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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;NEW YORK \u2013 Gordon Hayward caused a bit of a stir with a&amp;nbsp;blog post&amp;nbsp;last month. The post was titled \u201CThe Best in the Game\u201D and Hayward tweeted it to his 92,000-plus &amp;nbsp;followers with the following teaser: \u201CIf I played @KingJames 1-on-1, I'd crush him.\"\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For those who didn't read the entire post, Hayward\u2019s brashness was not well received. Hayward later reflected on the critical tweets beamed his way and mentioned that a Cavaliers front office member sent him a text message saying, \u201CDid you really just call out LeBron one-on-one?\u201D Hayward, it turns out, was not calling out James. The post, which briefly crashed his personal website, details Hayward\u2019s video-gaming prowess. When he said he was the best in the game, Hayward was really talking about the&amp;nbsp;\u201CLeague of Legends\"&amp;nbsp;-- not the hardwood where LeBron is a legend.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hayward got a chance to back up his tongue-in-cheek trash talk on Nov. 5 when Cleveland came to town on the second night of a back-to-back. Hayward didn't defeat LeBron one-on-one, but the Jazz did best the Cavs 102-100 thanks to the swingman's big game. Hayward scored 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting, dished out seven assists, executed an impressive chasedown block of LeBron&amp;nbsp;and hit a game-winning, step-back jumper over Tristan Thompson as time expired.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;\u2022&amp;nbsp;MORE NBA: Jazz at No. 21 in latest NBA Power Rankings&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The victory inspired Hayward to write another post&amp;nbsp;on his blog, detailing what it was like to go against James,&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;how the game-winner boosted his confidence, how it was one of the most special nights of his career and how it could serve as a \u201Cwatershed moment\u201D for the Jazz. Hayward also noted how the shot could help his teammates.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If Trey Burke or Alec Burks were ever to face a similar situation, Hayward wrote, his make could help them believe they\u2019re capable of pulling off the same thing. Sure enough, Trey Burke drilled a buzzer-beating fadeaway&amp;nbsp;to beat the Knicks in Madison Square Garden just nine days later. Burke\u2019s shot came after he spoke, prior to the game, about trying to remaining confident in himself during a shooting slump.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CWhen your shot\u2019s not falling, you have to find other ways to affect the game,\u201D said Burke, who is shooting just 32 percent from the field this season. \u201CAnd for myself, that\u2019s something that I go through sometimes. You play a little inconsistent, you miss some shots, and you just can\u2019t lose confidence. So, I know that I\u2019ll break out of it and just continue to help my team win.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u200B\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The takeaway from Hayward\u2019s dagger? A signature moment for a rising superstar. Neither his shot not Burke's may mean much down the road \u2013 unless Utah were to unexpectedly find itself jostling for playoff positioning in a stacked Western Conference. Though they do provide more evidence for those touting Utah as one of the league\u2019s more intriguing, if not particularly threatening, teams.&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Jazz have passed the point in their rebuilding process where incompetence outweighs intrigue. This is a maturing team whose pieces are finally beginning to resemble something more than just raw talent with upside. It\u2019s why some observers predicted&amp;nbsp;Utah to be this year\u2019s 2013-14 Suns. The Jazz, in simple terms, are &lt;em &gt;getting closer&lt;/em&gt;, and watching them bridge the gap from fun outfit to playoff combatant will be fascinating.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CLast year, it was a lot of guy\u2019s first time being a starter,\u201D Jazz center Derrick Favors said. \"We had a lot of stuff to learn, and this year, we\u2019re used to everything now so it kind of makes it a little bit easier.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hayward\u2019s seeming star turn is one of the biggest reasons why there\u2019s optimism surrounding Utah\u2019s growth. Some suggested the Jazz may have miscalculated by letting Hayward hit restricted free agency this summer. Utah matched a four-year, $63 million max offer sheet from the Hornets for a player who struggled to adapt to a central role following the after the departures of post pillars Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson. Yet through 11 games this season, Hayward has given indications that the sticker price backlash was misguided.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hayward is averaging 19.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists and has made big leaps in Player Efficiency Rating (16.2 to 23.4) and shooting percentage (41.3 to 48.3). When Hayward is on the floor, Utah is scoring 4.2 more points per 100 possessions and yielding fewer on the other end, according to NBA.com. We may look back on that Cavs game as a signature moment in Hayward\u2019s rise, but he also fared well last Friday against&amp;nbsp;Carmelo Anthony in New York, finishing with a season-high 33 points in the win.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CHe makes it easy for everybody else\u201D, Favors said of Hayward. \u201CHe makes it easy for myself. He improved a lot since last year.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Utah\u2019s investment in Favors \u2013 a four-year extension worth at least $49 million \u2013 was viewed as a wager on potential. The 6-foot-10 big man is beginning to show flashes of building-block material, though it\u2019s still too early to know whether his output can be maintained over a full season. Through Monday, Favors\u2019 scoring and shooting percentages had increased, but his rebounds had dipped and the Jazz remain one of the worst defensive teams in the league even during his floor time.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Enes Kanter, who struggled last season and failed to reach an agreement before this year's deadline, has provided more efficient offensive production while trying to expand his range out to the three-point line (he\u2019s attempted 17 treys after launching three over the previous three seasons). And Rudy Gobert, after a stong showing at this summer\u2019s FIBA World Cup in Spain, profiles as an elite rim protector.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, any angst over Burke\u2019s slow start is tempered by the rapid development of first-round pick Dante Exum. The Aussie was considered one of the bigger projects near the top of the draft but has already played himself into the early Rookie of the Year conversation. Another long-term backcourt piece, Alec Burks, may not develop into a Demar Derozan-type offensive creator, but the $42 million deal Utah handed to him was a reasonable gamble given the final three years will likely occupy a proportionally smaller slice of cap room.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For all the promise Utah\u2019s core offers, though, more growing pains are coming for a team whose youth and inexperience will likely keep it out of the playoff picture this season. Utah still ranks near the bottom of the league in defensive efficiency, and several propositions \u2013 if Burke snaps out of his funk, if Favors makes strides, if Exum\u2019s growth pattern continues to track earlier than expected \u2013 will need to come to fruition for Utah to be taken seriously in the West.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Still, it\u2019s clear Utah is progressing, if incrementally, towards contention. Whereas it was difficult to decipher the core of Utah\u2019s next playoff-caliber outfit as recently as a couple of years ago, there\u2019s now a clear blueprint in place. You can envision this group playing meaningful spring basketball, even if it likely won\u2019t happen this year.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CWe have a long way to go to get to where we want to go, but I definitely think that the chemistry is a little better,\u201D Burke said. \u201CWe kind of know who we are as a team \u2013 we just have to continue to grow.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/nba/2014/11/17/utah-jazz-gordon-hayaward-trey-burke-dante-exum>