Utah Jazz vs Boston Celtics Post Game | KEYONTE GEORGE IS HIMMM! | Hoops Nerd Show

George and the Utah Jazz in Boston on a backto back. Let’s talk about it. It’s the Hoopser Show. [Music] All right, guys. Like the video, subscribe to the channel if you’re new here. We’ve got a new member of the channel. Maybe we’ll do that midway through the video uh at some point for Stephen. Stephvens, a new member of the channel. By the way, if you haven’t already and you want to support the channel, just go and hit the join button and I would really appreciate it. All right, so let’s see. I got a lot of of screens going here. I got to get this screen up here moved. Uh it always does the wrong one. There we go. Let’s talk about this one first. Uh this Boston Celtics team is obviously in kind of a gap year. They’re saying they are I it’ll be interesting to see how much winning they want to do. Uh because they do own their pick, I believe, and they can probably get a nice player in this draft and without Jason Tatum and with all the trades they’ve made, it might be the best thing for them going forward. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re kind of happy the Jazz won this game. But they did play pretty well. Uh Jaylen Brown is is solid. I cannot believe he was 0 for9 from three. That’s great. I didn’t realize that he was awesome from two, but it just one of these and the Boston Celtics win this game. So maybe that tells us a little bit about kind of this this game in general. But the Boston Celtics, they shoot a ton of threes. 51 compared to 31 for the Jazz. And the Jazz win this one. So, that’s interesting. Their best three-point shooter tonight was Payton Pritchard. I don’t know if that’s the best uh if that’s the best strategy long term or whatever, but it’s what they do. And I tell you what, Namias Kea I he got and I know that Luke uh what is it? Nerkage is huge. 290 probably 300 lb and he’s just strong, but he’s just this plotting big man. He had no way of having any sort of of way of stopping Nerkach. He just And I don’t I wasn’t super impressed with Kea’s strength. I would have thought he’d have been stronger. He was not. Um they did bring in Chris Buchet who probably weighs 110 lbs. Uh but he did hit a three. Uh I don’t know. I don’t really have a lot else to say about the Celtics. Um, you know, Derek White is obviously an additive player, but when it’s just him and like Jaylen Brown, I don’t know how good you’re going to be as a team, you know, so I don’t have much else to say for them. They do have an interesting uh style because they just shoot threes and I I tonight really confirmed for me I am just not a fan of Anthony Simons. I cannot believe the Portland Trailblazers held on to him for as long as they did cuz he just does not help you win games. He just doesn’t. It’s just not good. Minus 11 for him. He doesn’t really make anyone better. He’s not particularly consistent and and you know, he didn’t really help the Boston Celtics tonight. So, uh yeah, Peyton Pritchard and Derrick White definitely deserve to start over Anthony Simons 100%. So yeah, if anyone wondered why the Celt I I don’t know what I can’t remember what the Celtics gave up for him, but it wasn’t a lot and he’s not worth a lot because he just doesn’t make you better. Uh anyways, that’s my thoughts on the Celtics. Jaylen Brown is really good though. He is really good. I’m can’t believe he shot 0 for nine. They would have won this game if he hits just one. Uh so anyways, but he’s very very good. Um the Utah Jazz. All right, we’ve got to talk about this one. This was great. I We can’t We can’t bury the lead tonight. Keonte George was fantastic. Arguably his best game in a Jazz uniform. 31 points, four assists, five rebounds. He just absolutely took it to the Boston Celtics. They had no answer for him. He took 13 free throws, uh made 11 of them. He is just blossoming into such a great player. And you know, there’s some people online that are probably trying to ch change their their narratives. You know, he has definitely gotten better and you got to give him credit. He’s improved as a defender. He’s making better decisions. But the signs of this were all there for the last two years. It’s just that the Utah Jazz, and this is what I lost my mind about for these last three seasons of just some of the stupid development the Jazz have done. But Kei was getting iced out by Kelly Olen in his rookie season and Jordan Clarkson. If you remember, they made a point of not passing to him. The Jazz traded Kelly Olen eventually. That was a dumb trade to bring Kelly Olen on in the first place, but he was getting iced out in that first season. and then he’s on the floor and I know he’s got a good relationship with Ston and I think he’s you know obviously fine with Clarkson but those two guys were not you know sharing the ball either. So Keonte George spends his like first two three seasons first two seasons just absolutely dealing with players not worried about spreading the ball around and just getting iced out and it was lame. it was lame and not good for development and he ends up going to the bench last year for a lot of the time and you know Isaiah Kier gets those starting minutes last year. Keonte George kind of comes off the bench as a sixth man and you know that doesn’t look like the greatest decision now looking back and uh he earned his spot in the starting lineup. He’s looking like at he was the best player tonight. No question. No question he was the best player for the Jazz tonight. He is the reason they won this game. He was awesome and deserves just a ton of credit for how hard he’s worked and develop developing those skill sets and a lot of those things. I mean, the percentages aren’t much different uh or at least just what it looks like as a player. He’s just making better and better decisions. That’s where the development is. But that development doesn’t happen unless he gets those minutes and gets the run and gets the time like he’s getting now. Having Colin Ston and Jordan Clarkson on the team last year and not trading them was malpractice. That was stupid. And it led to the Jazz winning more games. Well, last year and the year before to be honest. Last year they ended up having to rest them. Uh but having them on the