Utah Jazz They finished their long four-game road trip on the right foot on Saturday night when they faced each other. San Antonio Spurs For the second time this season, they ultimately took a narrow 111-110 win.

This was an effort that did not feature the Jazz’s emerging young guard, Keyonte George; He was left out of the squad due to left foot pain and Coach Will Hardy had to call another name for the starting five in the first round. rookie Isaiah Collier. This effectively made Collier’s second regular-season appearance and first NBA start since being drafted earlier this summer.

Collier finished the night with 7 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and a block in 24 minutes. sign from the city centre.

Despite the ups and downs on offense, Coach Hardy spoke about Collier’s performance following Saturday’s win and provided some positive feedback for Utah’s 29th overall pick this offseason.

“He plays with really good tempo,” Hardy said. “You can see him lunge to the basket. You can see his speed all over the court. You also see moments where his vision and his passing really shine. Obviously he struggled to shoot tonight, but that’s technical. That’s something concrete that we’re going to continue to work on, I think his feeling for the first game tonight.” It was pretty good.”

Considering this was Collier’s second game of the regular season, it’s hard to put too much stock in a shaky shooting night as he and the Jazz staff have a long season ahead of them working to fix that aspect of the game. outside.

Still, the young guard found a way to impact the game with his impressive speed and ability as a facilitator and showed optimism about what awaits him later this year as he gains more experience on the roster.

Coach Hardy then explained how he broke the news to Collier before the start.

“After we decided Keyonte was out, I walked up to Isaiah and said, ‘You start tonight,’ and that was the extent of our conversation,” Hardy said. “I did that on purpose. There’s no need to add to the gravity of that moment. He probably had a lot of emotions and thoughts when he heard that. I’m sure some of it was excitement. Some of it was probably a little bit nervous, but I believe he didn’t need a big speech in those moments… In some ways Simple is better in those moments. So, when he came out just before the game it was like: ‘protect the ball, influence the game with your tempo’ and then we’ll do the rest.”

Collier and the Jazz will have the opportunity to perform even better on Saturday when they return home on Tuesday. Phoenix Suns.

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