The road weariness finally caught up to the Jazz.
Playing their fifth of six games on the road, Utah ran out of steam in the fourth quarter and saw its four-game winning streak end. The Jazz fell 121-112 to Washington on Saturday evening.
"We lost this game with our defensive intensity. … Credit to them (Washington), they shot the crap out of it tonight," head coach Will Hardy said.
Jordan Clarkson led Utah in scoring with 18 points, while Lauri Markkanen added 17 points and five rebounds.
As a team, the Jazz dished out 33 assists — a great sign moving forward — and knocked down 14 three-pointers. But they struggled on the defensive end as they couldn't string enough stops together in the fourth quarter to complete the comeback.
Mike Conley finished with 10 assists, the fourth time in his last five games he's had double-digit assists. Talen Horton-Tucker had his first double-double in a Utah uniform, finishing with 12 points and a season-high 10 assists.
Utah continued to dominate behind the strength of its second unit, outscoring the Wizards 57-31. Collin Sexton and Malik Beasley continue to lead that unit, finishing with 17 and 16 points, respectively. Beasley shot 4-of-9 from deep and grabbed six rebounds, while Sexton added four rebounds and two assists.
It was a slow start offensively for the Jazz as Washington jumped out a quick 7-3 lead. But the offense found a rhythm by getting out in transition, going on an 11-1 run to take the lead. Clarkson finished with 10 points in the first as Utah led 30-28.
The second quarter was a bit of back and forth, with the Jazz taking a 55-49 lead following a Jarred Vanderbilt dunk. Unfortunately, the offense went cold and the defense struggled as Washington ended the half on a 12-0 run.
Utah trailed 61-55 at the break.
Whatever the message was out of the half didn't resonate with the Jazz to start the third quarter. The Wizards began the third on a 13-4 run, knocking down three-three-pointers to take a 15-point lead.
But the Jazz never wavered, ending the quarter on a 12-5 run as Sexton got going by finishing with eight points during the run — 13 overall in the third. Utah trailed by eight entering the final 12 minutes.
For most of the fourth, it appeared the Jazz were never going to pull even. Every time Utah would knock down a three or get a big bucket, they couldn't get a stop on the other end as Washington kept responding.
Clarkson and Markkanen did their best to keep the Jazz afloat with buckets on three straight possessions, but Utah had no answer on the defensive end and couldn't cut into the deficit.
Utah had one last chance when Kelly Olynyk drilled a three-pointer to make it a seven-point game with just over three minutes to play. However, Clarkson missed three-pointers on the next two possessions, and Washington buried a three-pointer to end the comeback attempt.
The Jazz have less than 24 hours to fix things as they end their east coast road trip against Philadelphia on Sunday night. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. MST.