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SALT LAKE CITY — Keyonte George almost causally dribbled up the left side of the court late in the first quarter. John Collins came to set a screen for his teammate the Warriors immediately switched it.
That gave George a hint of space. On Thursday, that's all he needed.
"Tonight was probably his sort of coming out party in terms of being a 3-point shooter," Jazz coach Will Hardy said.
George pulled up and drilled the off-the-bounce 3-pointer, one of his nine 3-pointers in Utah's 140-137 loss to the Warriors Thursday.
Yes, the rookie guard drilled nine triples. How impressive was that? Well, that was second-most ever by a Jazz player, tying him with two guys named Donovan Mitchell and Lauri Markkanen, and it tied the NBA rookie record.
George's 9-of-16 night from behind the arc shot him to a career-high 33 points (he added six assists, too).
"I think we saw tonight what I've been seeing and we've been seeing behind closed doors, and his ability to get those shots off in a variety of ways," Hardy said.
George pulled up off the dribble, he hit them in the corner, and he hit them running off screens. If Jazz fans were looking for hope for the future, George gave them plenty Thursday.
"Being aggressive was the main thing," George said. "Will harps on me a lot about taking the right shots, taking open shots. I work on every shot that I took today, so it's just about trying to find a rhythm, so that's what happened tonight."
George probably took a couple of heat-check shots — his 30-foot attempt in transition after he made three early in the first was an example of that (he missed) — but most of his 16 3-point attempts were shots Hardy wanted him to take.
"I want Keyonte to shoot as many of those pocket 3s as he can find, especially against switching," Hardy said. "It's a real weapon when teams switch."
He pointed to how Steph Curry, Damian Lillard and Trae Young have been able to punish switches with that quick pull. George is not at that level — at least not yet — but Hardy wants him to be wanting to shoot every time a team switches against him.
"If you're good at seeing that pocket and finding that 3, it's tough," Hardy said. "I think it also will bring into play the burst that Keyonte has playing downhill because people will start moving up the court toward him. He's worked on it a lot, watched a lot of film on it."
So did George think it was his coming out party, too?
"With how aggressive I was and how intentional I was every possession down on the floor, trying to impact the game and impact winning, I would definitely agree," George said.
It's a party his teammates weren't surprised by, though.
"We all know that he has it in him," Markkanen said. "He keeps working on it every day, and we see it in practice. Happy for him to see all those shots go — played a really good game. Too bad we couldn't get the win and game ball for him."