team at all is just bad development because you should have been developing Keonte George anyways. Uh, it’s good that they’ve done what they’re doing now, and that’s great, but it took some time. And this is why you’ve got to develop these young guys because you find out who of these young guys can become a star or a highlevel starter or, you know what I mean? And if you are not developing these guys, how do you find it out? What are we gaining by playing some of these players? I don’t get it. I don’t get it. And I hope the Jazz learn their lesson with this. Will, probably will not. And you know the people online that were talking about Keonte George not being good for the last two years. Well, they’ll change their tune and they’ll just sing the song of whatever the Jazz are doing next. But the reality is Keonte George should have been getting more minutes. He should have been getting more uh focus and yes, he was making mistakes. Yes, he was turning the ball over at times, but that’s how you get better. And so, I don’t know. The moral of this is Keiante George is turning into an absolute star. The signs were always there in his in, you know, the seasons before, but it’s really nice to see it kind of flourishing now. and everyone who complained about the the Colin Ston trade. This is why this is why because they just did not need to or want to waste this time, this development anymore. And Keonte George is doing absolutely fine and making everyone else better. Everyone else on the floor is just getting much, much better with Keonte George on the floor. And I don’t want to hear this thing about attitude. That was the thing that used to drive me the craziest. Like if you want to talk to me about performance and ball movement and decision- making that I you know you have a point and I can agree like there were times where Kee George was making poor decisions and turning the ball over. But that’s because learning the point guard position in the NBA is extremely difficult. But the thing with the attitude was garbage. It was garbage because things that he was being told that he had to do, other players were allowed to do it. It’s just a fact. Sorry. Kelly Oolen was icing him out. Jordan Clarkson icing him out and I’d be annoyed too. And we talked about that that that rookie season. And uh I’d be annoyed too. And then for people to complain about Keonte George body language like two three years ago when he was being treated like I mean honestly trying to just find a way into the flow of the offense and into the scheme of the team when when veterans are just icing him out. And for the Jazz to just allow that to happen was garbage. Was garbage. And so for everyone to say, “Oh, the attitude. Oh, the attitude.” No, it’s garbage. He deserved to have the attitude he did because guess what? All this stuff we talk about having to defend and move the ball, at what point was Jordan Clarkson defending the basketball? The last three seasons, four seasons, or ever really? When was he defending at a high level? When was he moving the ball when he should and not taking bad shots? Right? I mean, the rookies, they get sent to the bench, but the vet vets get to do it. And there’s some of that we’ve been seeing this year that is annoying and it’s not fair. It needs to be uh fair for everyone. Can we please have a basketball system where there is not a respector of persons? That’s the thing that drives me crazy. If it’s if a rookie uh or a secondyear player or third year player, if it’s good for them, then it’s good for the seventh year and eighth year and ninth year player, too. That’s how you build culture. And you know, if you don’t have it that’s that way, that’s how you lose teams and that’s how you lose culture. If it’s like good for some players and not for others, then then it’s not a good thing. And so anyways, that stuff about body language was garbage. And then, you know, Keonte has to play with these other players that are just absolutely going iso ball all the time. And that’s hard to play with and it’s hard to have a flowing offense. So, I’m just really happy for Keonte George. He was absolutely dominant tonight. He was scoring in so many ways and just doing it at the highest level with the crowd just absolutely roaring against him and he still scores against uh a Boston team in a Boston Garden or whatever it’s called now. Um but here we go. Two-point shot fourth quarter. Everything on the line. This was just crazy stuff. And then not to mention the fact that he’s getting to the line as well. This was just big time. This was just I mean he knocked Namias Kea on his back on his back and scores the bucket and then all the times he gets to the free throw line. They don’t show the the plays that get you those free throws. Those were great. And let’s just look at this assisting the ball. I mean he’s been averaging nine assists per game. Tonight he was just taking the offense on his back. That was just easy stuff. But he’s just doing so many things that help this team win. Like just making the right play. He m he’s making it look easier. You can just tell the game is slowing down for him in a big way. Look at that. Draws a double team. Gets an open three for Larry Markin. Uh Markin’s doing well this year because of Keonte George, by the way. uh he’s just doing the right thing for everyone who complained and complained and complained and complained about Mike Connley and you know we shouldn’t have traded Mike Connley. Well, the point was to develop young guys that could be with this team long term. Certainly looks like the Jazz have a nice predecessor to Mike Connley in Keonte George. It’s going very very very well. Uh Lowry Markin was was solid tonight but you know it’s a back end of a backtoback. He is definitely one of the players that they are focusing on. And I could tell that that Boston team was really trying to slow and gum up this Jazz offense. And that just it just shows how big time Kee George was tonight because Boston was taking away those cuts to the basket. They were taking away the easy ones for Larry Markin and they said someone else is going to beat us tonight and Kee George says let’s go. And uh and that’s what happened. Uh I was happy to see uh Taylor Hendricks start tonight and I do feel like