​Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy coaches during an NBA game against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026.
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Tess Crowley, Deseret News
I promise the Utah Jazz are trying to win games this season, even if it didn’t look like it Saturday afternoon.Utah suffered one of its worst performances of the young season in front of the Jazz faithful, falling 112-90 to the Portland Trail Blazers at the Delta Center. The Jazz never really found their footing, as they trailed by double-digits for a majority of the afternoon and failed to put together a meaningful run to make things interesting.Maybe it was the early 1 p.m. start. Maybe it was Halloween festivities on the mind. Maybe it was simply a bad day at the office. Whatever the reason, there wasn’t much to like about this one.Here are three takeaways from Utah’s loss.A Halloween horror show from the opening tipThe Jazz couldn’t have gotten off to a much worse start.Utah opened the afternoon shooting just 3 of 14 from the field and watched Portland put together a 17-0 run in the first quarter. Even more surprising was that coach Will Hardy didn’t call a timeout during the entire stretch.The Jazz eventually found some offense through their bench and managed to cut the deficit to nine points by the end of the first quarter, but the damage was already done.The second quarter wasn’t much better. The Blazers opened with another 7-0 run, and Utah struggled to generate anything consistently on the offensive end.Before the game, Hardy acknowledged that his young players have been dealing with some stress and uncertainty as they try to establish themselves in the league.“There’s sort of like an uncertainty of where they fit in the league,” Hardy said. “We’re very unproven, and I think that does lead to some anxiety in different moments.”He also mentioned that some of the poor body language fans have seen comes from frustration when the work players put in during practice and film sessions doesn’t immediately translate to wins.Saturday was a pretty clear example. There was a noticeable lack of energy throughout the game, whether it was the body language on the court or the quiet huddles during timeouts. The Jazz looked like a team that couldn’t find an answer.
Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George (3) reacts during an NBA game against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026.
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