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SALT LAKE CITY — There wasn't a lot to smile about Wednesday for the Utah Jazz.
The Jazz were run off their own floor, dropping the season-opener to the Sacramento Kings 130-116.
Utah had no answer for Sacramento's up-tempo attack, had no answer for the Kings' hot shooting (13-of-28 in the first half), and had no consistent answer for their own offensive struggles.
It was a rough night.
The final minutes of the game even featured a "light the beam" chant from a small group of Sacramento fans — not exactly the dream opening night.
So why, then, did a smile creep out of Keyonte George?
"To be completely honest with you, I feel like I belong," George said. "Since we've been playing, I think that was the most comfortable I've ever been in an NBA basketball game."
At the start of the second quarter, George sped by Chris Duarte after a nasty crossover and then elevated for a high-flying layup. Moments later, he pulled up for a deep 3-pointer. That was quite the way to start his NBA career.
"I know all the homies back at home saw that," George said. "They were definitely excited about that one."
George finished with 8 points on 3-of-5 shooting and two assists. With Talen Horton-Tucker, Collin Sexton and Kris Dunn struggling with shooting and turnovers, a case could be made that George was the best Utah guard not named Jordan Clarkson.
That's both good and bad.
The good: George is ready to contribute right now; the bad: Should a rookie guard really be outplaying those more experienced players?
"Keyonte stayed on the floor because I thought he was playing well," Jazz coach Will Hardy said. "I think Keyonte is a good player. I think we have high expectations for Keyonte and his future, but in no way are we going into these games just saying, 'Hey, we're gonna play Keyonte to play Keyonte.' I thought that he was reading the game well; he made some really good decisions."
George called it a confidence-boosting game. If we're being frank, though, George didn't need one; he was full of that already. That came from playing against pros during summer runs as far back as high school, and it comes from his relentless work to prepare for this season.
Wednesday night may have served as confirmation for the young guard that he was ready for the NBA, but it's something he already knew.
"Confidence comes from the preparation," he said. "When you prepare, when you go out there, I mean, the shots that are going in, you work on those shots all the time — different reads, different passes — you work on those."
When asked where he felt the most comfortable during his pro debut, he — as humbly as he could — responded: "Wherever you saw me — off the ball, on the ball."
"Preseason was really good for me, just because I got reps," he added. "It's all about reps. In practice, I'm going extremely hard trying to go extremely hard. Trying to generate shots that I'm gonna get in the game in practice, so when I get in the game it's second nature. I'm just super confident in my game and super confident in the guys that I have in the locker room."
And those guys are getting more and more confident in him, too.
"I thought he was really poised out there," Dunn said. "I thought he took great shots, and with the talent that he has, you've got to be proud with the situation that he was in. So I feel like throughout the season, we're gonna get more and more from him. .... He put in the work. He put the work in, I think, tonight; he got rewarded for it."
