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SALT LAKE CITY — Keyonte George is still finding meaning in the stretch run of the season.
The Utah Jazz's postseason chances are all but finished — a point further illustrated by Boston's 123-107 win over the Jazz Tuesday at the Delta Center — but the rookie guard isn't wishing for a sim-to-the-end option.
There's still too much to learn; and, maybe surprisingly, too much to play for.
"We are playing meaningful basketball at the end of the day; we're playing for something," George said. "So it ain't like we just going out there and playing for nothing and just leaving the arena. We're playing for pride."
That pride was seen through the first three quarters Tuesday night. Led by George's blistering start — he scored 14 points in the first seven minutes of the game and finished with 26 for the night — the Jazz stayed at least somewhat connected to the league-best Celtics for the first three quarters of the game.
Utah even pulled within a single possession with 36.2 seconds left. Any hope of a Jazz upset quickly vanished, though.
Utah was held scoreless for 13 straight possessions and didn't score again until the 5:34 mark of the fourth quarter. In that time, the Celtics went on a 20-0 run.
That's what great teams do.
The Jazz close the season with the second-hardest schedule in the association, so they should be prepared for similar nights ahead.
"It's gonna be good for our young guys," Jazz coach Will Hardy said. "You want to measure yourself against good teams, you want to know what it feels like to play against top-level teams."
The Jazz just played the top two betting favorites for the championship in consecutive games (Denver and Boston), and after a reunion with Quin Snyder and his Atlanta Hawks on Friday, the Jazz will play three games against Oklahoma City and Minnesota, who have been jockeying for the top spot in the West all season.
"There is a difference between playing bad teams, OK teams, good teams and great teams, and I want our young players to feel playing those good and great teams as much as possible," Hardy said.
Why? Because that's where growth comes — and the Jazz saw that on Tuesday.
George credited the Jazz's hot start (Utah jumped out to an early 5-point lead and kept things within single digits for much of the first half, even with the Celtics lights out) to how they were able to finish the game in Denver.
"We just kind of wanted to pick up where we left off," George said. "We had stretches where we were playing Jazz basketball on both ends of the floor, but just learned that we got a lot of fight in us; we all have the will to win."
And the will to learn — even as the losses pile up.
"It's an opportunity to get better, it's an opportunity to compete," Walker Kessler said of the stretch run. "I think that every day is a chance to work on your stuff, even if you don't get the win, it's still an opportunity to do that."
Which is why Lauri Markkanen is trying to get back after a right quadriceps contusion has kept him out the last four games. His goal of reaching the playoffs is a pipe dream at this point, but proving he can be something the Jazz are missing is still on the table.
The Jazz went scoreless for seven minutes in the latter stages of the game. And as those possessions mounted, it would have been nice to have a player that they could give the ball to and tell him to get a bucket.
"When you watch our team play and we get down to the end of close games, you feel that we don't necessarily have somebody that we're getting them to a spot throwing it to them and then letting them do their thing," Hardy said. "I think Lauri is somebody that can progress into that some, and we've got to continue to get him those opportunities."
Opportunities that will only come with games.
"We've got to take the steps now … to instill good habits, not only in myself but for the team," George said. "We just gotta go with a mindset of let's go be better today."
