Utah Jazz: George Hill ignores the pain in his toe to push toward the playoffs

Washington D.C. • George Hill sat in his locker room stall Friday following Utah's win over the Milwaukee Bucks. He was relaxed and tanned, the product of a vacation during the All-Star break.

Like many around the Jazz, Hill took advantage of the week off. The sprained toe that has plagued him for three months feels better. But he is at peace knowing it won't be fully healthy until the offseason.

"It's mind over matter at this point," Hill said. "It's time to just go out there and grind it out. Yes, it takes a lot of energy to do some things, but I can't cry about it. I'm sure that I'm not the only player in the NBA who's hurting."

Ahead of Sunday's matchup against the Washington Wizards, Hill's been a veteran voice to his younger teammates. He knows the postseason is around the corner. In a career that has spanned almost a decade, Hill has been on many playoff runs with the San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers. Playing high-pressure basketball in March, April and May is almost second nature to him.

"It's always good when you get to relax for a couple of days and get your legs back under you," Hill said. "Some teams come out of the break sluggish. We know we can't afford that. Like I've been saying, after the break the good teams start to get better and the bad teams start to tank. We need to see where we are and hopefully we can continue to climb the ladder."

There's nothing like leading through example, and Hill's floor game in the 109-95 victory over the Bucks was one of his better efforts of the past month. In 34 minutes, Hill scored 19 points. His defense proved stifling throughout the night, as four steals would attest.

More impressively, Hill scored 19 points with significant efficiency. He was 4 of 6 from the field, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range, and made all eight of his free-throw attempts.

In short, he looked like the healthy George Hill the Jazz saw at the start of the season, one who was shooting above 50 percent from the perimeter and scoring at a high rate.

"Obviously, we're going to be a better team when we can get that kind of play out of our point guard spot," Utah coach Quin Snyder said. "I thought George and Dante [Exum] were both very good."

The eye-test supports Hill's statistical output. He got to the basket off the dribble with ease. His jumper showed balance, and he was able to dominate Milwaukee's Matthew Dellavedova and Malcom Brogdon.

Friday night represented what the Jazz could be when fully healthy. It featured the all-around brilliance of Gordon Hayward's 29 points, the interior dominance of Rudy Gobert, and potent bench play that prevented a drop-off in production.

Hill tied all of that together with his ability to run the offense, defend and make shots. Like he has been so many times this season, Hill was Snyder's security blanket; whenever Milwaukee made a run, Snyder got his guard back in the game.

"We knew they were an aggressive pick-and-roll team on defense," Hill said. "So we had to take our time and attack. We knew that the middle and the short corner would be open, so we just wanted to make plays. I feel better, but the toe is something that I'm still dealing with and it sucks. But it's grind time, so it's time to go out and play well."

tjones@sltrib.com

Twitter: @tribjazz