The Utah Jazz played their first practice game of the season in Honolulu.
Lauri Markkase has less than three weeks to get the throw right. ZumaWire / MVPHOTOS
The NBA really starts at the end of October.
The training camps have now already moved to training games, and also Lauri Markkanen has gotten to warm up his throwing arm.
The Finnish star of the Utah Jazz played a decisive role when his team beat the Los Angeles Clippers 101–96.
The match was exceptionally played in Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii, where you don’t normally see top basketball.
Sunday night’s struggle also started the end of the Jazz’s training season. There are four practice games to go before the regular season kicks off in earnest on October 25th with a home game against the Sacramento Kings.
Markkanen grabbed eight rebounds and scored ten points in Hawaii.
It is remarkable that the head coach Will Hardy played the Finn for only 18 minutes, which is clearly less than Markkanen’s average last season (more than 34 minutes).
It must be remembered that Hardy also went to watch the Finn in Okinawa during the World Cup tournament. He knows exactly how to warm up Markkanen in the best possible way for the 82-match regular season.
The Jazz’s most effective player in the training game was the back man Chris Dunnwho bagged 15 points.