The Utah Jazz were able to squeeze out a win against the Brooklyn Nets, a team trying to lose games on the back end of a back-to-back, 123-110.
The end score is a little deceiving because the Jazz played from behind for most of this game, but went on a run late to pull away. Most likely, the Nets just ran out of gas after playing the night before and didn’t have the juice late to keep up their defense for all 48.
Utah has some impressive things happening for this team. Keyonte George, who is having a breakout season, was instrumental in this one. He scored 29 in this one with 10 assists and 5 rebounds. He shot 4/7 from three and looked like a dominant star. He also went to the free-throw line and went 9/9. This level of play is phenomenal from George, who has every reason to be considered part of the most improved player conversation.
Lauri Markkanen also scored 30 in this one with 8 rebounds and 1 assist. He struggled early but got hot late to help put this one away. His 61% shooting from the field and 40% from three was too much for the young Nets to handle, as the Jazz now move to 8-13 for the season and have won 3 of their last 4.
The question for Jazz fans is, is this a good thing? Utah sits at 9th in the standings and still sits one spot out of the play-in. They’re officially in no-man’s land and will play the Knicks tomorrow on the back end of a back-to-back. Personally, I can’t help but feel some frustration at the repeat of what we’re seeing from the first two seasons of this current rebuild. Utah has put itself in a very weird spot where they appear to be trying to win games with this young core + Markkanen, and it’s going to very likely cost them their draft pick. It seems the goal of this is to win as much as possible and let the chips fall where they may. Come lottery and playoff season, we’ll see if that was the right move or if Utah ends up asking themselves if they did the right thing.