Trae Young finishes with 12 points in 19 minutes as the Washington Wizards fall, 122-112, against the Utah Jazz at home
The Washington Wizards would enjoy the best atmosphere of the season to start Trae Young's debut, but it ended without a celebration after the Utah Jazz dominated in a 122-112 finish inside Capital One Arena.
Jazz rookie forward Ace Bailey was the star of the night after finishing with a career-high 32 points including 21 in the first half. Trae Young would tally 12 points and six assists in just 19 minutes. Julian Reese, meanwhile, became the star of the show once again after finishing with 18 points and 20 rebounds. His 20 rebounds marks a new Wizards single-game franchise rookie record in just his third career NBA start, giving the Wizards an immediate presence despite limited practice time.
It started with the most energy that Capital One Arena has seen in years as Trae Young was announced as a starter minutes ahead of his Wizards debut, though he was expected to be limited after head coach Brian Keefe noted pregame the the bulk of his 17 to 20 minutes will come in the first half.
Will Riley would catch fire through the opening quarter after draining a pair of threes before a third was waived off due to an offensive foul, but it would be Utah who would open up a dominant lead as Washington trailed by 14 after the first quarter and by 18 points at halftime.
But it would come with its first highlight from Young after dishing a fake pass to finish through contact at the rim, getting the crowd inside the Xfinity Center on their feet.
Young's first three would also come on the Wizards' first possession in the second half after missing all four first half attempts before exiting the game in the closing minutes of the third quarter. Bub Carrington and Trae Johnson would get hot to pick up the scoring slack after Carrington's three with just over three minutes left trimmed the deficit to ten before free throws from Julian Reese in the final minute cut it as little as seven. A putback from Reese on a Will Riley layup would trim the deficit to five with ten minutes left before the Jazz opened the lead back up in the tank battle.
Washington, now 16-45 overall, will return to action on Sunday night against the New Orleans Pelicans on the road with tipoff set for 7 PM.
Following the loss, Washington sits in fourth in the Tankathon standings.