Our preview asked whether the Jazz bigs could keep Yves Missi off the offensive glass. Missi played 9:17: he hurt his left knee in the second quarter and, per AP, "had to be helped to the locker room. He missed the rest of the game and will be re-evaluated Saturday." The preview's matchup lasted part of a half. Our test number held anyway: 9 Pelicans offensive rebounds, under our line of 10, and the Jazz won the offensive glass 14-9 and the boards 42-37. The big we'll remember from Friday is the one who had just lost his starting job.
After Memphis, Will Hardy put Ace Bailey in the starting five in place of Jaxson Hayes. Hayes came off the bench, scored 17 on 7-of-8, played the entire fourth quarter and finished a team-high plus-9. From 4:54 on, Hardy closed with Keyonte George, Darryn Peterson, Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Hayes, which is Wednesday's starting five. Our take: the new starting five hasn't answered anything yet. The old one won the home opener at the end, and Bailey's spot is still an open question.
The pick was Jazz 116, Pelicans 111: right winner, margin off by four. We also said turnovers creeping back toward 18 would make us wrong. They hit 18 on the nose, the Pelicans got 15 steals, and we won anyway. We'll take the win, not the credit.
Up 15, and the starters gave it back
UtahJazz.com had the new five at a plus-28.6 net rating in just under 11 minutes before the break, and Bailey's pass set up Peterson's dunk at 1:25 of the second quarter for a 62-50 lead.
Markkanen's three at 11:03 of the third made it 67-52, our biggest lead. The starting five stayed on for the next five minutes, and New Orleans outscored it 21-7. Williamson's dunk at 6:04 made it 74-73, and at 6:02 Hardy called timeout and sent in Hayes and Kyle Filipowski. Dejounte Murray's layup made it 74-75, a 23-7 run by UtahJazz.com's count. Then @YutaJazz00 posted on X: "One half later and I'm still not liking the current lineup." The Pelicans won the third 38-24 and led 90-86 going into the fourth.
All five starters finished in the minus column: Markkanen -6, Jackson Jr. -5, Bailey -3, George -1, Peterson -1. The bench was plus-21 across five players, led by Hayes at +9 and Svi Mykhailiuk at +8, and scored 40. One r/UtahJazz commenter in the net points thread said the "Bench unit has had to stabilize meltdowns from the starters in the 3rd in both games." Memphis's third quarter went the same way.
Hayes played the whole fourth
Hayes, who started his career in New Orleans, sat at 2:21 of the third with the Jazz down 80-83. He came back to open the fourth and never sat again. His alley-oop at 8:14 of the fourth made it 98-99 and earned him a technical for hanging on the rim; Saddiq Bey's free throw made it 98-100. From there the Jazz went 11-4, and at 4:54 it was 109-104, with the closing five on the floor.
"He handled the adjustment to the rotation great and really helped us win the game tonight," Hardy said postgame, per UtahJazz.com.
Jackson Jr. was the other big who closed it: 24 points, 10 rebounds (4 offensive), 3 blocks and 8-of-10 at the line, with four fouls two nights after fouling out in Memphis. His three at 2:56 made it 116-111.
Zion Williamson made four straight free throws, Jackson made two, and after a George turnover, Williamson's dunk at 1:32 made it 118-117. Murray's layup at 1:01 put New Orleans up 119-118. Trey Murphy III fouled Peterson with 50.5 seconds left, and our rookie made both for a career-high 15, in his second NBA game. George drew a charge on Williamson at 0:35.9, the Pelicans challenged, and the call stood. Jackson missed a floater at 0:14.3, and Murray missed a 20-foot pull-up at 0:01.4.
A one-point game at the Delta Center came down to a 20-footer, and this time the other guy missed. Some of us have waited since 1998 for that one.
The Jazz had 31 assists to 18 and made 13 threes to 8, and they needed all of it: New Orleans shot 50.6 percent to our 48.8 and won the paint 64-54, per UtahJazz.com. Tony Jones of The Athletic warned on X early that the new lineup had better "score 125 because it's gonna be free eats" at the rim. We scored 120, which was enough.
Keep starting Bailey, but he has to earn the finish
It was Bailey's first start, and Hardy gave his reasons: Bailey's energy and perimeter defense, and, about the bench and Isaiah Collier, "I also think Jaxson is a good pairing with Isaiah." Bailey shot 2 of 8 (1 of 6 from three) for 6 points, but he grabbed 7 rebounds and was minus-3 in 21:42. Our opener recap said swapping a center for a wing wouldn't close a rebounding gap. It worked on the boards Friday, but New Orleans lost its starting center in the second quarter, and one night against a short Pelicans frontcourt doesn't settle it. Our "Not yet" from Wednesday was wrong for one night, not for good.
Bailey checked out at 4:15 of the third, with the Jazz down 77-78, and sat the last 16:15. We haven't seen Hardy say why. "Gotta feel for Ace, high of starting and then completely benched to close," one fan wrote in the r/UtahJazz game thread. We do. We'd still start him; he was part of why the first half went so well. What Friday settled is the closing group, and Bailey isn't in it yet.
The Lakers come to the Delta Center on Sunday at 3 p.m. MT (schedule). Does Bailey start again, and if the third quarter goes sideways, how fast does Hayes come in? And the turnovers, 18 in both games, have to come down.
Take note.
Sources: NBA.com box score and play-by-play for player lines, team totals, the runs, the substitutions and the finish, with NBA.com's live play-by-play for who drew the charge; UtahJazz.com takeaways (Eric Spyropoulos) for Hardy's postgame quotes, the first-half lineup rating, bench points, paint points and the 23-7 run; AP's recap via ESPN for Missi's injury; r/UtahJazz game thread and net points thread; Tony Jones (The Athletic) on X; @YutaJazz00 on X.