Will Hardy Sounds Off Takeaways on Jazz's Preseason Loss vs. Trail Blazers

The Utah Jazz took one on the chin in their final preseason game of the year.

Oct 18, 2024; Portland, Oregon, USA; Utah Jazz forward Drew Eubanks (15) grabs a rebound during the second half against Portland Trail Blazers center Donovan Clingan (23) at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images / Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images

The Utah Jazz couldn't finish off their preseason with a win on Friday night, as the team fell in a pretty hard loss against the Portland Trail Blazers, 86-124, taking the Jazz to a 4-2 preliminary record before Tuesday's regular-season opener.

Will Hardy spoke after during his post-game presser with the media, where he started off by keeping things blunt about the Jazz's performance.

"That was not very good," Hardy said. "I think, overall, the team has had three weeks of camp, and we've had a couple of bad days. We haven't had many bad days. We've had one practice that we weren't super pleased with, and we had tonight's game."

The Jazz couldn't quite get it done on either side of the ball. Brice Sensabaugh led the team with 13 points in 23 minutes played off the bench, while the Trail Blazers had the leading scorer of the game with Rayan Rupert's 20.

Despite the loss, Hardy still held optimism for what this team has in store for the start of next week's regular season.

"Overall, we have a pretty good framework with this team for how we can play well going into the regular season," Hardy continued. "It would be very easy to be emotional about tonight's game and the way it felt. I do think that there is a little bit of training camp fatigue right now, where this is our sixth preseason game, and everybody's sort of chomping at the bit to get the games that count-- but that doesn't excuse some of the things that we just have to clean up immediately."

Two glaring factors that stood out in the Jazz's loss were their difference in turnovers and offensive rebounds. The Jazz couldn't quite iron out their ball security throughout the night, giving up 22 total turnovers to Portland's 13, while they also got outrebounded on the offensive glass 20 to 12. Needless to say, it's two aspects that Utah will need to have more consistency in to have a shot at being competitive in a tough Western Conference.

"I'm glad that we have this little break before opening night," Hardy said, "Because we'll be able to get a couple of good practices in, some film sessions. The guys will be able to have their bodies recover a little bit, but we obviously need to get to work. The part that I'm happy about, is that through six preseason games and three weeks of camp, we do have a framework and an understanding of how this team can play well and play good team basketball."

The Jazz will have a few days to recoup before their home opener gets underway on Tuesday, October 23rd when the Ja Morant-led Memphis Grizzlies travel to Delta Center.

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