Every week during the regular season begins here at SCH with the Salt City Seven, a septet of recurring features that let us relive the biggest moments, key performances and hot issues in Jazzland from various angles. Check in every week for the quotes, stats, plays and performances that tell the stories from the last 168 hours in the world of the Jazz.

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Whether you're paying closest attention to play-in standings or to lottery odds, it helps to put the Jazz's 10-17 record into context.

We've talked about this throughout the Jazz's season, especially earlier on when they fattened up on an easier-than-average schedule. Now that they've faced a decent sample size of opponents from across the league's tiers, the reality is that their record is about what you'd expect depending on their opponent's overall record.

Against bottom third

• Record: 5-2 (4-2-1 in regulation)
• Teams: Was, Ind, Sac, NOP, LAC, Bkn, Cha, (Uta), Mil, Dal
• Wins by 21, 24, 9, 13 and 7 (OT)
• Losses by 1 (@ Sac) and 23 (@ Cha)
• Upcoming (HOME/away): lac, DAL, CHA, dal, dal, LAC, BKN

It shouldn't be surprising that half of Utah's wins came against these 10 teams. They only have one really pronounced loss among this group, and only one of their wins has been especially close late.

These are the games where the Jazz might have to put their thumb on the scale if draft odds are the primary objective. Although we'll see how their next few go. The Clippers, who they see twice coming up, don't have any organizational motivation to lose. And Dallas, who they see three times in the next five weeks, had won six of eight before dropping one in Philly. The Jazz also have all three of their dates with the Pelicans still to come after the All-Star break and trade deadline, and the Pels have seemingly found new life.

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Against middle third

• Record: 3-5 (1-4-3 in regulation)
• Teams: Por, Mem, Chi, Atl, GSW, Cle, Mia, Phx, Tor, Orl
• Wins by 4 (OT), 3 (2OT), 4
• Losses by 2, 22, 10, 17 and 1 (OT)
• Upcoming (HOME/away): MEM, gsw, por, cle, chi, MIA, GSW

The 1-4-3 regulation record is more predictively valuable than the overall 3-5. That sounds impressive, but it does change the perspective a little to hear that they have just one regulation win here — a narrow win in Memphis in Ja Morant's first game back.

Memphis visits SLC this week in a game I had hypothesized might be Utah's only December game in which they'd be favored; turns out the Grizz opened as 2.5-point favorites instead. Then Utah's next four against this group are road games.

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Against top third

• Record: 2-10 (all in regulation)
• Teams: Phi, Bos, Hou, Min, LAL, NYK, Den, SAS, Det, OKC
• Wins by 2 (in Boston) and 8 (Houston rested players on a back-to-back)
• Losses by average of 17.3 points
• Upcoming (HOME/away): den, DET, sas, BOS, okc, sas, MIN, SAS

The Jazz didn't face a single one of these teams in the early part of their schedule, which might help explain their early record. Then they got a narrow win against a Boston team that was still figuring itself after a star injury and some starter trades (that game was part of a 5-7 start for them). And then they surprised a sluggish Rockets squad with some vets resting on their first back-to-back of the season.

The 2-10 record feels about right here. NBA teams just have hot/cold nights often enough that weird stuff occasionally happens. But overall, the Jazz have had their clocks cleaned against this echelon.

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So the Jazz are winning a little more than half the time against the bottom 10, getting a win every few times out against the middle of the pack, and triumphing only randomly against the best. Let's assume for argument's sake that the Jazz don't really manipulate anything and keep roughly that success rate. That would put them somewhere around 16-33 or 17-32 by the end of January.

