First start for Brice Sensabaugh, a technical foul on an Bulls assistant coach and missed opportunity for the Jazz.

 

 

To say that the Utah Jazz were lacking in players for their Wednesday night matchup with the Chicago Bulls would be an understatement.

Due to the absence of Lauri Markkanen (right quad contusion), Walker Kessler (right foot sprain), Keyonte George (sickness), and Taylor Hendricks (toe sprain), the Jazz were forced to use a number of different lines, which included youngster Brice Sensabaugh making his first career start.

The bad news is that the Jazz suffered a somewhat dramatic defeat, falling short 119-117. However, as he was touted coming out of Ohio State, Sensabaugh acquitted himself well and continues to demonstrate that there might be more to his game than just being a bucket-getter.

Jazz head coach Will Hardy stated, “Brice did a pretty good job, had a couple of nice drives with some physicality, and was happy with his defensive rebounding tonight.” He has placed a lot of focus on taking part in all the activities that don’t result in points. In my opinion, he performed admirably on defense overall. Brice is putting up a lot of effort in his play, learning a lot from us, and, in my opinion, demonstrating his capacity for quick learning—as in, being able to pick things up during a game.

Sensabaugh finished with a double-double of 12 rebounds and 15 points.

A little back-and-forth appeared on the sidelines, and then Chicago player Torrey Craig, who was hurt, got involved. Bulls assistant coach Chris Fleming intervened in the altercation and made contact with John Collins, who had appeared to step in to defend Sexton and disperse the growing mob.

Things broke up, as they always do in these kinds of circumstances, after some shoving and yelling. However, in all the NBA fracas, I have never witnessed an assistant coach yelling and putting hands on a player.

Fleming, Collins, and Craig were all given technical fouls. Clarkson’s technical free throw knotted the score for the Jazz after Collins and Craig’s fouls cancelled each other out. DeRozan then made the free throw, giving the Bulls a two-point advantage off the first personal foul that started the bizarre sideline incident.