The Utah Jazz got a much-needed win over the Miami Heat on Saturday night, knocking off the Jimmy Butler-led squad 117-109. The Jazz got to see their prized rookie, Keyonte George, step up and have a huge day off the bench. George, Kelly Olynyk, and Collin Sexton teamed up for a huge outing that got the team a much-needed win as they start a dangerous stretch of games against the top squads in the NBA
The Jazz were able to get past the Miami Heat by playing sound defense, taking Jimmy Butler out of the equation, and most surprisingly of all, passing the ball with little to no issue. Ball movement has been such a big issue with the Jazz, and it's one of the reasons why Jordan Clarkson and Talen Horton-Tucker have fallen out of favor with the team and its fans.
Horton-Tucker and Clarkson got too comfortable going to the rim, or pulling up for a bad shot and chucking up some real garbage. It halted the momentum of the offense and it stalled any productivity that was being created.
The other issue that came with those two, and others on the team, was the turnover issue. Clarkson and Horton-Tucker caused a lot of them, but so has Keyonte George. George had two more on Saturday against the Heat but that was it. Considering how each man can have four or five in a game, seeing the number of turnovers drop is encouraging.
As a team, the Jazz only had 10 turnovers all night, while the Heat had 16. Considering the Jazz had 29 assists on top of that, it's clear to see that the team's current structure is better suited to long-term sustainability. The Jazz have averaged 15.7 turnovers per game, the second most in the league. They're already one of the best passing teams stat-wise, ranking 9th in assists per game, but in order to win, they've got to cut out the number of turnovers per game.
And the Miami Heat game was a great proof of concept that the Jazz can be better with the ball.