Of course, they could push harder in either direction, but 16 or 17 wins entering February probably puts them on track to keep the top-8 protected away from the Thunder

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""I think it's time that everybody stops trying to give reasons why Keyonte is playing well. Oh well he's only playing well because Lauri (Markkanen) helps him so much. He's only playing well because of this. No, he's pretty (bleeping) good.And I think it's time that everybody gives him some respect."
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-Jazz coach Will Hardy on Keyonte George's scoring and playmaking tear

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George is up to 24-4-7 averages, which most years gets you strong consideration for an All-Star spot. It might not be enough in this year's Western Conference, but George has been unstoppable lately. It's the first time in his career he's have d four straight with 27+. If he does it in Denver, he'll become just the fourth Jazzman to enjoy such a streak since 1997. Deron Williams, Donovan Mitchell and Markkanen are the others.

While Hardy's 100% correct, it's still at least directional interesting to monitor the interplay between George and Markkanen with lineup stats. The Keyonte-without-Lauri net rating (-18.2) is still significantly worse than the Lauri-sans-Key (+2.4), but that could be noisy. The former figure is due mostly to porous defense, which could come down to the way the Jazz organize their bench platoons. George and Markkanen take turns leading mostly-bench units, and just by virtue of his it's running at present, George is spending more time with other minus defenders like Brice Sensabaugh, Kevin Love or Kyle Filipowski.

For what it's worth, the Jazz are -4.0 with both. It would be cool if that number were higher given the way people talk about the pair's joint future, but it's also not horrible given the competitive context of the team.

The broader point here, though: this has been an eye-opening season on the George front. The .602 true shooting and 75% within three feet of the rim are transformationally important if they hold up.

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21/25

Utah's 84% shooting at the rim against Dallas was one of their best performances of the year in that department. In fact, they had 24 paint points in the 4th and OT alone, including back-to-back overtime tip-ins by Markkanen to seal the win.

#48.6%

The Jazz had their second best 3-point shooting night of the season against the Lakers, and had an effective field goal percentage of 63.4% outside of garbage time and heaves. The problem is that they also couldn't stop the Lake Show: 138.8 points per 100 Laker halfcourt possessions, Utah's second worst defense in that context all season.

19-2, 14-1

Orlando pulled away from the Jazz with a 19-2 run on Saturday, but then Utah surged right back in the fourth quarter with a 14-1 run, and overall won the final seven minutes of regulation by a 24-8 margin.

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The Dallas game was also the first time all season that all eight recent draftees were in the rotation. Then in the next game Hardy quickly went back to his regular rotation (sans a resting Markkanen) by reinserting Svi Mykhailiuk and Jusuf Nurkic into the starting lineup and unleashing Kevin Love again. But for that one game, the lineups were entirely about the youth, Markkanen and veteran Kyle Anderson playing de facto backup center.

+19.1%

Ace Bailey is up to 12.8 ppg as a starter, and his overall efficiency (.569) is in line with league average. But something stands out when you look at his shot chart: he shootes 47.1% from the left corner, 28.0% from the right. Brice Sensabaugh also shoots 14.7% better from the left.

9.5

Isaiah Collier averaged 9.5 assists over the last four outings.

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Lately there have been a lot of examples of other guys getting asked to run what I call the "Lauri actions" in the Jazz offense. That has of course been the case in the two games that Markkanen sat this week, but even when he has been playing, the Jazz are spreading those actions around some. Like here:

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Here they actually have Markkanen himself set the little angled pindown screen that he so often benefits from, but this time it's Bailey who gets to come off it and make the reads. Bailey's long, athletic step off the catch instantly gets him to the free throw line. His own guy has no chance to stay in front of such a move, so Markkanen's man has to completely cheat off of him. So even though they ran this one for Ace, Markkanen ultimately cashes in.

And then there's this one that's even more clever:

Again, Markkanen sets the screen for Taylor Hendricks to use the "Lauri action," but it turns out this is just a decoy. Because Hendricks veers off his line and into the paint (something Markkanen does a lot to clear space on that wing) right as Cody Williams heads into a fake dribble hand-off with Walt Clayton Jr.. The not-super-mobile Daniel Gafford is playing the DHO very wide because he anticipates needing to contain Clayton. Instead, Williams rips into the gap to where Hendricks is sealing the help defender away from the play. So all Williams has to do is outrun Gafford for the dunk.

