Somehow, some way, the Utah Jazz pulled off an upset win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night. The Clippers started James Harden, Paul George, and others, but sat them relatively fast. You'd think that maybe that would give fans a realistic hope that the Utah Jazz would be able to pull off the win, but then you remember that Utah was without Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, Kris Dunn, Walker Kessler, John Collins, and Jordan Clarkson as well.
So even though the Clippers sat the likes of George and company, that didn't mean it'd be a cakewalk for the Jazz, but a huge game from Kenneth Lofton would change that, dropping 27 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists in a stellar outing that saw the Jazz win it's second-straight 110-109.
Johnny Juzang contributed to the win, going 4-6 for 12 points, as well as Darius Bazley who went 5-7 for 12 points. Yet, the Jazz would be hindered by guys like Talen Horton-Tucker, who went 5-12 and kept making bad decisions after bad decisions offensively. Shooting when he should pass, namely every time he would drive to the rim with a shooter on the wing open.
Yet, no one looked as bad from the Jazz as Keyonte George did. There weren't any excuses for the rookie point guard, who nearly threw the game away on multiple occasions in the second half. He went just 5-15, for 14 points and just two assists; yet had five turnovers in the process. Many of which came in the last quarter of action.
It's possible that George is just tired from a long season, but it looked like at times he was just stunting on the court to see what he could get away with. It felt like it was less about him forcing plays to happen and more about him trying to get flashy against lesser competition.
It's one of the most disappointing games of his young career. When guys like Lofton, Luka Samanic, and Juzang are putting up some of their best games to close out the season, you'd hope that George would be doing so as well. Especially when guys like Taylor Hendricks and Brice Sensabaugh are hustling as hard as they are.
Hopefully this is an outlier, and George can finish the season strong.