it’s the right thing. Although I noticed and I wonder if I don’t know when he was playing tonight there was a few plays where he came up kind of limping and I wonder if there’s still some pain in that leg if he’s it might be a full season of recovery from him from that leg injury because he looked a little like he just looked like he was limping and he made some plays uh in this one. three rebounds, um, an assist, but he didn’t look right to me. And so, I don’t know what they’re going to do going forward, but I wonder if it’s going to take kind of a full year. Uh, and who knows, maybe by the end of the year that leg just gets stronger and stronger. Um, but we’re going to have to we’re going to have to just watch that because Taylor Hendrickx has the chance to be a really nice rotation guy for this team. Um, but you just need him to be healthy. And so I don’t know if he’ll even play the next game. I wouldn’t be surprised. We’ll see. But that 13 minutes makes me think about um just kind of made me wonder if that leg is not quite there. Who knows? I could be wrong. It could be he just didn’t play well or was, you know, still playing into game shape, but uh it didn’t look quite right. Uh Yousef Nerkach hit the game winner. He uh sometimes I’m surprised when it goes in when he shoots. It just seems like he just doesn’t make a lot of his shots. And it kind of bears out with the five for 12 for a guy that’s like 7 feet tall and 300 lb. He just doesn’t seem to make easy buckets. But he made the one that counted the most. Uh this last one where Keonte George goes and takes that final bucket. And by the way, I hate this camera angle when they do that. Um turnaround hook shot. This was the game winner cuz look, he takes this last shot. He gets it. Hook shot. Puts it in. Game winner. Nice shot by Nerkage. Uh 41% from the field tonight, but he’s just a big body. He was a plus one, 11 rebounds, 11 points. He does move the ball, so he kind of plays in a in a way that I think uh is conducive to the future of this Jazz team and what they need and what they’re going to be. um kind of reminded it. You know, it’s interesting and I guess we should probably talk about this now, but this Jazz team played good defense today. In fact, let’s bring up, let’s just refresh these and look at where the standings are after this one. The offense for the Utah Jazz now sits at 23. Wow. So, Utah is actually number 23 offense. This this was a a rock fight and you know we haven’t played a lot of games. So a game like tonight where Utah’s not hitting a ton of shots is going to affect affect your rating. Um yeah, look at that. So 23 offense, but where let’s see defensively Utah is at 21. Um I believe they were at like I can’t remember where they were yesterday. I think it was like 23. Um it’s interesting. Utah, I felt like they played a good defensive game tonight. They Let’s see. The Boston Celtics were held to three-point percentage were 21%. And some of that is just them missing shots. Maybe this was just one of those variance games, but 41% from the field, 21% from three. And then, sorry guys, uh the rebound battle. 36 defensive rebounds for the Celtics. Um 55 for the Jazz. So solid outing for the Jazz. Really good rebounding. Kind of makes you wonder if the Jazz missed Walker Kesler that much. And uh I just think it’s interesting. Nerk can kind of spread that floor a little bit and he passes that ball well. He’s plotting. He can’t move laterally very quickly. Uh but it is interesting that the Jazz defense was just as good. And one of the things that teams are talking about uh is uh or not teams but some of the things we see from people who are watching and and so on is uh Will Hardy really lays into to Walker Kesler on the sidelines sometimes. And one of the things that was interesting when when they were talking about um uh like how to improve the defense, Will Hardy made one comment. It was about Walker Kesler. And I just think it’s interesting because here’s the thing. We all know that Walker Kesler is a good shot blocker and and a good rim protector overall. I don’t know if he’s a game-changing defender, you know? I don’t think he’s worth $30 million is what I would say. Now, if the Jazz can get him for a nice cheap, you know, steal of a deal, great. But for what he’s asking, I mean, I bet the Jazz offered probably 20, maybe even 25. And if he’s asking for like 30 million, I just don’t think that’s worth it for the Jazz. And nights like tonight are why. Because Utah won this game and it wasn’t because of the center. And you know, yes, you want to keep your good players if you can, but you got to think about what the future of this Jazz team is going to look like and who you want to give contracts to. And you can’t just give contracts to everyone. Not with this CBA. It’s extremely strict. And you know, Keonte George is playing himself into a contract, by the way. He’s playing well. And you get to a point if he’s playing like this night after night, are you giving that money to Walker Kessler who doesn’t have the ball in his hands and doesn’t affect play outside of just rim protection or or someone like Keonte George whose defense is improving pretty pretty high level def I mean not high level defense but he is he’s playing at like what a average level defense which is great considering you know before the defense was not good enough and that’s one way he’s getting better as well is defensively uh Steve Stevens all Harkless. Harkless helped a lot. In fact, what? Yeah, plus five for Harkless in this one. Plus 11 for our guy Ace Bailey, by the way. Uh but that defense, you know, that that matters. And I don’t know if the Jazz are better defensively with Walker Kesler because the last three seasons they’ve had uh defense number 28, defense number 30, defense number 30. Utah now this season is defense number 21 so far which is great. The defense is improving but it’s been literally the worst in the league the last two years and that’s with Walker Kesler playing. So I don’t know if it actually is conducive to winning games. He is definitely not Rudy Gobear. He’s not. But no one is. But I don’t know if he’s actually close to Rudy Gobear. I don’t know. because there’s some things that are just like, you know, there’s rebounding issues