The grid-bound streets of Salt Lake City are ablaze — the Utah Jazz have won an NBA basketball game.
Shout it from the rooftops, sing it from the mountains: the Utah Jazz are a winning basketball team once again. But maybe leave out the fact that this was a meaningless preseason game in which most of the starters were pulled by halftime.
It’s an odd feeling to have a basketball game turned on its head like this. Typically, the first and second quarters are the least interesting half of any given contest,
with the stakes truly setting in as we approach the final buzzer. In the preseason, when the result of the game is meaningless, it’s quite the opposite.
We got to see Will Hardy’s first starting lineup of the year: Keyonte George and Darryn Peterson at the guard line, Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. holding down the forward slots, and Jusuf Nurkic anchoring the center position in Walker Kessler’s absence.
We got our first taste of Darryn Peterson against legitimate NBA talent (even if it still took place on a college court). We witnessed Will Hardy’s dynamic offense function without restraint. We even got a Mo Bamba Sighting (TM). And though the result of the game was largely irrelevant for the final 24 minutes, we saw the Utah Jazz build and maintain a lead against an NBA Finals contender and the current best player on the planet, Nikola Jokic.
No one is counting preseason wins, but everyone will take stock of individual performances.
In my eyes, three Jazzmen deserve the lion’s share of acclaim for Sunday night’s success.
3 Utah Jazz Impact Players vs. Denver (10/4):
Lauri Markkanen
Stats: 17 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal
Lauri Markkanen is the rock of this Utah Jazz team. Utah’s success is largely predicated on Markkanen’s effectiveness as a scorer and defender, and what we witnessed on the basketball floor of the University of Colorado, Boulder, was nothing short of vintage.
He hit 3 of his 7 three-point attempts, and attacked the basket early and often. Was it his most efficient shooting night ever? No, 5-12 is only fine for a player of his caliber, but he scored 17 points in 16 minutes and set the tone for his teammates. Utah jumped out to a 36-26 lead at the end of the first quarter, and the rest was history.
Keyonte George
Stats: 15 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds
Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency. Keyonte is running the show like a veteran point guard and looked incredibly comfortable operating within the offense tonight. He led all Jazzmen in minutes with 21, where he converted 5-8 from the field, 1-3 from three-point land, and hit 4-5 from the stripe.
Add a dash of playmaking (3 assists to 1 turnover) to the pot, and you’ve got a stew cookin’.
For a player who entered the NBA labeled as a high-volume, low-efficiency black hole, Keyonte has turned himself into quite the effective presence in Utah’s backcourt. If he continues this level of play in the regular season, he could make some noise as an All-Star nominee.
But where Keyonte impressed the most was his defensive effort. George wasn’t timid from the podium at Media Day when he addressed how his defense needed to improve — and had improved — over the offseason. And though he may never be a defensive specialist, he clearly took pride in his defensive effort on the perimeter.
Blake Hinson
Stats: 14 points, 4 offensive rebounds
Blake the Make, Hot-Shot Hinson, whatever you want to call him, Utah’s two-way standout held a flaming basketball at his fingertips in Colorado and hit 4 of his 5 three-point attempts.
When the second and third units took to the court, Hinson was the clear star, and he did what he does best: put the ball directly into the basket. It’ll be interesting to track Hinson’s progress this season and learn if he can distinguish himself as a part of the Jazz’s short-term future, rather than as a flyer on the two-way line.
Calvin Barrett is the Associate Editor for SLC Dunk. Originally from Springville, Utah, he currently lives in Japan and has covered the NBA and college athletics since 2024.
