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Philadelphia • George Hill's reaction was akin to a running back scoring a touchdown and taking his offensive line to dinner. There was no ego. He tried hard to deflect the attention from himself. He tried to make it about his teammates.
Even so, there's no denying that Hill accomplished a great deal on Monday. After all, he became the first Utah Jazz player to be named Player of the Week for the Western Conference since Al Jefferson did it way back in 2012.
"It's not me," Hill insisted. "My teammates put me in a great situation. Yes, it's a great accomplishment individually. But more importantly, it's a team accomplishment."
The Jazz point guard has been one of the best floor leaders in the NBA during the first two weeks of the season. Last week, Hill averaged 20.8 points a night, along with 5.8 assists and 3.3 rebounds. He made 58.5 percent of his shots and finished 11-20 from 3-point range.
Because of that, the Jazz won three of four games during the past week, including a win over the San Antonio Spurs on the road. Hill overall leads NBA point guards, shooting 54 percent from the field. His assist-to-turnover ratio (4.38), ranks third in the league.
"It's good to have on your resume and it's a great honor," Hill said. "But none of this would be possible without my teammates out there, screening for me, passing and playing together with me. This has been a great opportunity to go out and play hard every night. Having guys count on me every night is pretty fun."
Hill missed Monday night's contest against the Philadelphia 76ers with a sprained thumb he originally injured in Sunday's win over the New York Knicks. He played through the injury, but the thumb felt worse on Monday morning when he woke up. By gametime, he couldn't bend it fully.
Still, Hill said he's not too worried about the injury, and said that his focus is on doing rehabilitation and getting back onto the floor as soon as possible.
ASCENDING
Utah's defense against Philadelphia improved as Monday progressed. The 76ers scored 24 points in the first quarter. But the Jazz held Philadelphia to 19 points in the second quarter, and were able to pull away in the third quarter, suffocating the Sixers on the defensive end.
END OF AN ERA
Joe Johnson saw his streak of 943 consecutive games started come to a close on Sunday against the Knicks. He had started every game since 2003.
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