Jordan Clarkson #00 of the Utah Jazz during the second half of the NBA game at Footprint Center on January 24, 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns defeated Jazz 115-109. Christian Petersen/Getty Images/AFP
Jordan Clarkson and De’Aaron Fox engaged in an entertaining scoring duel Saturday night in Salt Lake City, combining for 86 points in the Utah Jazz’s 134-125 victory over the visiting Sacramento Kings.
Clarkson scored a career-high 45 points to lead Utah to its fourth win over the Kings this season. The reigning Sixth Man of the Year hit 15 of 21 shots, drained 7 of 13 3-point attempts and made all eight free-throw attempts.
🔥 A career-high 45 points for Jordan Clarkson! pic.twitter.com/ridq1Dm4Ut
— NBA (@NBA) March 13, 2022
Clarkson, whose previous career-best was 42 points, surpassed John Drew’s franchise record of 38 bench points.
🤣 The @utahjazz celebrate Jordan Clarkson's career-high 45 points! #TakeNote pic.twitter.com/2pY4Jlwp5J
— NBA (@NBA) March 13, 2022
Fox wasn’t quite as efficient as Clarkson, but still had a monster night by shooting 15-for-32 with five treys and dishing out 11 assists in the loss.
Harrison Barnes added 18 points and the Kings lost despite shooting 50.0 percent from the field.
Bojan Bogdanovic hit key buckets late in the game and finished with 26 points while Donovan Mitchell netted 25 points with six assists and five rebounds.
Hassan Whiteside scored 12 points, hauled in 21 rebounds and blocked three shots in a starting role. Rudy Gobert, the backbone of the Jazz’s usually stingy defense, didn’t play because of a left foot strain.
The Jazz, who shot 55.8 percent overall, also played without point guard Mike Conley, who usually rests in one game of back-to-backs.
The Kings had a 17-11 lead when the Jazz went on a 10-2 run to go up by two. Sacramento kept its offensive fire stoked in the quarter, though, going ahead by seven and taking a 42-37 lead after an explosive opening period.
Fox finished with 20 points and four assists in the first quarter alone.
Utah went on a 9-0 run early in the second quarter to regain the lead at 46-45. Sacramento countered with eight straight. The Jazz responded by outscoring the Kings by 11 the rest of the half for a 71-67 halftime advantage.
Clarkson went into the break with 24 points, including a 14-point first quarter.
The Jazz took a 16-point lead after Clarkson hit three consecutive free throws in the fourth quarter, but Sacramento made things interesting by scoring 11 in a row, carving the Jazz lead down to five.
Clarkson and Bogdanovic each came up big in the final minutes to help the Jazz restore their double-digit lead.