Lauri Markkanen broke the 40-point barrier for the third time in his NBA career.
Was on the sidelines in the Utah Jazz’s previous game due to back problems Lauri Markkanen returned to the NBA floor with a bang as he poured in 40 points against Portland. However, Markkanen’s tough evening speech did not help Utah win, as the visiting team Portland was better by 127–115.
It is the third game of at least 40 points in Markkanen’s NBA career. Suomalaištahti’s point record is 49 points scored against Houston at the beginning of the year.
Utah started the match promisingly and led after the first quarter with points 34–29. During the match, however, the game turned to Portland.
Utah head coach Will Hardy gave Portland effusive praise and berated his team’s defensive play.
– Kudos to Portland, they deserved to win. They played much better than us. We have to do a good job defending the basket. We were late all night trying to stop the ball from getting there. “We looked a step slow in everything we did defensively,” Hardy said, according to Utah’s website.
Against Portland, Markkanen grabbed 12 rebounds. It is his third double-double in the previous four games. He has scored a total of 28 double-doubles this season.
The balance of Markkanen’s situational throws was 14/23. 4/12 of them were triplets.
Markkanen was the point king of the match. Portland’s number one star had scored 30 points Damian Lillard.
Utah has managed to win four of their last ten matches. Utah plays next on the night between Friday and Saturday Finnish time, when it faces Milwaukee.