Will Hardy Gets Real on Jazz's 107-144 Blowout Loss vs. Clippers

It was a catastrophically bad night for the Utah Jazz on Monday, as they traveled to face the Los Angeles Clippers in what would ultimately be a 107-144 loss to take this team down to their 20th of the season, and their third-straight loss in three contests.

The Jazz were hoping to finally lift to their 6th victory on the season, yet James Harden laid those aspirations to rest. It was one of those days for the former MVP, as he lit up the stat sheet with 41 points on seven three-pointers, paired with one rebound and six assists in just 31 minutes played. He may be 35, but he proved to have more than enough juice left in the tank to be a threat on any given night.

After the game, third-year head coach Will Hardy sounded off on what ended up as one of the Jazz's worst losses of the season.

"Just a lot of mistakes on the ball," Hardy said after the loss. "We fouled them too much. James [Harden] is a hell of a player and a scorer. He got it going from three, but the free throws are really where he hurts you. Turnovers, going into the game, we said this was going to be the emphasis and just [had] a lot of sloppy play with the ball. The game was really decided in the first quarter is what it comes down to."

It's hard to argue against Hardy's evaluation. The Jazz fell 20-44 after the results of the first quarter, effectively burying any hopes of Utah mustering any chance at a comeback. Paired with the Clippers shooting a collective 59.1% from the field and 53.8% from three on 21 makes, it's difficult for any team to come out with a win in those circumstances.

However, despite an uninspiring performance in the first of a five-game road trip, Coach Hardy still has confidence in his group, and even added a bit of wisdom in his presser for the team to pick up.

"The message to the team in a time like this is: we all get judged a lot, but we are ultimately going to be judged when things don't go our way," Hardy stated. "The first quarter was a really, really, bad quarter of basketball in a lot of ways. I was proud that the team continued to compete throughout the night. Now it's about them keeping their heads up, pulling their shoulders back, and continuing to act like a team. It's easy to be a good teammate, friend, brother, son, husband, boyfriend, all of those things when things are going great, but ultimately we'll find out who we really are when it's not going our way."

"The most important thing to me is that our team continues to carry themselves as a team in this moment," Hardy continued. "We stick together. We win together. We lose together, and we get back to work tomorrow and try to continue to improve as a group."

Hardy and the Jazz will have a two-day hiatus before they return to the grind on Thursday when traveling to face the 11-16 Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena.

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