sometimes and there’s there’s just some softness issues sometimes and maybe that was the berscitis this year, but it was pretty noticeable. Uh on top of that, I don’t know. I I think it’s just a very interesting thing and it’s something to bookmark. Maybe the Jazz just absolutely go lose 10 in a row after this and uh you it looks like Walker Kesler is an important part of their team. Or maybe it looks like they’re not quite that they’re not much different with or without him and maybe it’s worth just getting cheap centers in the future and putting your money into the wings and your guards and things like that, right? It’s kind of where um basketball is. the center position, unless it’s like a superstar, unless you’re looking at someone like Nicolola Joic or, you know, Embiid before he really broke down or or, you know, some of these guys that are just, you know, Wemmenyama, unless you’ve got some kind of superstar center like that, you probably don’t want to be putting a lot of money into it because that money can go to your wings and your guards that are making the plays for you. Like it’s better, you know, I am not a fan of the Lowry marketing contract, but that’s money better placed by position than by putting it into the center. You can really ruin your salary cap pretty fast by overpaying a drop big center. Steve Stevens. All right, guys. I have not thought about it a lot, but I need some suggestions for Steve Stevens nickname. he has joined the Allstars and um we’ve got to we’ve got to come up with something. Um Steve, uh I don’t know if you have any ideas. I forgot what we were talking about last time. Um but guys, as we go, I need you guys to be thinking about nicknames for Steve Stevens. We need something because we’ve got I believe in Steve already, but Steve Stevens. Um I don’t know. It’s like don’t call him number two. Uh huh. Big Steve Stevens. We could do triple S. Super Steve Stevens. I don’t know. I need some Steve Aino. That’s my Tinder handle. Oh. Oh, [Laughter] do we got lover boy Steve Stevens? Lover boy Steve Aino. I hope I hope the Tinder is going well for you, Steve. I hope I hope you are finding success in your adventures. Adventurous Steve. Oo, I don’t know. I can’t leave without Steve. [Laughter] Steve times two. Steve squared. No, but Steve is not Steve is not Oh, Steve Stevens first in our hearts. Something like that on Tinder. H I’m trying. Uh Steve Aro is cool. All right. You know what? I’m not really having anything hit very hard. Steve Aino. Steve Stevens. Tinder. Tinder demon. It’s Steveino. It is. That’s Steve. That’s Steveino to you. Uh chat. All right. Steve Aino it is. Let it be said. There we go. Steve Aino. Steve Aino. Stevens. Steve. Ste. Do is it Steve Aino Stevens? I guess that’s what we’re going to do. There we go. All right. Have we badmouththed the players enough yet? Probably not. Oh, no. We have not. Tinder steep. Uh, time to talk about SV Mick. I just wanted to show something. Uh uh Steve or not Steve Spee Steve Mchy. We can’t call him Steve Mik. Speech. What is this? What is this? Spee last five games regular season. I pulled this up because I was mad. Uh one for three three games ago, 0 for five two games ago, one for four from three. And then tonight, Speed Mcky, one for eight. What is this? What is this, Will? What is this? You can’t tell me that SV Mock going one for eight from three is uh is uh good. Not hitting his shots. It’s not good. If you’re trying to win games, he’s not helping you win. And if you’re trying to help de develop players, he’s not working either. The excuses for Ace Bailey not starting are looking pretty thin. a guy that got pretty hot in those. He got he goes three for four in game one and two for five and two for five. That’s great, but it’s pretty much dried up. And our guy Ace Bailey is healthy now. The the plague has left him. He’s now apparently healthy, but still not getting minutes. The excuses are getting thin. And when Ace Bailey is a plus 11, playing defense, passing the ball, rebounding the ball, doing a lot of good things on the floor, earning more minutes, earning this a meritocracy here. Okay, this needs to be uh like we talked about before with kind of the the Bojangles that was going on with with Keonte George, we’re seeing some we’re seeing some heresy here, too. Some malpractice again. Again, having Speed Mix start over Ace Bailey. That excuse is thin, thin, thin. And if I start uh if I don’t see Ace Bailey starting over Sweet Mileik soon, then this is a crime. This is malpractice. He is earning it. His defense is is what is is should keep him on the floor. He’s doing everything that Will Hardy wants him to do. And I don’t know what it takes, but S Mik starting is silly and it doesn’t look great when he’s shooting 1 for8 from three and then Ace Bailey is going out and playing defense going two for four. Um it’s frustrating. I thought Ace Bailey would get more minutes tonight because it was a back end of a backto back. Um and he did not. He got four points. He was a plus 11 though. And part of that is his defense. If you put him on the floor, he’s moving the ball and he’s moving the ball well enough. And so, uh, Right. And Steve Stevens, remember that one time they actually ran a set for ace at 2:30 in the first quarter and he scored wonderfully? Yeah, I remember that. Uh, the only thing is we got the vanilla Finland vibes offense where literally everything has to go through Lowry Markin first. Tonight it was satisfying because they went away from it a little bit. It’s the game like yesterday’s yesterday’s game, not tonight’s game. Yesterday, yesterday’s game was atrocious. It was atrocious how one note it was. Tonight it felt like there was a little bit more uh ball spreading around. And you can see that right here. Look at this. Instead of just the 28 for Lowry Markin, it was a little bit more spread 17 points or 17 attempts for Markin instead. 