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Utah Jazz happy to learn their tough lessons in a win

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Utah Jazz happy to learn their tough lessons in a win


After surviving a 154-148 overtime decision Wednesday against the now 3-31 Pistons, the Utah Jazz acknowledged how lucky they were.

Detroit shot 53.3% overall, made 19 of 41 tries from beyond the arc (46.3%), and buried a game-tying 3 at the regulation horn when Utah neglected to foul Alec Burks as he made his way up the court.

“You’d always rather win lessons after a win than a loss,” coach Will Hardy pointedly noted postgame.

He then rattled off a litany of miscues the team will hopefully learn from next time: breakdowns in coverages; failure to recognize personnel and locate shooters (as evidenced by Bojan Bogdanovic’s 15 3-point attempts); slippage in communication.

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Oh, and that failure of Collin Sexton to foul Burks after Lauri Markkanen made what looked like it’d be a game-winning 3 with 5.2 seconds to go and Detroit out of timeouts.

If the Jazz foul Burks as he races up the court, the game likely ends after 48 minutes. But because they didn’t and he made the shot, an extra five were on tap that could potentially have gone wrong.

Everyone acknowledged that the crazy circumstances of the situation contributed to the breakdown. And everyone conceded they were lucky that it didn’t wind up costing them a win.

“It’s something that we’ve worked on a good amount this year, it’s something that we’ve watched film on,” said Hardy. “But this is also a moment where, when the emotion is super-high and the building is going crazy, it’s easy to lose focus on the strategy part. Obviously, we would have liked to have fouled when Alec Burks ran the ball up the court.

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“… But this is part of learning how to win and learning how to become a really good team,” he added.

The players all took it to heart.

Asked when they realized they should have fouled, Markkanen quipped, “[When we] saw Will jumping on the sidelines. He was trying to yell, obviously, but we can’t hear anything. But we’ve just got to recognize it as players. That’s one big thing we can learn from.”

Sexton noted that he and Jordan Clarkson had a pretty immediate conversation about it.

“Me and JC was looking at it, and I’m like, ‘I should have fouled, right?’ And he was like, ‘No one told you,’” Sexton said. “But it’s all good — those are possessions and things that’s going to help us in the future.”

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Clarkson, who registered a game-high 36 points, including a couple huge buckets down the stretch in the fourth and again in OT, also took responsibility for the miscue.

“In those situations, you know, we’ve all gotta be communicating. And me being next to him in that play, I could have been screaming and telling him,” Clarkson said. “So I’ll take that on myself, just being one of the guys that’s older and has that experience to scream and say that.”

Everyone who spoke postgame acknowledged that it was not a banner effort.

Yes, they tied a franchise-record with their 154 points. No, they couldn’t really enjoy it, because they recognized that Detroit was also scoring at will for pretty much the entire game.

“Obviously it’s fun to score the ball, but I think it just puts a lot of pressure on our offense and execution. Because if we are not getting stops, we know that we have to get a score on the other end so it doesn’t get out of hand,” said Markkanen. “… We’ve definitely got to pick up the 148 part, but we’re happy with the 1-5-4.”

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He then noted Utah’s failure to properly account for the Pistons’ personnel in the game, letting 3-point shooters get off 3s, while chasing others off the line and, in turn, surrendering layups or free throws.

Still, it was Burks’ shot that most stuck with everyone.

Hardy used it as an opportunity to put some of the blame on his own shoulders, pointing out that he wound up second-guessing the information he prioritized conveying to the team in the timeout preceding Markkanen’s go-ahead bucket.

“This is where, as a coach, you always kick yourself: Could I have handled that 60 seconds differently? Could I have drawn our play and talked about multiple defensive scenarios?” Hardy said. “I don’t know. But that’s what I’ll be driving home thinking about. Is there things that I could have communicated better in that moment?”

And again, he gave his players some grace for not executing the situation ideally.

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“It all makes sense in a quiet film room. Like this, if we put the film up behind me right now, it would all make sense,” he said. “But you make a big 3 and there’s four seconds left and the whole building’s going crazy and everybody’s scrambling around trying to find their matchups and figure out what’s happening — those are learning moments for our team.”

The players acknowledged the difficulty of trying to perform perfectly amid such chaos, but the need to nevertheless be better at it.

“Yeah, it’s nothing like the game reps where you can work [it] out in practice; and obviously in the film room, you can pause the video and, ‘We should have done this and this,’” said Markkanen. “We will learn from it, but I think that’s a good experience for us to have in the game, so the next time we know what we should do.”

Sexton concurred.

“We’re gonna be in that same situation, we’ll see it soon — so we’ve got to just be prepared,” he said.

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Yeah, plenty of lessons to be learned.

