Allen, Niang make the most of their time with SLC Stars

SALT LAKE CITY — Following the Salt Lake City Stars 117-77 win over Rio Grande Valley on Monday, Grayson Allen was asked when was the last time he played an official game in a gym as small as Bruin Arena.

Before he could answer, his teammate jumped in.

“It looks like Duke, don’t it?” Georges Niang joked.

Well, the bleachers were blue.

On the Utah Jazz’s Sunday night flight back to Salt Lake City from Miami, Niang and Allen received some news: They were going to be playing on Monday with the Jazz's G-League affiliate.

It wasn’t a demotion. It was an opportunity. Neither Niang and Allen have seen a lot of game time as of late and with the Jazz’s travel-heavy schedule they haven’t had a lot of time to practice, either. The Utah brass wanted to get them some time on a court. With the Stars at home and playing a game on a rest day, the timing worked out beautifully.

“I think it was just the Jazz had a day off so it was good for us to get some five-on-five reps,” Niang said. “You can’t really simulate five-on-five wind when you are just playing one-on-one or running sprints.”

They got plenty of reps on Monday. Allen played 36 minutes and Niang played nearly 33 in the Stars’ win.

And while the arena wasn’t quite like Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium, Allen did resemble his old college self. He led all scorers with 26 points on 9-for-17 shooting (4-for-11 from deep) and even had a breakaway dunk that drew some "oohs" from the modest crowd at Bruin Arena. Niang finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists — and had a big dunk of his own late in the game.

Both players wanted to use Monday night as a chance to rediscover how it felt to play five-on-five basketball.

Allen, Utah’s first-round pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, hasn’t got playing time in three straight contests and has seen the court just five times in the last 10 games. Niang was a regular in the Jazz rotation at the beginning of the season but has only seen action in four of the last ten games. And he has been inactive in both contests since the Kyle Korver trade.

“When we are traveling on the road so much, we really need rest,” Allen said. “So we are walking through some stuff, but there’s no full-speed contact five-on-five. For us, it was good reps. Good to get feel. Good to get to use some of those five-on-five instincts that we haven’t used in a little bit in extended minutes — which was good.”

And even though they were playing on the Salt Lake Community College Campus, their team wasn’t too far away. Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey sat courtside taking in the game. And so did Donovan Mitchell, Royce O’Neale, Raul Neto and Ekpe Udoh.

“I think it shows the culture that the Jazz have built here,” Niang said. “Constantly supporting us and being behind us. Those guys don't know how much it means to us to have them here. Even some of the guys on the coaching staff and front office were here. That means a lot. That shows that they care.”

Allen and Niang don’t know how long their assignment to the Stars will last (they could very well be up with the Jazz again for Tuesday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs — in fact, that’s quite likely). But they are trying not to worry too much about that. They want to take advantage of the time they are given — no matter where that is.

“Just like anything else in life, we just take it one day at a time,” Niang said. “If we are here tomorrow, we are here. If we are up, we are up. That’s really how it goes for us. That’s how you have to take life in the NBA. You never know. Someone could get injured, someone could get traded and you get called up and you gotta be ready. We both just take one day at a time — actually one hour, one minute.”

On Monday night, they made the most of those minutes.

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