This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Everybody was back together around the holidays, which was nice, but, as is sometimes the case with such gatherings this time of year, things weren't going particularly well.
It had been nearly two whole months since the Utah Jazz's first-choice starting five had all suited up for the same game. Even with point guard George Hill's sprained big toe finally mended, however, the Jazz found themselves locked in an ugly back-and-forth fight with the lowly Philadelphia 76ers for three quarters Thursday night at Vivint Smart Home Arena.
And though the his team came away with a 100-83 win thanks to a dominant fourth-quarter performance, Jazz coach Quin Snyder says his squad has a long way to go even as it approaches full strength.
"We're not that good of a team right now," Snyder said. "We're OK. But I don't think we're playing great basketball. We played a good quarter tonight. I think we've played better in spurts, but I think we need to pick it up."
The Jazz (20-13) certainly needed to pick things up Thursday in order to avoid an embarrassing situation. Utah had put together a lackluster performance through three quarters and trailed seven-win Philly 74-70 heading into the final quarter.
The Sixers, playing without leading scorer Joel Embiid, got a team-high 16 points from forward Ersan Ilyasova and 14 points apiece off the bench from Nerlens Noel and Dario Saric.
But the Jazz starters couldn't let their reunion go to waste.
The Jazz manufactured a 21-2 run to start the fourth behind the play of Hill and shooting guard Rodney Hood. Hood scored nine of his 20 points in the fourth. And by the end of the period, one in which the Jazz outscored their guests 30-9, Hill had scored 13 of his game-high 21 points to go along with eight rebounds and six assists on the night.
"It's great to have [Hill] back," said Jazz forward Gordon Hayward, who scored 20 points himself and enjoyed a rare chance to watch the Jazz build a lead while he rested to start the fourth quarter. "The way he was playing before, we need him to keep that up and he did that tonight."
Hill and Hayward are now 6-0 on the year in the games for which they have both been healthy at the same time.
Getting all five starters together has been an even rarer feat. The starting lineup of Hill, Hood, Hayward, Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert had played together in only one other game, a win over the Knicks back on Nov. 6.
Gobert's understated assessment of the quintet's first game back: "Hopefully we can play more than one game."
And while the Jazz starters combined for 74 of Utah's 100 points and 38 of the team's 43 rebounds Thursday, they expect some growing pains ahead.
"I think we still have to figure out our rhythm a little bit, figure out the spacing and figure out what works," Hayward said.
But these, as they say, are good problems to have.
"It's going to take time," Snyder said. "… We've got a chance to look at that and start to figure out who's doing what and how we can do it better. That's the good thing. Whether or not we're there right now, we get a chance to move forward and hopefully we get there."
Twitter: @aaronfalk —
Inside
O Utah's Hood finally over the flu. › C6
• Despite his team's struggles, Philly coach has fans in Utah. › C7