The Utah Jazz, at one point through the night, looked like they had a chance to come out with a shocking upset victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Utah went into the first half up on the Thunder, 68-67, had a notably impressive first quarter behind a strong output offensively, and showed that if able to sustain that momentum, they might be the second team to dethrone OKC this season for loss number two of the regular season.
That, however, wouldn’t be the case for the Jazz.
Thanks to a dominant third quarter from the Thunder to outscore the Jazz by 23, controlling that command into the fourth quarter, and really stifling the Jazz’s young team out of the break on both ends of the floor, the turnaround was abrupt and took the air out of the building in the Delta Center pretty quickly.
In the mind of Jazz head coach Will Hardy, the end result almost made it feel like he had watched two different games.
“It’s kind of like we just watched two different games,” Hardy said post-game. “Obviously, we won the first half. A lot of that is because of how we played in the first quarter. 
We had 28 turnovers, 18 of them in the second and third quarters. Like, the conversation almost can stop there.”
Will Hardy Circles Turnovers as Jazz’s Biggest Flaw vs. Thunder
The turnovers, though, are what Hardy made a major emphasis on post-game. 28 turnovers is, by far, a season-high for the Jazz; a team that struggles with ball security as it is, which gets compounded when going against a team of ball hawks like Oklahoma City.
But the message was simple after the game: 28 turnovers, regardless of who the opponent is, won’t be winning many NBA games, and certainly not against the Thunder.
“You can’t have 28 turnovers for 44 points in an NBA game and win. 
It just doesn’t work,” Hardy continued post-game. “So, as a group, we have to do a better job of being strong with the ball at the point of attack. We have to do a better job of having the humility to pass the ball early and trust our teammate to make a play versus a closeout.”
Nov 18, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy reacts against the Los Angeles Lakers in the second quarter at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
“There’s a lot of things that go into taking care of the ball,” Hardy said. “I think the hardest part is that, in the first half, we just played the best team in the league, and you’re winning at halftime. So, we just played 24 really good minutes and in the third quarter, especially the end of the third quarter, the game just sort of disintegrated, and a lot of that is due to turnovers.”
It wasn’t all bad for the Jazz against such a rock-solid team. Offensively, Utah had five players in double figures, led by Keyonte George’s 20 points to continue his year-three breakout. They shot a pretty effective 42% from three, and defensively, brought the Thunder to 14 turnovers themselves, a bit higher than their average on the season.
But without the focus through four quarters and urgency on both ends of the ball, the Jazz came up short in what would be another blowout in favor of the buzzsaw that is the Thunder.
For Hardy, it makes for another learning experience this young Jazz roster can take from and hone in on maintaining that focus for a full 48 minutes rather than banking on a good first half.
“The thing as a group that we’re continuing to try to fight for is our focus, but more than that, our ability to refocus. Like, there’s gonna be a hard moment, it goes bad, okay? 
Can we snap back into what we’re trying to execute on both sides of the ball, and not just continue to drift further and further from the plot?”
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