The rebuilding process is accelerating for the Utah Jazz heading into their game with the Dallas Mavericks in Salt Lake City on Monday night.
After posting a franchise-low 17 wins a year ago, Utah already has nine wins in mid-December this season. One major reason why the Jazz are showing signs of improvement is the leap forward that guard Keyonte George has made in his third season.
George is making a strong case as the NBA’s Most Improved Player this season after scoring a career-high 39 points in Utah’s 130-126 road victory over Memphis on Friday. He shot 60% (12 of 20) from the field — which included making five 3-pointers — and went 10-of-10 from the free-throw line. George also dished out eight assists.
It marked his fifth 30-point game of the season despite playing with five fouls over the final 7:10 of the fourth quarter.
“Keyonte played a terrific game start to finish,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy told the Deseret News after the game. “Obviously, the foul trouble put him in a few tough spots there late in the game.”
Through 24 games, George is averaging 22.9 points on 44.4% shooting. He is also frequently getting teammates involved, dishing out 6.8 assists per contest. He averaged 13.0 points and 4.4 assists as a rookie, and 16.8 points and 5.6 assists last season.
George has developed more patience on offense, focusing on high-percentage shots while also not forcing bad shots. And his efficiency at the free throw line — where he has been 28 of 28 over his last four games — has been valuable down the stretch in close games.
“He keeps getting better and better every game that we play,” Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen said to the Deseret News. “It was just a matter of time for this to happen and it’s just the beginning for him.”
The Mavericks also appear to be figuring things out.
After losing 15 of 20 games to start the season, Dallas has won five of its last six with a healthy Anthony Davis back on the court. Davis is averaging 20.8 points on 50.6% shooting and 12.0 rebounds per game in five December appearances.
His steady production and veteran presence offers a nice complement to Cooper Flagg’s dynamic play. Flagg has shown continued progress in his rookie campaign and is averaging 20.6 points per game on 55.4% shooting in December.
The value of their on-court partnership was evident for Dallas in a 119-111 victory over Brooklyn on Friday. When one player struggled, the other picked up the slack.
Flagg scored 18 of his 22 points in the first half. Then Davis took over after halftime, scoring 20 of his 24 points in the second half.
“Cooper was really good there in the first half,” Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd told the Dallas Morning News after the game. “He was attacking. He got us going offensively. AD had four points (in the first half), but I thought he picked it up there in the second half. When one guy is going, you tend to lean on him and I thought we leaned on AD there in the second half.”
Davis (left calf contusion) is listed as questionable for Monday’s game.
This is the first of four meetings between Utah and Dallas this season. The two teams will also play three more times in January.
