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With a thick bag of ice wrapped around each knee and his gold chain glistening in the locker room following the season-opening loss at Portland on Tuesday, Joe Johnson sat with his head down, wondering what more he could've done to help the Jazz beat the Trail Blazers.

With each word Johnson spoke, the disappointment of the outcome resonated in his voice. At the same time, his performance answered lingering questions about his readiness to help the Jazz.

Johnson still has the ability to score and is not washed up. And yes, he can still be the same guy he was for the past decade. All of that was in some doubt following a preseason where he shot the ball horridly, seemed out of place in Quin Snyder's offense and struggled on both ends of the floor.

"At the end of the day, man, it's basketball," Johnson said. "I've been around for quite some time, so I know when to pick my spots. I'm just trying to play within the offense, and I just wanted to be aggressive because I knew my team needed it."

Johnson was a revelation on Tuesday, scoring a team-high 29 points — 27 of which came in the second half, including 15 in the first seven minutes of the third quarter.

Everything Johnson has been known for in his career came to fruition against the Blazers: His ability to score a lot of points in little time. His penchant for scoring in the post with his back to the basket. His jumper, always been a strength, was on target.

Along with Rodney Hood, Johnson's offensive ability led the Jazz back from a double-digit deficit, staked Utah to an eight-point fourth quarter lead and put the Jazz in position to win the season opener. Portland didn't allow that to happen — Blazers point guard Damian Lillard scored 39 — but Johnson's second half inspired confidence regardless.

"He was just so good in the post," Hood said. "They kept trying to switch Dame [Lillard] and other guards on him in the post and he kept scoring. It was just in the flow of the offense. We kept getting easy baskets, and we wanted to keep milking it. It was just good basketball."

Johnson gave a glimpse as to how diverse Utah's set of wings can be, once Gordon Hayward gets healthy and back in the lineup. At 6-foot-8 and 240 pounds, he's bigger than most small forwards in the league, and he's strong enough to take them close to the basket.

His size and strength caused the Blazers matchup issues in the second half. If Portland had a bigger defender on Johnson, he calmly took his game to the perimeter, isolated himself, got to the basket and scored. If Lillard or CJ McCollum switched onto him, Johnson went into the post and either scored or found a teammate for an easy basket.

Johnson averaged 5.2 points per game during the preseason, and shot 32 percent from the field in doing so, including 18 percent from 3-point range. As a result, there was some question as to whether the game had passed Johnson up. After all, he's 35 years old and has been in the NBA since 2001. But Tuesday answered those questions.

Johnson won't score 29 points every game this season. But he's capable of being an explosive offensive player, and should fit nicely into his sixth man role, once Hayward returns. If he can do that, and play well enough as a starter while Hayward rehabs his finger, the Jazz as a team should be better off for it.

"Joe was really good for us," Snyder said. "He's someone who is a veteran and we try not to put too much weight on his shoulders. He was able to get it going, and we saw he had it going and we tried to get him the ball. He was obviously effective doing that."

twitter: @tribjazz —

Joe Johnson's opener

P He shot 12 of 16 from the field, and added four rebounds and three assists at Portland.

• Johnson scored a team-high 29 points in 31 minutes. He hit three of his four 3-point attempts.

• Johnson had 15 points in the third quarter, helping the Jazz erase a 54-46 halftime deficit.

Jazz vs. Lakers

P At Vivint Smart Home Arena

Friday, 7 p.m.

TV • ROOT