Jazz 119, Spurs 109: Utah's Swarming Defense Headlines Its Final Preseason Home Game
With Victor Wembanyama and most of San Antonio's rotation resting, Utah's young guards piled up steals and rookie Darryn Peterson scored 14 as the Jazz closed their home preseason slate with a win.
Preseason scores are disposable; preseason habits are not, and the Utah Jazz showed some promising ones on Monday night. Utah beat the San Antonio Spurs 119-109 at the Delta Center in its final home tune-up, per the Deseret News, against a Spurs side that rested Victor Wembanyama, De'Aaron Fox, Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell and Tobias Harris.
Hands everywhere
The story was Utah's ball pressure. The Jazz finished with 26 assists and 18 steals, with Isaiah Collier swiping five on his own, per KSL Sports. Rookie Darryn Peterson led the way with 14 points — 10 of them in a third-quarter burst — to go with five assists, and Jaxson Hayes, starting at center with Jusuf Nurkić sidelined for roughly a month, led all first-half scorers with 11 before sitting out the rest of the night. Jaren Jackson Jr., the headline addition from February's trade with Memphis, posted the best plus-minus among the starters.
Ace Bailey's new calling card
The most encouraging thread for Utah may be Ace Bailey. The second-year wing had three steals and five defensive rebounds, and coach Will Hardy credited his offseason conditioning for a leap in his defensive level — the closeouts, the length, the deflections without lunging. Bailey said his focus is guarding the opponent's best players and letting the offense come.
Hardy's complaint was the second quarter, where what he called sloppy fouling sent San Antonio to the line again and again and let a resting roster hang around.
What's next
Utah closes the preseason Friday in Phoenix and opens the regular season on October 21. For a team pairing lottery rookies with a win-now trade for Jackson, these are the nights to settle a defensive identity before the games count.