Let’s be honest: you didn’t roll out of bed this morning to watch the Jazz take on a depleted Nets team at 5:30 pm in the afternoon. But as Cindi Lauper says, girls just want to have fun. The humble and honest Jazz have yet to face a ‘real’ competitor in the tank race just yet, but tonight may be that night (You could name-call the two matchups against Sacramento, but the ownership has a very different opinion on what a rebuild looks like). The Jazz (7-13) are poised for a double-header in New York — the first meeting coming against the 5-16 Brooklyn Nets. Utah won both of its regular-season matchups against this group last season. It was nearly a year ago when this matchup was highlighted as the peak of the Cooper Flagg race, ending with a thriller (or heart-crushing?) OT game winner made by Isaiah Collier himself.

Though the state of these teams has undoubtedly changed. Utah continued to employ veterans to compensate for the lack of discipline on their league-worst roster, while Brooklyn has powered ahead in the rebuild movement, utilising all five first-round draft picks on promising young talent. The Jazz, for example, have in fact not been playing like the worst of the league material. A 7-13 start sits them as the 23rd-worst team in the NBA. Utah’s superb, yet bipolar defense made life a living hell for Kevin Durant, despite him dropping a stellar 25-7-4 performance just a night before. While the team doesn’t have a premier offense, the duo of Lauri Markkanen and Keyonte George has made life hell for some of the top contenders in the league. Markkanen’s catch-and-shoot game is something that’s proven to be nearly unguardable when he can’t miss from deep.

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Keyonte George has emerged as one of the Jazz’s brightest developments this season. Unless you’ve been living under a rock (I don’t blame you, really), the Baylor alum is averaging career highs in points (22.8), assists (6.9), rebounds (4.0) and free-throw attempts (7.0) per game. The maturity came on full display after his bounce-back 28-4-8 performance against Houston, where he took accountability for his 0-point night merely 24 hours before. Now, he’ll play as a dog without a leash against a poorly defensive team like Brooklyn. The Nets have struggled to keep opponents from getting shots within four feet of the basket — 34.7% of opposing attempts come from that range — and teams are capitalizing, finishing those chances at a 70.6% clip, the third-highest mark in the NBA. George averages the second-most points in the paint on the team (8.0), trailing only Lauri Markkanen despite being a 6’4” guard. Elite matchup here for George, who could look unguardable in the pick-and-roll. With that, I prescribe you a mandatory Keyonte George ‘Where’s Waldo?‘ graphic:

But how will they fare against the 24th-best offense in the league? The Nets have been rattled by injuries, namely pure scorer Cam Thomas, but have surged on a 2-game win streak from their offseason additions Michael Porter Jr. (25.3 points per game) and BYU native Egor Dёmin (14.0 points per game in the last 3 matches). They’ve even handed the ropes to a majority of their five first-round selections from the previous draft class, with Drake Powell, Danny Wolf and Ben Saraf becoming mainstays in the rotation.

The secret to their success? Surprisingly, the ball movement has significantly improved without a pure scorer like Cam Thomas logging a 32.8 usage rating. Without Thomas, Brooklyn averages 26.8 assists per 100 possessions, which would tie for 11th in the league. They’ve also been a better defensive team overall and have been playing with taller lineups. Porter Jr. has never averaged more than 20 points per game before. There’s no reason to believe he won’t be able to maintain that scoring if he stays in Brooklyn and continues to be the Nets’ top scorer. But alas, all eyes are set on the prize. Considering they’re on the latter end of a back-to-back, it’ll come as no surprise if they hold a hefty injury report.

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Injury Report

Jazz:

QUESTIONABLE – Jusuf Nurkić (right rib contusion)

OUT – Kevin Love (rest), Georges Niang (left foot, fourth metatarsal stress reaction), Walker Kessler (left shoulder surgery)

Nets (injury report yet to be submitted):

QUESTIONABLE – N/A

OUT – N/A

How to watch:

Who: Utah Jazz at Brooklyn Nets

When: December 4th, 5:30PM Mountain Time

Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn

Channel: Jazz+, KJZZ

Radio: 97.5/1280 The Zone