Jazz Update Lauri Markanen's Status for Bucks Matchup
This late in the season, few NBA teams have escaped the injury bug unscathed. Such has been the fate of the Utah Jazz, who sit at 35-37 and in possession of the No. 12 seed in the Western Conference.
With the Eastern Conference-leading Milwaukee Bucks in town on Friday night, the Jazz will once again be down three starters, as All-Star Lauri Markkanen (hand), point guard Collin Sexton (hamstring), and shooting guard Jordan Clarkson have been ruled out. Depth player Johnny Juzang is questionable (hip).
Meanwhile, the Bucks are banged up, too. Ruled out are forward Khris Middleton (knee), center Meyers Leonard (calf), point guard Goran Dragic (knee), and point forward Jae Crowder (calf).
Jazz coach Will Hardy expressed guarded optimism on Markkanen's injury, following Wednesday's loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.
“Lauri takes a beating," Hardy said. "He plays a physical game. [He] took a couple hard falls. At this point in the season, I think any top player in the league is beat up. I mean, shoot, they’re all beat up at this point. It’s a physical sport and we’ve played a bunch of games now. 72 of them. So he’ll get looked at tomorrow and it’ll be a day-to-day thing, just kind of monitoring his body... But again, we’ll know more tomorrow.”
Hardy was speaking to the controversial play in which Markkanen was taken to the ground on a flagrant type 1 foul by Ryan Arcidiacono. The All-Star landed awkwardly on his wrist and grimaced with pain. He could be seen flexing his hand in the immediate aftermath but, according to Coach Hardy, fought to stay in the game.
“Like anything, they talked to him during the game and he said he was okay, but when your body cools down and he wakes up tomorrow, it could be a different story," Hardy said. "But in the game, he was holding it, but he said he was okay and wanted to keep going and see if we made a little run there.”
Jazz-Bucks tips off at 7 pm MDT on Friday night in the last of Utah's four-game homestand.
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