The final play in Jazz loss to Lakers, and more evidence of Keyonte George’s maturity

Two years ago Keyonte George would have been livid if the officials had missed a potential game-changing foul on the final play of a game, especially if he was the one involved in the play. Even if this had happened last season, we probably see a more disgruntled version of George.

But George is proving more and more every day that he is maturing as a person and as a basketball player.

Before we get to what George said, let’s go over exactly what happened.

The Utah Jazz had trailed by as many as 13 points against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night. But they never waved the white flag. Lauri Markkanen, who had been struggling offensively for a majority of the game, got hot in the last few minutes, hitting huge shots to help the Jazz make it a one-possession game.

With 5.8 seconds left on the clock, the Jazz were inbounding the ball in the front court, a 2 would tie it, a 3 would win.

Svi Mykhailiuk had the ball out of bounds, and as George tries to use a Jusuf Nurkić screen to get free of Marcus Smart, Smart kind of hooks George’s arm and George falls. The way I see it, George also pushes off Smart to try and sell the foul a bit, and it wasn’t nearly as egregious as it seemed in real time. Play on — which is pretty much what Smart said after the game.

In the single second that George was on the ground, Nurkić gets the ball and then dishes it back to George. After a dribble to his right, George shoots the ball over the outstretched arms of Maxi Kleber and the game is over. Lakers win, 108-106.

“Just tried to go get the ball,” George said of the play. “We ended up getting, not a great look, but at least we got a shot off. At the end of the day, you don’t want to put the game in the refs’ hands. There’s a lot of things in the first half that we could have controlled. And you see the second half, we made a push. So if we can put two halves together, we don’t put ourselves in that situation at all.”

If rookie or second-year Keyonte George was replaying in his head what had happened on the last play he would have been mad about a no-call. He would have been hanging his head in the locker room, upset with himself and the situation. But George is evolving before our eyes.

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He said he remembers a game last season against the Indiana Pacers, when he tried to draw a foul from Pascal Siakam on the last play of the game, but Siakam ended up getting past him for an easy layup and the Jazz lost. Looking for a call, rather than focusing on the play was the wrong thing to do, and it was also the wrong thing to do to dwell on the play.

“Things like that, you got to let it go,” George said. “Obviously a little frustrated, we lost the game, but...I’m not mad at whatever the last play was or whatever it was. I’m more so mad at myself and our group for taking 24 minutes to pick it up.”

George also had some really admirable defensive possessions that helped keep the Lakers from extending their lead or getting good looks in the final minutes. He’s putting his energy and his focus on the right things.

Ultimately, the Jazz failed at the end and they didn’t get the win, which is a thing that happens a lot with the Jazz. So nobody is celebrating. But it is worth praising George for being right in how he is reflecting on things. Had the Jazz played better in the first half, we’re not talking about a hail Mary final play and the Jazz don’t have to rely on being bailed out by the refs.

Maturation for anyone on a young NBA team is worth praise.