After a controversial call with the Jazz’s cleanup crew, Utah beats Chicago in double overtime
Keyonte George’s game-winner saves the Jazz some blushes.
Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George (3) makes a three-point basket over Chicago Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu to take the lead in the last seconds of the second overtime of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rob Gray)
Keyonte George didn’t have an auspicious start to the game on Sunday night.
Right as the game’s tip-off was about to occur, George pulled off his warm-up shirt to find he wasn’t wearing his Utah Jazz jersey. So he sprinted back to the locker room to get a jersey on — at which point referee crew chief Marc Davis gave the Jazz a delay of game warning.
“My age came out with that one,” George said.
But three hours and eight minutes later, after coming up one basketball requisite short, George took home an extra one: the game ball. His 3-point game-winning shot with two seconds left in double overtime pushed the Jazz to their fifth win of the 2025-26 season, 150-147.
George’s 33 points contributed greatly to the victory, but it was Lauri Markkanen’s 47-point performance that took the cake. Markkanen, now averaging 30.4 points per game for the season, nearly secured his second 50-point game of the campaign as he hit one significant shot after another, especially in the game’s fourth quarter.
The Jazz had multiple opportunities to avoid the double overtime, though, and win earlier. In an overtime game, every point was critical — and one point came on a second delay of game called against the Jazz’s team attendants mopping up the floor.
With 5:42 left in the fourth quarter, Chicago’s Nikola Vucevic fell to the ground near halfcourt, drawing a foul on the Jazz. The Jazz’s mop men came out to wipe up Vucevic’s sweat without getting permission from the referee crew, earning the second delay of game whistle and a technical foul free throw for Chicago.
The #UtahJazz had just taken a 3 point lead when this happens… foul called, bodies down, ball boys come out to mop up the sweat and… the Jazz get called for delay of game. Will Hardy was FUMING! Take a look and listen
👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽#TakeNote #NBA pic.twitter.com/MFub1XHoUv
— Sam Farnsworth (@Samsworth_TV) November 17, 2025
“I don’t want to give money away, so I’m not going to comment on what I think of that particular moment,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said afterward — though his anger at the referees at the time was revealed on television. “Christmas is coming.”
The Jazz controlled their own fate, though, when Markkanen had the chance to give the Jazz the lead at the free-throw line, but ended up making just one of two with 19 seconds to go in regulation. A jump ball surrendered and subsequent turnover with 5.6 seconds left in overtime also allowed the Bulls’ Coby White to hit another game-tying basket to extend the contest again when it probably should have ended.
From a Jazz perspective, though, that was all forgotten when George hit his shot.
“These are the games that you want to play. Obviously, they’re a lot of fun,” Markkanen said. “We wish that we got it done in the regulation, obviously, but, I mean, you wouldn’t change a double overtime game. Those are fun.”
