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SALT LAKE CITY — John Collins tried to get to the ball, Zion Williamson reached to corral it, and Keyonte George attempted to throw it off an opposing player. The final seconds Monday were a mad dash for the ball.
The New Orleans Pelicans tried to grab an offensive rebound for one last chance at a tie. But by the time Williamson reached down and secured the ball, it was too late; time had run out, and the Utah Jazz held on for a 114-112 win over the Pelicans at the Delta Center.
"Another really gritty team win against a good team," Jazz coach Will Hardy said.
The type of win that just five days ago seemed to be far out of reach. And that was noticeable by the reaction from the players.
A telling smile spread on George's face when he was asked about Friday's team film session. The Jazz were coming off an embarrassing two-game stretch, and Hardy didn't hold back during practice.
"Will's very passionate," George said. "He's just trying to get us to play the right way. It's not about the tone of his voice, it's about the message that he's trying to get across."
Whatever the tone was, the message was received.
The Jazz appear to have righted the ship and are playing a brand of basketball that had eluded them early in the season. On Monday, the team had 31 assists on 37 field goals and just 10 turnovers; Jordan Clarkson had 10 assists to one turnover, and Talen Horton-Tucker had seven assists and no giveaways.
"Based on some of the things we've seen so far this season, those would be considered a miracle," Hardy said.
A miracle indeed.
The Jazz have the undesired distinction of leading the NBA in turnovers. In the previous two games before Monday's, they averaged 15.5 giveaways in the first half alone.
So what was different?
"I think it was just the fact of us moving the ball instead of trying to make plays for each other," Clarkson said. "Sometimes the play is just swinging (the ball); that gives a chance for us to get to the next action and the next guy makes the play for somebody else, so I think that's been the biggest thing for us. And when everybody's touching the ball it feels good."
Hardy put it another way: "I think the best part for me watching the game is we feel like a team."
That's something that couldn't have been said during the disastrous pre-Thanksgiving road trip, and many other times this season. The Jazz took a couple of knocks on the chin, but were determined to come out of it for the better.
"I think as a team, we didn't get down, or get in our feelings just because coach yelled at us or whatever," George said. "We kind of looked ourselves in the mirror and were like, we've got to fix it or we gonna keep going downhill."
Things got fixed Monday; seven players finished with two or more assists, led by Clarkson's 10. The goal of the passionate film sessions was to get the team to move the ball, and the Jazz responded.
"I think the team has just bought into a kind of regrouping, and understanding that we don't have one player that's going to save us," Hardy said. "Our team is not about one player. We try our best to include the strength of everybody that takes the court to try to help us win. And so the credit goes to the players for really buying into that."
Added Clarkson: "He hammered his message in. … If you want to be on the floor, that's how you gotta play."
They played that way, and that's why they were in a position to win at the end.
