Jazz 125, Hawks 119: Biggest Winners & Losers

The Utah Jazz stay on the winning track.

The Utah Jazz continued to steamroll through their opponents with an impressive 125-119 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night. The Jazz showed no signs of fatigue despite playing their third game in four nights and traveling across the country over two time zones. 

Who were the biggest winners and losers from Utah's fourth straight win? Let's break it down. 

Winner(s): Malik Beasley & Walker Kessler

Beasley and Walker, two Atlanta natives, bussed over 30 friends and family to watch them play on Wednesday night, and they didn't disappoint. Beasley made note of it in his post-game interview with Holly Rowe.

"We got about 30 people here together total, so it’s good to get a win in our hometown," Beasley said. 

The NBA veteran also dished on Utah's resilience to fight back when the team was down 10 points in the third quarter. 

“We knew they were going to make a run and they did," Beasley told Rowe. "We kept telling each other that’s their run and that’s it… and that was it.”

Kessler finished the game with 12 points and was perfect from the field, going 6-for-6, while Beasley logged 29 minutes off the bench scoring 18 points on six three-pointers. The Jazz hit a home run on acquiring both players in the Rudy Gobert trade.

Loser: Colin Sexton

Sexton has been on a roll during Utah’s early season surge, but he’ll want to put the Hawks game in the rearview mirror. The Sixth Man of the Year candidate only scored three points without logging a rebound or an assist. 

Sexton has been on the court to close out games as of late, but head coach Will Hardy went with the hot hand as Beasley finished against the Hawks. Hardy made the right choice as Beasley hit some clutch three-pointers to help seal the game.

Winner: Jazz Conditioning

The Jazz can credit their win against the Hawks to lighting up the scoreboard with a season-high 40-point fourth quarter. Fans can give credit to Coach Hardy and Utah’s conditioning program. 

The Jazz looked a step ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers and Hawks this week, even after playing their fourth game in six nights. The Jazz appear to be in better condition than their opponents and also have a deeper bench. 

This bodes well for the grind that lies ahead, but Utah can take a deep breath with a two-day rest before its next game on Saturday.

Loser: Minnesota GM Tim Connelly

Kessler and Beasley contributing to a Jazz win shed more light on Danny Ainge fleecing the Minnesota Timberwolves in the blockbuster trade this summer. Let's do a quick review.

Timberwolves received:

• Rudy Gobert

Jazz received:

• Malik Beasley
• Patrick Beverley (traded to Lakers)
• Leandro Bolmaro
• Walker Kessler (No. 22 pick in 2022d raft)
• Jarred Vanderbilt
• 2023 first-round pick
• 2025 first-round pick
• 2026 pick swap
• 2027 first-round pick
• 2029 first-round pick

Minnesota GM Tim Connelly was just hired a couple of months prior to the trade, but the exchange most likely will cost the young executive his job the way the Timberwolves are trending.

Loser: NBA preseason power rankings

Utah continues to show the media pundits how little they know. ESPN had Utah pegged at No. 25 to start the season. 

As it stands, the Jazz sit atop the Western Conference at 10-3 and are the No. 1 seed. Starting power forward Lauri Markkanen credited the disrespect as why the Jazz are playing with a chip on their shoulder in an interview with Shams Charania of The Athletic. 

“We use that as our motivation and try to keep this thing going and stack up more wins and prove people wrong," Markkanen told Charania. 

In the media’s defense, nobody saw this coming, but we’ll see whether the Jazz can keep on the winning track using the naysayers as motivation. 

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