sippola
Lauri Markkanen The Utah Jazz suffered their fifth consecutive loss in the NBA basketball league. Utah lost at home to Markkanen’s former club, the Chicago Bulls, who pulled off a longer streak with a score of 114–107. Markkanen played in Chicago from 2017 to 2021 before being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers last summer.
The first half of the match was mostly under Utah’s control after the lead was at best 11 points. At the end of the third quarter, Chicago took the lead, which remained until the end of the game.
Before the match, Markkanen’s playing condition was a question mark, because Jazz said before the match on his Twitter account that Markkanen suffered from a contusion injury to his right knee.
The Finn who finally got on the field was the most effective player of the match with 32 points, which was his second best score this season. The match was Markkanen’s fifth this season in which he has scored at least 30 points.
Seven of the nine rebounds came on the defensive end, and Markkanen made one pass that led to the basket.
In the previous four matches, Markkanen’s hit accuracy was below the man’s average for the season, but now two out of three of the throws made by the Finn in game situations sank. Seven of the eleven three-pointers scored.
– It feels really good that sometimes the ball even goes into the basket, but it doesn’t really help if you don’t win. We have to do other things better at the same time and stay aggressive, Markkanen commented at the press conference after the game.
Utah, which has played 23 matches this season, has won 12 of its games. From the beginning of the season, the Jazz were at the top of the western division, but with the latest losses, they have fallen to the middle of the division.
– We played hard for the second day in a row. I’m proud of it. However, our defense let us down in the fourth quarter, Utah head coach Will Hardy upset, according to the NBA’s website.
Along with Markkanen, one of the team’s most important players Mike Conley was again missing from the lineup due to a knee injury.
The game against Chicago was Utah’s first of six home games.