12 attempts for Nerkach, 12 for Spei weren’t very good, but uh still 16 for Keante George and then the bench is not getting as many, but they’re the bench. And guess what? The Jazz won the game. It was harder to guard and Kee George was taking advantages of mismatches, but man, some of that offense before was just it’s just not super imaginative. And we’re not going to see plays for Ace Bailey while Lowry Markin is on the floor or on the team because that’s just what the Jazz are doing. They’re just running everything through Lowi Markin, which is fine, but it’s not good for Ace Bailey’s development. And I honestly think uh there’s going to be a point where Ace Bailey is just it it’s getting more and more and more every single game that he should be starting. I mean, he should have been starting from game one because the Jazz should like once in my pathetic life. uh if the Jazz could just once focus on the long-term and the big picture and understanding what’s the most important thing and that’s developing our young players because we’re building through the draft. So, he should have been starting from game one, but at some point it’s going to be so incredibly clear and obvious that he should just be starting because he’s just the better option. In fact, that’s what it is right now to be honest. We can’t let’s not like pretend that that’s not what this is. He’s just playing better. Better defense, hitting a higher percentage of his shots. He can do more with the ball. He can hit more types of shots. He can do more things. I mean, that layup he made was incredible. And if this Utah Jazz team spreads this floor, he’s only going to get better. I mean, this this was just a nice little shot over a good defender and Jaylen Brown. Then you look at this driving reverse. This was just awesome. And he just doesn’t get a lot of opportunities. Look at that. drives past and scores. Just nice. And so it would be it would be behooved the Jazz to get him the ball and get him in the offense more. You know, him and Keonte George are as essential to the future as anyone. In fact, I would argue those two are the most important players right now for the future of the Jazz. Keonte George and Ace Bailey, right? I mean, everyone else on this team is probably tradable, uh, for sure, but Keonte George right now and Ace Bailey, you’re not going to, you know, they’re not getting traded. You’re not going to hear trade rumors about Keonte George and Ace Bailey. You’re just not going to hear it. You’re going to hear other ones, but not about them. Uh, I don’t have much else to say about Ace Bailey. He played a 18 minutes tonight. The defense was solid, plus 11. He’s just getting it better and he’s figuring it out. And it sucks that some of these other young rookies are getting more run and their games are a little bit more inducive to succeeding earlier on. But Ace Bailey’s game looks like it could succeed as well if he was getting more minutes and if the offense was a little bit more equal opportunity spread out for everyone else to succeed as well, not just one um player. So, we’ll see. I think the Jazz, I’ll be honest, like I was still kind of in my heart because I want to get a top three pick in this draft, but I was happy for this team to win a game. It I’m especially happy for Keonte George who’s been playing so hard and working so hard on his game and making the right decisions and the right moves and so I’m happy for him to win. The Jazz are not going to go winless. And so, um, you know, when they win these games, it’s nice to see. I do think the Jazz need to start thinking about making some moves. If if Will Hardy will not put Ace Bailey in the starting lineup, then the Utah Jazz need to make a move to trade SV Mik, right? Make the move so that the coach has to do the right thing. And honestly, that’s why I kind of I don’t really I don’t really put a lot of the when I’m frustrated. I don’t put a I was a little I’ve been a little more mad at Will Hardy lately this season because they’ve been playing to win. And so that’s when the coach gets a lot more scrutiny. When you’re playing to develop, then you’ve got to scrutinize the front office because they should be setting this the team up in a way that allows the coach to coach while also not ruining their draft position. But if you’re playing to win, you got guys like Lowry Markin on the team and getting a ton of reps and getting lots of minutes and guys like Si McCick taking minutes away from young players. Uh, by the way, did did Bryce Sense didn’t even play today. Interesting. Um, but anyways, uh, then you know then I don’t know. I I just think this Utah Jazz front office needs to get on it sooner than they have the last few seasons because I don’t think it’s very good idea to go into trade deadline and pull the rug again. Do it sooner. More minutes of development now when teams are trying is better than post trade deadline where you’re probably going to have to trade everybody to lose some games and you’re going to beat some some bad teams, right? Utah needs to make some trades sooner than later. Uh, and I would like to see SV MAC get traded and the Jazz need to think long and hard about what their future is um with this team because do you want to get uh do you want to get a top pick in the draft or are you just enjoying like playing level basketball, right? So, we’ll see. Uh Steve Stevens, um Steve Aino, our guy hit the nail on the head. Elijah Harkas is showing that he’s just a nice option to bring off the bench um as a just a defensive player and he played really nice and he’s not going to get a lot of accolades. Uh but he was awesome. I love his energy. I don’t know if he’s a long-term piece. Maybe it’s nice to have guys like that on the team that come in and just play their hearts out. And uh you can always count on Elijah Harkas to do that. And I love those types of guys. So, shout out to Elijah Harkas. He’s a bulldog and it’s fun to watch him and I love watching that. Just you need that energy and and fire and he definitely brings it. Uh Kevin Love because uh Walker Kesler’s out came in as backup center and he was really solid. He spreads the floor and it does some things for this Jazz offense that they don’t have when Walker Kesler’s on the floor because he’s and I know Walker Kesler’s been shooting the three, but Kesler still doesn’t look super comfortable or confident yet shooting a lot of those threes. Kevin Love on the other hand does and it does open up the offense in a lot of ways. He had seven rebounds and three assists. One was an incredible long pass. uh and he can spread the floor. So, it’s nice to see him playing