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- The Utah Jazz edged the Sacramento Kings 117-114 in a preseason matchup that resembled a regular-season game, with both teams playing their full rotations and featuring intense competition throughout.
- Jazz coach Will Hardy noted it was the first preseason game that felt like a true NBA contest, providing valuable experience for the team.
- Keyonte George led the Jazz with 24 points and Lauri Markkanen added 21 points, despite Utah committing 24 turnovers and allowing 20 offensive rebounds.
SALT LAKE CITY — A funny thing happened during the preseason game between Utah and Sacramento on Tuesday, an actual NBA contest broke out.
The Utah Jazz beat the Sacramento Kings 117-114 in a game that wouldn't have been out of place in the regular season.
All-Stars De'Aaron Fox and Demontas Sabonis both played 36 minutes for Sacramento (DeMar DeRozan played 37), and the Jazz played their entire regular rotation. It was a test run of sorts for the real thing.
"That's the first game that we've played in the preseason where it really feels like an NBA game for the entirety of it," Jazz coach Will Hardy said. "I think it's really good for our group to go through that."
Keyonte George had 24 points and five assists, showing no ill effects from the knee injury that sidelined him last weekend. He did have a couple of miscues late, though.
George had a bad turnover that led to a Sacramento dunk with 18 seconds remaining, and then appeared to foul Fox on a game-tying 3-pointer with 3.4 seconds left. After review, though, the foul was ruled on the ground, which helped give the Jazz the win.
"The crowd was in it; it felt like an NBA game," George said with a smile. "Their main guys were in it at the end of the game, just like ours. It was fun to finally play a real NBA game, for sure."
Or at least close to a real NBA game.
With that, there was more to scrutinize — like Utah's 24 turnovers (including 16 of the live-ball variety) and giving up 20 offensive rebounds. Those two things led to the Kings taking 34 more shots than Utah.
Somehow, the Jazz still won.
Lauri Markkanen, who scored 21 points on just 10 shots, joked after that the team just wanted to make things more interesting.
Hey, the fans sure seemed to appreciate it.
The Delta Center raised to regular-season decibel level numerous times during the closing minutes as the teams traded shots. And that begged the question: Should there be more optimism surrounding this season?
Time will tell, but there were enough positives — from George's star showing (late miscues notwithstanding) to Markkanen's efficiency to the Jazz's trust in their most recent lottery pick to an uptick in defense — for fans to feel at least a little more excited for the season.
Markkanen said the experience was good for Cody Williams to experience a taste of what life will be like when the regular season tips off next Wednesday.
"That made it exciting for rookies, especially — that's what to look forward to in a week," he said.
And next week might come with a pretty big role for the rookie swingman. Williams, who had 6 points and four rebounds, closed the game for the Jazz; some of that was due to how he was playing, and some of it was because Hardy wanted to see him in that situation.
"His intelligence in most moments really shines through. It puts him in the right spot more times than not," Hardy said. "So that group that was in the game at the time, they seemed to have a little bit of a rhythm, and so we just went with it."
On Tuesday, at least, it worked.
"I think just the defensive intensity, especially, it felt like a real NBA game," Williams said. "So everyone kind of stepped up defensively, and we got a little bit more competitive, and that's what made it fun. The crowd was into it, too. So just a great environment."
Was it just a coincidence that both teams took Tuesday seriously? Mostly, yes.
Hardy said the decision was made internally to play the regular rotation as the team continues to amp up toward the season opener. It just so happened the Kings did the same thing.
"It's not like we talk to the other team and say, 'Hey, let's do this thing tonight.' We kind of knew a week ago that this game was going to be a full go for everybody based on the practice schedule that we laid out," he said.
