SALT LAKE CITY — Three thoughts on the Jazz's 100-83 win over the Philadelphia 76ers from KSL.com's Utah Jazz beat writer, Andy Larsen.

1. George Hill keys 30-9 fourth quarter to win the game for the Jazz.

The Jazz were actually pretty awful for the first three quarters: limited offensive execution inside, missed free throws, couldn't defend the rim at all. They trailed 74-70 to the worst team in the league with one quarter to go.

And then that all turned around in the fourth quarter, with a 21-2 run that easily won the game. What happened?

Well, with all runs that are that long, the Sixers missed some shots, and the Jazz made some. But honestly, the defensive intensity just turned up from about a 2 to about an 8 or a 9. All of a sudden, the Jazz's lineup of George Hill, Rodney Hood, Joe Johnson, Trey Lyles, and Derrick Favors figured out that playing close, physical, and effortful defense would shut the Sixers down.

"Our guys were aware of the fact that we needed to raise our level and could raise our level," Quin Snyder said. "It just hadn't happened yet."

A special shoutout is deserved for Lyles here, who figured out how to defend Dario Saric and Ersan Ilyasova in the fourth quarter. Both of those guys like to shoot from the perimeter, but were also getting nice looks from inside on drives to the basket. Lyles realized he could play them closer and still stay with them as they drove, preventing easy shots. Saric was 1-4 in the 4th, and Ilyasova 0-2.

But let's focus on George Hill. Hill was fantastic in his return: he finished with 21 points on 8-10 shooting, eight rebounds, six assists, three steals, a block, and only two turnovers in his 29 minutes of play. That's as efficient and productive as a short outing gets.

.@George_Hill3 was awesome tonight - leading us with 21 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals in 29 minutes. 📽#NBAVote#PHIatUTApic.twitter.com/Ow2OP61iOv — Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) December 30, 2016

And he dominated the fourth quarter offensively. He came in the game in the fourth and scored eight points in a six minute stretch. He sat to rest for two minutes, then came in and scored another five points, for a 13-point fourth quarter that made the Jazz's offense efficient again. That he finished as a +31 is absurd.

I also want to point out the rebounding. This play, especially, is so smart and talented, but won't show up in most highlight reels. He just starts the rebounding positioning early, knows Rudy Gobert is going to shoot, dragging Jahlil Okafor towards him, and beats T.J. McConnell for the rebound. Easy, but so smart.

Hill's not 100 percent, either. "No. I don't think I'll be there for a while," Hill said when asked if he was back at full-strength physically. It's all mind over matter."

If that's the case, well, his mind is something exceptional.

2. The gang is back together again

The Jazz, and all of their fans, envisioned the team with the following lineup: Hill, Hood, Gordon Hayward, Favors, and Gobert. Before tonight, that lineup had played in just one game, a Sunday matinee against New York, and had played just 12 minutes together.

With Hill back, they finally played again. And what do you know? It went well! The lineup played just under 10 minutes tonight and outscored the Sixers 20-9 while they were out there on the floor.

That's not a lot of time, to be sure. They only played together for the first five minutes and change of the first quarter, and first four minutes and change of the third. But that's clearly because the team was trying to limit the length of Hill's stints (his longest consecutive time on the floor was for six minutes, and that had a timeout in the middle).

Even better, with only Dante Exum and Alec Burks injured (and returning soon!), the Jazz can finally start figuring out which bench lineups work. Tonight's didn't at all: only Joe Johnson and Trey Lyles can say they had good games. But what about lineups with Alec Burks as the bench point guard? What about Joe Johnson playing as a four? What about Derrick Favors as a five against iffy-athleticism backup centers?

I wrote about all of these possibilities during the offseason, when the team was being put together. Now, we may start to see those looks in real games.

3. Do the Jazz play down to the level of their competition?

I hear this often, especially when talking about the Jazz when they're in close games against bad teams: "the Jazz always play down to the level of their competition."

Here's the thing: I think the Jazz actually play down to the level of competition less than like 90 percent of the other teams in the league. Want proof? Here are the NBA Western Conference's standings right now, broken down by teams' performances against above and below .500 teams:

See the Jazz there? They have the best record against below .500 teams of anybody, besides the league's top 5 teams. Meanwhile, their performance against above .500 teams is a little bit of a worry: maybe they don't have what it takes against top competition. For what it's worth, the same thing was basically true last season.

So anyway, tell your friends: the Jazz don't play down to the level of their competition, any more than the other NBA teams do.

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