But they feel a lot better with a 16-19 record than a 15-20 one.



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Golden Knights vs. Mammoth Game 1 prediction: NHL odds, picks, best bets for Stanley Cup Playoffs

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Golden Knights vs. Mammoth Game 1 prediction: NHL odds, picks, best bets for Stanley Cup Playoffs


The Utah Mammoth is going to be a trendy underdog pick in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Not only does Utah have the novelty of this being its first-ever appearance in the postseason going for it, but the Mammoth tick plenty of other boxes that punters look for in a dark horse. They’re fast, dynamic, and create plenty of quality scoring chances.

The only problem is that they are running into the Vegas Golden Knights, arguably the best defensive team in the Western Conference, in Round 1.

Vegas is a -170 favorite to win the series, and it is -152 to win Game 1 on Sunday night.

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Mammoth vs. Golden Knights odds, prediction

The Golden Knights had a weird season. Vegas started hot, took its foot off the pedal, and struggled to regain its form down the stretch. That led to a surprising coaching switch late in the campaign, but the move paid immediate dividends as John Tortorella led the Knights to a 7-0-1 record in his eight games behind the bench.

It should be noted that Tortorella benefited from an easy schedule since taking over in Vegas, but it’s hard to deny that the team looks sparked with a new voice in their ear.

What’s especially encouraging for Vegas is that its most glaring weakness, the play of goaltender Carter Hart, has started to trend in the right direction at the exact right time.

And Vegas is so good in its own zone that Hart doesn’t need to stand on his head to get the team over the line against Utah. If he’s just average, the Knights will stand a chance, especially since Utah’s goaltending situation is just as much of a question mark.


Betting on the NHL?


Outside of Vejmelka outplaying Hart, the Mammoth will also need to get this series on their terms if they want to pull the upset. Utah grades out as a slightly above-average defensive outfit, but its strength is up front with dynamic playmakers like Logan Cooley and Clayton Keller, plus sharp-shooter Dylan Guenther.

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Logan Cooley of the Utah Mammoth. NHLI via Getty Images

For those stars to have an impact, the Mammoth will need to get Vegas to open up and engage in a back-and-forth style. I just don’t see that happening with a team that was so disciplined in its own zone all season. The Knights led the NHL in expected goals against and high-danger chances conceded at 5-on-5, which shouldn’t be a shocker given the personnel in Sin City.

Not only does Vegas boast a deep blueline, but forwards Mitch Marner and Mark Stone are regarded as two of the best defensive minds in the entire sport.

Perhaps Utah can blitz Vegas and pull the upset, but I’d need a bigger number to go against the experienced, defensively savvy Knights in a best-of-7.

And if you’re looking for a play with more upside, have a good look at Vegas to pull off the sweep at 12/1.

The Play: Vegas moneyline (-152) | Vegas to sweep the series (12/1, FanDuel)

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Why Trust New York Post Betting

Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.



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Multiple earthquakes detected near Kanosh

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Multiple earthquakes detected near Kanosh


KANOSH, Utah — The United States Geological Survey recorded multiple earthquakes near Kanosh Sunday morning, each of them having an average magnitude of 3.0.

The first earthquake, magnitude 3.0, was detected just after 12:30 a.m., with the epicenter located half a mile south of Kanarraville.

The second quake, magnitude 3.2, was detected around 5:45 a.m., with the epicenter nearly five miles south-southwest of Kanosh. This was followed by two more quakes in the same area, a magnitude 2.5 quake coming in around 6:35 a.m., followed by a third around 7:45 a.m, which measured at magnitude 3.3.

This has since been followed by another quake, measuring at magnitude 3.7, being detected around 8:45 a.m. The geographic location in the USGS report places the epicenter approximately over two miles south of the Dry Wash Trail, about six miles south-southwest of Kanosh.

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FOX 13 News previously spoke with researchers at University of Utah, who said that earthquake swarms are relatively common. A study published in 2023 posits that swarms may be triggered by geothermal activity. The findings came after a series of seismic swarms were detected in central Utah, within the vicinity of three geothermal power plants.

The study also says that the swarms fall into a different category than aftershocks that typically follow large quakes, such as the magnitude 5.7 earthquake that hit the Wasatch Fault back in 2020.





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Embattled Utah Rep. Trevor Lee loses county GOP convention — but wins enough support to make primary

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Embattled Utah Rep. Trevor Lee loses county GOP convention — but wins enough support to make primary


Earlier in the week, House Speaker Mike Schultz said lawmakers asked the attorney general to investigate allegations of fraud and bribery against Lee.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, running for reelection, addresses delegates during the Davis County Republican Party nominating convention at Syracuse High School on Saturday, April 18, 2026.



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