The Utah Jazz looked like a different team tonight in their 138-133 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Easily the best player on the floor tonight was Lauri Markkanen, who scored 26 points in just 25 minutes on the floor with some insane shooting (9/12 from the field, 2/2 from three, and 6/6 from the free throw line). Markkanen showed his ability to score in isolation along with with his patented spot-up shooting and floor running. That ability to punish mismatches is going to be huge for the Jazz. They don’t currently have an all-NBA player on the roster, although Markkanen likely changes that this year, but they do have high-level rotation players from 1-10.