Utah Jazz v NZ Breakers: NBA preseason road trip comes to an end as Breakers blown out by Jazz

Tom Abercrombie defends against Utah Jazz forward Kelly Olynyk. Photo / AP

The New Zealand Breakers will return home from their NBA road trip with some poor results, but time will tell whether it has been a good opportunity for the team.

After suffering a 40-point loss to the Portland Trailblazers last week, the Breakers fell 114-94 to the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City this afternoon (NZ time).

As the Breakers continue to find their feet with new combinations, the established attack of the Utah side broke the game open early.

It was an ugly opening quarter from the Breakers. It seemed no one could buy a basket as they stumbled to a 20-point deficit. Through the opening 12 minutes, the Breakers were successful on just 14 per cent of their shot attempts and 9 per cent from three-point range.

They did get a nice lift from Next Stars player Mantas Rubstavicius in his return from a groin injury that has kept him out of the campaign to date.

The young Lithuanian wing scored five of the Breakers’ 11 points in the opening quarter and flashed glimpses of his potential, but the work of Jordan Clarkson and Lauri Markkanen had the hosts in a very comfortable position.

After that start, any hope of a shock Breakers win was out the window, but the side were significantly better in the second stanza. More passes were finding the mark, shots were falling and they were showing more resistance to the Utah attack.

Scoring 32 points in the quarter, the Breakers had closed the gap to 17 at halftime.

The Jazz rotated deep into their squad for much of the second half and the Breakers fought well to close the gap to nine points but couldn’t put the Jazz under any more pressure than that. The Breakers were able to lift their percentage from the floor in a big way after the opening quarter, finishing around 41 per cent, but they were out-rebounded by a wide margin and struggled to stop Utah on the fast break.

While the Breakers will return to the NBL for Sunday night’s game away to Melbourne United with more time in the saddle, they will also be returning with a new player on the roster as import guard Anthony Lamb will carry on with the team after signing his contract last week in Portland.

Lamb was injected into the starting lineup for today’s game and was the top scorer against Utah with 23 points and seven rebounds, while Parker Jackson-Cartwright added 19 points from as many field goal attempts.

NZ Breakers 94 (Anthony Lamb 23 points, Parker Jackson-Cartwright 19, Izayah Le’Afa 12)

Utah Jazz 114 (Lauri Markkanen 15 points, Jordan Clarkson 12, Ochai Agbaji 12)

1Q: 11-31. HT: 43-59. 3Q: 65-84.