When the winless Utah Jazz play their second game in a back-to-back set Tuesday night in Salt Lake City against the Sacramento Kings, they will need to move past more than just their third loss of the season. The lowlight of Utah’s 110-102 defeat on Monday in Dallas occurred in the third quarter when second-year forward Taylor Hendricks was stretchered off the floor with a horrific leg injury. Reports indicate that Hendricks sustained a fractured right fibula and a dislocated ankle.
Utah will attempt to regroup quickly after this tough loss. Six Jazz players scored in double figures, led by Collin Sexton’s 23 points. Lauri Markkanen and Keyonte George each added 17 points, while Walker Kessler recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Monday’s performance was much more competitive than their previous game, a 127-86 blowout against Golden State. It followed a narrow 126-124 defeat in their season opener against Memphis.
The Jazz’s 0-3 start is their worst since the 2013-14 season when they lost their first eight games.
Meanwhile, Sacramento avoided extending their own losing streak, bouncing back from narrow losses to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers with a 111-98 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday. De’Aaron Fox scored 24 points to become just the fifth player in Kings’ franchise history to surpass 10,000 career points, joining legends like Oscar Robertson and Nate “Tiny” Archibald.
Fox, who has spent his entire career with the Kings since being selected fifth overall in the 2017 NBA Draft, is averaging 22.3 points this season, down slightly from his career-best 26.6 points per game last season. Fox has been sharing offensive duties with veteran DeMar DeRozan, who has scored at least 23 points in each of his first three games as a King. DeRozan has been particularly effective at getting to the foul line, hitting 9 of 10 free throws against Portland and 24 of 28 overall this season.
Domantas Sabonis followed his triple-double in Saturday’s loss to the Lakers with a 16-point, 13-rebound performance against the Trail Blazers, also dishing out seven assists.
Sacramento will aim to continue its dominance over Utah, seeking a fifth consecutive win against the Jazz dating back to the 2022-23 season. The Kings swept last season’s three-game series and won three of four games the previous year.