well and it does add an interesting element and some things the Jazz should think about for the future, what their offense could be. Um Kevin Love or not Kevin Love, Kyle Filipowski, I talked about this last time. I don’t like him starting, but I do feel like if you bring him off the bench, he can crush teams. And he did that tonight. That turned out to be true. He played 19 minutes tonight and was awesome. Highest plus minus on the team, plus 19. He just had a great game. And I think this really is like a role he can really thrive in where he comes off the bench as like a sixth man where he can handle, you can have him punish smaller players. You know, teams like this Boston Celtics team who are small and can’t rebound and don’t have an inside presence. He just destroyed them. And so I think that’s great. I, you know, the defense is a little bit of an issue, but if you have him coming off the bench and and defending against bench players, it’s fine. Now, against playoff benches, maybe not. Maybe it’s situational. He can do some nice things, but it was nice to see him succeed, and he’s just turning into a solid player. Sorry, guys. Uh but yeah, I think that uh that uh is going his future is probably as a highlevel bench big and there’s nothing wrong with that. To get a guy like this in the second round and have him contribute at an elite level off the bench like to know that you’ve got a guy you can bring in off the bench and give your starters a rest and let him go to work is a luxury, you know? So, it’s fun to watch him succeed. I think that’s where he’s probably going to be best, you know. So, we’ll see. And then finally, Walter Clayton Jr. looked a lot better tonight. It’s interesting how the Jazz looked so much better tonight, and it’s a back end of a backto-back on the road. The likelihood of that is crazy, but there were so many players that kind of had a bounceback game. Clayton was one of them. Three for four from the field, one for two from three. He looked awesome tonight. Plus seven. He had six assists, two steals. He was great tonight. Just really, really good. And that’s the type of play you’re showing. I mean, this you can just see how this Jazz team is finding out who their studs are from the draft. Bryce Sens didn’t play and the Jazz didn’t really miss him. Uh because, you know, with this team, you’ve got players that if you don’t pass the ball or move the ball in the offense, you just don’t play. There was actually one time where you heard Will Hardy just scream at Philipowski in the first half, pass the ball. And I don’t know if you guys heard it, but it was loud. And then you could see him yelling at Philipowski after. And then the second half, Philipowski was awesome. Uh, but yeah, you you can just see that this Jazz team, Keonte George is a big-time part of the future. Ace Bailey is a big time part of the future. Philip Powski is a is a part of the future. Walter Clayton, you’re figuring it out. And then as you draft, like next year’s draft, if you draft a superstar in the top three, and that’s what you get if you get a top three pick, is a superstar. KA Pete, by the way, at number four is looking freaking good. He scored 30 tonight for Arizona. Go look at the KA Pete. I think that’s how you say his name. Go look at the highlights. Looking nice. Uh, but you’re just going to keep adding young talent to this team. I think Taylor Hendricks, too. I think he just needs some some recovery time. That leg is I don’t think that leg’s right. Uh, it’s just there’s I there’s no way it could be. He’s had six weeks, seven weeks now of of of fulltime basketball. There’s just no way that that doesn’t have some pain recovering from it, you know? So, I bet it’s probably going to be at least a year for Hendrickx to get completely recovered. Um, so it’s nice to see him out there battling though. But anyways, this Jazz team is finding out who is a part of the future and who is not. And they got to start making some trades, move some bets because they still got to win this lottery. It’s really important. You put a superstar on this team and you’re starting to see the makings of something really great. Really great. Deontay George is looking like a stud. Like a stud. And uh you add another superstar next to him, whether it’s Darren Peterson, Cam Boozer, AJ Debansa, and this Jazz team gets real interesting. But I want to see Kee George and Ace Bailey building chemistry now. We know that they are the future. So why can’t we start the building of chemistry now against against live competition, right? I want to see that chemistry grow starting now. I’m not worried about building chemistry between SI Mik and Keonte George. I am between Keonte George and Ace Bailey. It’s important. And Taylor Hendris and so on. So, uh, that’s all I got tonight, guys. I don’t think, um, let’s go see here. Tankathon. Utah still sits at 10. They’re losing their pick, though, sitting at 10. Giving that to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Not my favorite. So, let’s start the music. [Music] That’s a little loud. So, let’s lower that a bit. All right. So, we’re in the lottery. Let’s see if the Jazz If the lottery were today, what would happen? Boston wins the lottery. You got to be kidding me. Jazz fall to 11 and give their pick to OKC. Boston gets to add Darren Peterson to their team. No way. Washington stays. Charlotte jumps. Agony. Very clear Utah needs to jump. They need to go up. We need to win this lottery. Come on, Jazz. Don’t screw this up. Make some trades. Trade them. Don’t be afraid of doing the right thing, guys. And Jazz. All right, it’s time to give a shout out to the All Stars. Steve Aino. Let’s see. All right, let’s go, baby. Steve Aino, Steve Stevens, let him cook. Sturdy pots. I Ezekiel Rice, the man from now under. Tyson Price, the Price is Right. See you Lex later. Jordan the goat. Best roll. Ryan Edward Perry, the legend, Christian house money, the hos, Robert Hall of Fame, I believe in Steve Jazz exile, Austin Grant, editor extraordinaire, flipping the script, the OG, and Patrick Aubo, the conosur. Guys, like I said, like like the channel, like the video, subscribe to the channel, join the channel if you want to be part of chat, and if you want to support us, I really appreciate That

