The overworked and draining game clock remained alight with eight seconds remaining. Knotted at 147 in the second leg of the overtime period, the Utah Jazz were one shot from reaching the 150 point mark
for the second time in under a week — they just didn’t need double-overtime to crack that sum against Indiana. Tonight’s action against Chicago had necessitated ten more minutes of cardio, and if Utah can’t sweep a shot attempt through the woven goal, the clock operator may just collapse face-down onto the operating board.
Bedtimes had been compromised. Stamina depleted. Too late to refuel with a J-Dawg; the high school students operating the stand had already abandoned the concourses. The fans were running on fumes, yet the atmosphere in the stadium remained white-hot with anticipation of what may be the killing blow in a well-past-drawn-out contest.
With seconds to operate, Utah faced a schematic dilemma. How does one approach sketching a final play when the opposition has spent the past 58 minutes studying your operation? Lauri Markkanen’s 47 points were like day-old cake to a colony of ants, and the Chicago Bulls would no doubt place the Finnish trebuchet under lock and key with just one possession to seal the result. Brice Sensabaugh had hit big shots like clockwork all evening, and could very well plunge the dagger through the score sheet if given real estate to square himself to the basket. Isaiah Collier has been a terror for the Bulls’ perimeter wall, but if forced to fire from outside the restricted semi-circle, Chicago smirked at those odds.
Keyonte George was a fascinating option. The third-year guard had been enjoying a breakout season, and his potent second-half and overtime push had stacked his scoring total to 30. But he was streaky, and his jumpshot hadn’t exactly been reliable to this point in the season. If the visitors stuffed the paint and forced an outside shot from a 27.7% long-range shooter, that wouldn’t seem to favor the Jazz. And in fact, Coach Will Hardy had already afforded George a chance to win earlier in the contest, with number 3’s fallaway jumper sailing airborne, absent of contact to the rim, the backboard, or anything but the floor beneath.
Sweat streaming down the face of all 10 players, Isaiah Collier accepted the inbound pass, and the sands slipped through the hourglass.
8… 7…
Collier sized up the defense from the head of the arc. Surveying, analyzing, he paused in anticipation of the play’s development. The plan’s spring-loaded activation set off.
6… 5…
Markkanen, naturally, was smothered at the foul line as he crawled to set a right-hand ball screen for Collier. The 7-footer’s scope was obstructed as he popped left to the three-point arc, courtesy of a bear hug from the defender switching on to off-ball. But the 7-footer was a decoy. A distraction. An illusion. The ball-handler doesn’t even glance his direction as he darts in the opposite direction.
4… 3…
Torso parallel to the surface, Collier launched off his left foot and dashed to the right wing. Keyonte George, 30 points in his back pocket, awaited his teammate’s approach; his trigger finger twitched in giddy anticipation.
2…
Go time, go time, go time. Swinging around the painted arc, George brushes shoulders with his defender, and then his teammate Collier, hands out to receive the final bullet in the chamber. The leather met his fingertips with clear air in his periphery. Gripping the rock, Keyonte George locked onto the red-rimmed target ahead. His hips square to the goal and elbow locked to fire, his feet left the ground.
The Chicago Bulls were on a downward spiral, having lost four straight games after opening the year 6-1 and atop the Eastern Conference standings. Without foundational guard Coby White, backcourt Aussie Josh Giddey had stepped up and began campaigning for an appearance in February’s All-Star festivities. The team looked cohesive, capable, and set to break loose from the underwhelming era of DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, Lonzo Ball, and a stretch of Chicago Bulls squads that epitomized mediocrity. Too poor to compete, too talented to rebuild, Chicago was trapped in a void of basketball limbo.
Win this game, and the Bulls can get back to business. Lose, and more difficult conversations may have to take place.
Utah, on the other hand, entered this game with very little expectation of winning. A team without direction, floating aimlessly in the depths, hoping for a David Hasselhoff-type to rescue and deliver their impoverished franchise to safety. This upcoming draft class is ripe with budding stars, and last season’s holders of the NBA’s worst record — and therefore best draft lottery odds — have scraped the bottom out from their depth chart in hopes of securing a franchise-defining talent like AJ Dybantsa, Cam Boozer, or Darryn Peterson.
Truthfully, Utah’s management shouldn’t want to win this game, but they will not intervene and self-sabotage at this early moment of the season.
With guard Coby White making his season debut in Salt Lake City, and a chance for Chicago to finally drag itself out of the perpetual Play-In, the Bulls were determined to leave the Delta Center with a green W on the schedule, but here they stood with Utah moments from a possible L-stamping defeat.
Keyonte stood suspended in the air for a moment. The shot will leave his hands with plenty of time, but he has a moment to himself before delivering a killing blow sure to send waves throughout the National Basketball Association. A player whose developmental trajectory has been constantly bombarded with question marks where he would truly prefer exclamations — or at the very least a finalizing period. His third season has taken an eraser to previous conceptions, expectations, and understanding of who George is as a professional basketball player.
He slipped to 16th in the 2023 draft, where Utah gladly claimed his rights. Through two years, he’s seen the starting lineup and a stint as a 6th man. Issues with scoring efficiency, turnovers, defense, and the like pestered his development. For all the promise he flashed as a scorer and playmaker, it took until his third season for the holes to be filled in. For the gaps to be erased. For every rough edge to be smoothed out.
Now, as a third-year player, Keyonte is finding the missing pieces of his game and addressing every shortcoming. He’s grown in maturity, in experience, in capability. Having shouldered a tremendous load for the Utah Jazz against Chicago, he held the basketball above his head and sent the basketball heaven-bound in the struggle’s waning moments.
George flicks his wrist, and the ball is sent on a straight-line journey to the basket. End-over-end, the backspin twirls through the air as the Delta Center holds its breath. Two overtimes and 394 collective points scored have led to this moment.
1…
Gently through the silk ribbon, the shot finds its target, passing through the cylinder and stamping onto the floor below. Keyonte puts Utah ahead with 0.8 seconds remaining. Vucevic failed to convert at the other end, and George’s time-halting jumper finalized the score at 150-147. The result has been worth the wait: both this game and the arrival of Keyonte George.
Calvin Barrett is a writer, editor, and prolific Mario Kart racer located in Tokyo, Japan. He has covered the NBA and College Sports since 2024.
