After an up-and-down start to the season that saw them primarily coming off the bench, Jazz guards Talen Horton-Tucker and Collin Sexton have been inserted into the starting lineup with Keyonte George and Jordan Clarkson injured and are playing their best basketball of the season, writes Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune.
Horton-Tucker has averaged 20.3 points and 6.5 assists in his past four games (three starts), with a shooting line of .484/.389/.824. Sexton, meanwhile, has put up 25.6 PPG and 4.0 APG in his past five, with a scorching-hot shooting line of .506/.406/.900.
The results when the two guards have shared the court have also been more encouraging as of late. In Utah’s first 23 games of the season, the team had a -6.3 net rating in the 267 minutes that Horton-Tucker and Sexton played together. In the past five games, the duo has spent 91 minutes on the court together and the team has a +10.8 net rating in that time.
“I get a kick out of the dynamic between the two,” head coach Will Hardy said, per Larsen. “I mean, they argue like brothers when they’re on the bench. It’s really funny. I come back to the timeouts frequently and hear them going back and forth in a spirited, healthy way about whatever’s going on on the court.”
“It’s actually kind of funny, because everybody, like, my family and my teammates, they’re always thinking me and Collin are arguing. We’re never arguing,” Horton-Tucker clarified. “We’re both trying to help each other. If I see something that he did wrong, he sees something that I could help him with, he’s always going to come tell me. Collin’s whole makeup is, like, intense. You never know if he’s yelling or just having a regular conversation with you.”
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- With Jamal Murray back in his home country of Canada on Wednesday night to face the Raptors, Eric Koreen of The Athletic takes a look at how the Nuggets guard has established himself as a star without ever earning an All-Star berth, while Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca notes (via Twitter) that Murray reiterated his desire to play for the Canadian national team at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
- An overlooked part of the three-team blockbuster that sent Damian Lillard to Milwaukee, Trail Blazers rookie Toumani Camara has emerged as a regular starter and a reliable defender for his new team, according to Jason Quick of The Athletic, who says that Camara’s inclusion in that deal was one of the final sticking points between Portland and Phoenix. The fact that Camara is thriving in Portland is all the more improbable given that he and head coach Chauncey Billups agree that his pre-draft workout with the Blazers wasn’t great.“He didn’t look very good. He really didn’t. … He didn’t stand out,” Billups said. “… I can remember watching summer league, one of the first games, and … the kid is good! He’s really good. Active. Tough as heck. I didn’t really see that in the workout, which is why I always say you can’t put too much into a workout. You have to actually see a guy play (five-on-five).”
- Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe, who missed the second half of Tuesday’s game due to a hip issue, has been ruled out for Thursday’s game vs. Washington due to right adductor soreness, according to the team (Twitter link). It’s unclear whether Sharpe will miss additional time beyond tonight’s contest.
THT looks older than Jeff Green out there. He has aged terribly though is definitely on a nice little hot streak.
Yeah, he barely turned 23 and the old man has already been in the league 5 years. You can tell he’s losing his hair already. Might need a LeBron headband sooner than later. =)
But seriously, it happens to some people early. My brother was very bald by 21. While today I still have a full head of thick hair. He used lots of hair products growing up and cared too much about his hair while I never did either.
God is real. Otherwise, why would one of his trials match so well to what he needed to stay more humble? =)
THT and Sexton are scrubs being given the green light by the coaching staff. Their apparent scoring binge comes at the expense of demoting Markkanen to a No. 3 option most of the time, which results in ugly losses.
Over their last five games Sexton and THT chucked up 87 FGA and 66 FGA, respectively, while Markkanen only got 76 FGA during the same number of appearances. Add the fact that Clarkson averages 15.2 FGA in 2023/24 against Markkanen’s 16.3 FGA and it becomes obvious that Danny Boy and Hardy are using the scrubs as tank commanders in order to torpedo any team progress and success.
If Ainge doesn’t get rid of THT, Sexton and Clarkson at the trade deadline, his already derailed rebuilt will mutate into a full-blown mess.
You just made a case that Ainge is doing it all right and wrong … the jazz already blew it many times over and over in less then two years.
It will take patience now as the jazz went from a dangerous gobert spida era to the unexpected.
The team is young and that means growth pains as they will turn it over way too much to be relevant.
Still fun to watch and perhaps see new stars ⭐️
This type of rebuild is for those that like to be gm and trade players.
Giving up conley was a mistake as he truly had the character and ability to mentor the youth.
Atleast the wolves can reward them.
Sexton has looked really good these past few games or so. He looks so much more confident. That confidence has translated to the team as well. Everybody is playing better. But most importantly, he’s passing the ball more and that’s also infectious.
I do like Sexton and THT’s dynamic together, as an experiment. I just think Keyonte runs the team better. Sexton can remain at SG for now.
We still haven’t seen Keyonte starting with Markkanen yet. Should be fun!