Bailey and Brice Sensabaugh got a ton of these actions during the two games of "groin management" for the Finn, but even when he plays it's fun to see them weaponize the threat in different ways.

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Jazz 140, Mavs 133: Lauri Markkanen. Someone suggested recognizing Filipowski's season-high 25, and that would actually help represent the fact that this was the game in which the Jazz handed things over fully to their eight recent draftees. But ignoring Markkanen's and George's combined 70 points, 21 rebounds and 11 assists seemed a bridge too far. Markkanen's 33-16-5 line (with 4 steals) seemed like bigger outlier, but George following up his career high with another 37-5-6 was also impressive. Ultimately I sided with Hardy here, who said that Markkanen's rebounding and physical play down the stretch "are the reason (they) won the game." Cody Williams' late defense and Isaiah Collier's paint-breaking drives were also really fun and important.

Strong in defeat:

• ‍Jazz 135, Lakers 143: Keyonte George. Easy button: 34-4-8 for this third straight 30+ game. After a very balanced first quarter, George took over with a 13-point second frame, and then later scored eight straight Jazz points in the fourth quarter when the game was still in the balance. Collier's 13 assists were a Jazz season high, plus he had 18 points. Bailey had 11 of his 19 in the third quarter, and Nurkic flirted with a triple double (15-8-7).‍
• Jazz 127, Magic 128 (OT): Isaiah Collier. Had the Jazz held on after George's impressive 4-point play in OT, this would have had to go to him. Up until that moment he was sitting on 23 points with 21 shots, but the amazing go-ahead play landed him on 27-4-9. Instead, though, we'll recognize Collier, who scored (10) or assisted (7) almost everything during the Jazz's 24-8 frenzy to close regulation and force OT. That included the tying bucket on a bully-ball drive. It was an 18-and-9 night for Collier overall after taking over the fourth quarter offense. Love had 16 and 16, Mykhailiuk scored 23, and Bailey had more nice moments.

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The Jazz have three games against top-5 teams this week, plus a rematch with the improved Grizzlies.

Monday 12/22 Nuggets: Denver had a 6-game win streak snapped by Houston, so Utah will get a grumpy version of Nikola Jokic's squad. The Serbian center is leading the league in assists and rebounds, which feels like a joke of a sentence but it's not. He's also averaging 29.4 points, and Jamal Murray is also having a career year with 25-4-7 averages and his best 3-point shooting ever.

Tuesday 12/23 vs. Grizzlies: Since losing narrowly to the Jazz, the Grizz scored road wins in L.A. and Minnesota but then lost at home to the lowly Wizards. That's kind of a microcosm of their season. Morant is back to being inactive for the last two, due to an ankle sprain. They'll also be on a back-to-back Tuesday, but they'll have to come all the way from Oklahoma after a Monday visit to the champs.

Friday 12/26 vs. Pistons: Will Zach Lowe actually spontaneously combust watching Markkanen play against the Pistons? All of the macro stats say that Detroit — winners of five of its last six — is for real. They're 9th in offense, but play an absolutely smothering defense (#2 in the league), as the Jazz experienced on November 5 when they converted their fourth lowest effective field goal percentage of the year. It will be the middle stop of a 5-game trip for Detroit, who is getting 27-6-9 from Cade Cunningham.

Saturday 12/27 @ Spurs: Victor Wembanyama is averaging 19-10-3 since returning from a 13-game injury absence. The Spurs have won six straight even though Wemby only returned four games ago (and has been on a minutes limit), and for that they have De'Aaron Fox to thank. The 2023 All-Star is averaging 22-4-6 and having his best outside shooting year at 39.5%. They're sixth in defense and fifth in offense.

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Let's check on the All-Star bubble we covered extensively a couple of weeks ago.

Something like this graphic will make regular appearances as we get closer to All-Star selections being made.

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