Our Pelicans recap gave Friday to the old five, and we were too generous. Keyonte George, Darryn Peterson, Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jaxson Hayes were on the floor together from 4:54 of the fourth, up 109-104. New Orleans outscored them 15-11 from there, and we won by one. The new five, with Ace Bailey in for Hayes, opened the third up 62-52. On the couch, the next six minutes felt like Memphis all over again. They ended with a George bad pass and a Zion Williamson dunk that cut it to 74-73, and we were yelling for a timeout well before Will Hardy called one at 6:02. That's minus-9 in six minutes, by our count from NBA.com's play-by-play.
Neither five has proved a thing. Sunday answers whether Hardy's new starting five can get through a third quarter. We couldn't have drawn a worse team to ask.
The Lakers win the quarter we lose
We've lost both third quarters, 28-34 in Memphis and 24-38 Friday. That's 52-72, minus-20, which is worse than our minus-19 for the whole season. The Lakers went the other way: 36-16 against Golden State and 39-26 against the Clippers, 75-42 over two games. Two games into a 2-0 start, they're scoring 126 a game and shooting 57.5 percent, second and first in the league per ESPN.
The turnovers are a lot of it. By our count from the play-by-play, 14 of our 36 turnovers have come in third quarters. In their two third quarters, the Lakers forced 19 and gave the ball away five times.
The rest of the night, they're sloppy too. Luka Dončić has 17 turnovers in two games, 6 against the Warriors and 11 against the Clippers, and the Lakers had 18 and 21 as a team, 24th in the league per ESPN. Our 18 a game ranks 20th. Both teams throw it away. The Lakers also pick it up, at 12 steals a game (6th), and we're 28th at 6.5.
Walker was everywhere
The other problem is in the middle. Walker Kessler starts at center for the Lakers and has 48 points on 22-of-26 shooting: 26 on 12-of-12 against the Warriors, then 22 on 10-of-14 with 6 of his 8 blocks against the Clippers. Good luck, Walker, and thanks again for the picks. We'd just like the 12-of-12 nights to happen somewhere else.
JJ Redick said after the Clippers game that "it just felt like Walker was everywhere in that third," per Silver Screen and Roll. The Lakers won that third by 13.
"I think Ace gives us a huge lift," Hardy said of the change after Friday's win, per the Deseret News (Na'Andre Emerson). His reason for leaving Hayes in to finish it was the rim: "I felt like late in the game, trying to keep Zion off the rim and then rebounding was going to be our biggest deciding factor to win the game." Starting Bailey means one fewer center, and Sunday's rim problem is a center making 85 percent of his shots.
There's an opening when Kessler sits. Connor Moreno wrote at Silver Screen and Roll that the Clippers "were getting whatever they wanted in the non-Kessler minutes," and Kevon Looney was minus-7 and minus-9 in the two box scores. Those should be Hayes minutes.
Fans are split on Bailey too. "Ace defense alone on the perimeter warrants him starting," one r/UtahJazz commenter wrote in the Game 2 overreactions thread. In the net points thread, another wanted the opposite: "Ace needs to come off the bench and lead the 2nd unit."
We're with the first one. Start our second-year wing again. The closing five didn't earn the job in the last 4:54 any more than the new five lost it in the third, and in the first half the new five was plus-7 in its 11 and a half minutes, by our count from the play-by-play. If the third goes sideways again, though, Hardy will have his answer, and so will we.
Tip is 3 p.m. MT Sunday at the Delta Center, on KJZZ and KSL 97.5 FM (schedule). The Jazz are 1-1; the Lakers are 2-0 after beating the Clippers 125-117 Friday. Both teams had Saturday off, so neither is on a back-to-back. The official NBA injury report from 6 p.m. MDT Saturday has Jusuf Nurkić out, plus Harrison Ingram and Trey Alexander out on G League assignment as two-way players. Cameron Carr and Adou Thiero are out for the Lakers, and Kessler is listed available. No starters were announced when we read the reports at 6:20 p.m. MDT Saturday, so these are projected: Friday's five for us, and Dončić, Austin Reaves, Matisse Thybulle, Ziaire Williams and Kessler, who started both Lakers games.
Our pick is Lakers 121, Jazz 113. Nobody is shooting better than the Lakers right now, and the center we traded is 22-of-26. We're 28th in steals, so we aren't built to cash in Dončić's giveaways, and a third quarter like either of our first two would put this one away. In the recap we'll check the new five's plus-minus in its third-quarter minutes, and the third-quarter score.
What would make us wrong: the Jazz winning the third quarter. Do that against this team and the new five has its answer, and we'll happily eat the pick.
Take note.
Sources: NBA.com box scores for Jazz-Grizzlies, Pelicans-Jazz, Warriors-Lakers and Clippers-Lakers for quarter scores, player lines and team turnovers; NBA.com play-by-play for the same games (Pelicans-Jazz) for our lineup and turnover counts; ESPN team stats for the two-game ranks; the official NBA injury report, 8 p.m. ET Saturday; Deseret News (Na'Andre Emerson) for Hardy's quotes; Silver Screen and Roll (Connor Moreno) for Redick's quote and the non-Kessler minutes; r/UtahJazz Game 2 overreactions and net points threads.