The Utah Jazz got an impressive win against the Boston Celtics behind a huge game from Keyonte George!

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26 comments
  1. You dont get better by just playing losing minutes as young player, Keyonte is leveling up because he work his ass off in work outs and practices, that effort is what make All stars. Young players that play a ton without learning winning habits and putting a large amount of practice outsides games are not going to do anything.

  2. James you are so right about Keyonte George, he has taken a massive leap this year, & I've been really impressed with his defensive effort. There will always be a few players that he will struggle against, but he isn't giving up on those assignments and that has been very impressive. I think we've always known that Key was on the verge of exploding offensively with his past flashes of talent but like you said he is doing over the years but he has been so much more then just scoring 1st player this year, it has me believing that the Jazz found a future piece of their teams puzzle 🏀🧩

  3. I have been noticing the energy going up each time Ace gets it the game, as soon as it clicks in with him the team and "coaching" I think it's gonna be very fun to watch. I just hope that he keeps getting opportunities and I would love to see him in crunch time so that he can start to get more experience in what that's like in the NBA 😊

  4. I think to be a good defense in the NBA you have to have an attitude and a bit of a mean streak. I like Walker Kessler and I think he's a capable center and I do think he is going to continue to improve, but right now on the Jazz I feel like we have probably 3 or 4 tough players and that is Keyonte, Lauri, Taylor and Elijahh Harkless

  5. Keyonte's improvement is stunning! And while i was never as enamored of Keyonte as James has been, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Well, he has rewarded the NERD's belief in him. So take a bow James, you've earned it. 🤑 By the way, Key's game isn't the only thing that's improved. He's stronger than he was last season. Check out his arms and shoulders and you'll see what I mean.

  6. Hendricks,williams, clayton and most importantly Ace bailey need to be playing way more minutes. I don’t want to be seeing Kevin love and svi playing at all.

  7. Or…..maybe Keyonte is better because he had to fight the last couple years and practice against Sexton, Clarkson and Collier and now he is who he is now because he had to fight. It's easy to say he'd be who he is if he just played more, but sometimes its the fight internally that is making him awesome now.

  8. You are so hardcore on Ace, yet every minute they give him he shows how not ready he is for minutes. He needs to be developed and that doesn't start on the NBA court, not at his current level. Dude needs to go to the g League for a month and then try again.

  9. Lauri Markkanen said in an interview that playoff run is what they are going for this season. 😅 Celtic focused on getting Markkanen out of the game and that allowed Keyonte and others to shine. It is a bit one dimensional to think that everything is ran through Lauri – it is just one option. When defense overplays to get Lauri out of the game after off ball screens the screener(s) get space and time which of course should be used. LM is a team player and he is more than happy to just make runs if it helps the team – that is what team Finland vibes are about.

  10. Steve Stephen’s nickname should be “Mama’s Boy”. If you know, ya know. Svi’s 1 3 point shot won the game for us, LOL. He did out shoot Brown from 3.

  11. People changing their tune on Key is because HE has improved a ton, but that doesn’t mean the criticism for him the last two years weren’t valid.

    He had a bad attitude (probably due to lack of maturity), was AWFUL on defense. Didn’t run the offense and was an inefficient chucker.

    This year, he has become more mature, smarter in getting to the foul line, more efficient (even in spite the 3 ball is not falling) and a better conductor of the offense.

    He has really leveled up his game and i hope he keeps it up, because this is a real game changer for the Jazz. He is actually the perfect example of young players needing time to play on the court. Also Key losing his spot to Collier last year is a great example of actually developing and rewarding players playing the right way. Don’t give spots to vets, there are enough young players on this team to swap them out for each other when the other is not pulling their weight.

  12. Why the heck is Svi getting any minutes? Maybe he's put in a lot of work in the off-season and Will is rewarding that? But I imagine he comes off the bench soon.

  13. Key has gotten a lot stronger, those drives through contact to the basket late in the game wasn't something he could do last year. You can tell he worked his ass over the summer, happy for him!

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