This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

He'd done it before, countless times even, in the driveway of his childhood home in Mississippi, but Rodney Hood had never hit a game-winner in a game.
Not as a high school star, not as a standout at Duke, and not during his two-plus years in the National Basketball Association.
Not until Friday night anyway.
With the Utah Jazz on the verge of a devastating loss—at home, to the last-place team in the Western Conference, to a team missing three of its top six players—Hood picked a fine time to live out a boyhood dream.
"Everybody dreams of that feeling," Hood said. "Time going down, 3-2-1. You hit the shot and the crowd goes crazy. I did it a lot of times in my front yard, but never in a real game. So it felt good to get this one."
The Jazz led by as much as 15 against the Mavericks on Friday night at Vivint SmartHome Arena. But with 45 seconds to play, Dallas forward tied the game at 100.
Utah had chances to take the lead on the next possession, but they went begging, putting the ball back in the hands of a familiar foe.
Former Jazzman Deron Williams had scored 18 points and dished out seven assists in his return to Utah.
"For whatever reason, he always seems to play well against us," Jazz forward Gordon Hayward said.
In crunch time, however, Williams gave his old team a lifeline.
The veteran guard, who had been booed by fans all night, initiated the Dallas offense on the right side of the floor, finding space to fire up a shot to win. But Williams had gone too early.
"As a point guard, I know when to run a play," he said afterward. "I started the play too early and couldn't really check the time because of how the play developed. I've just got to do a better job controlling the game. End of the game like that, we've got to get the shot off with as little of time as possible, you know, if not the game clock going out. So that's my fault as a point guard."
Williams missed the shot with about 7.8 seconds still on the game clock, and the rebound went to Hood. Had the Jazz guard not taken a dribble, Utah coach Quin Snyder might have called timeout to draw up a play. Instead, the dribble meant Utah could not advance the ball and, in the ensuing confusion, Hood took advantage.
"There was a lot of indecision," Snyder said. "You kind of could see the open court and there was enough time and I just wanted him to go. We were struggling in the half court mightily. So maybe the best thing that could have happened was him just pushing it up and getting at least a clean look."
Hood streaked down the left side of the court, past Williams, and into the front court, where he pulled up from 26 feet out.
"It felt good," Hood said. "It felt good. You never know, though. It's kind of like your'e holding your breath a little bit."



When the ball had sailed through the net with .8 seconds to go, securing a 103-100 win for the Jazz, Hood exhaled.
"I didn't know what to do, so I just shook a little bit," he said.
Hood had practiced that shot countless times before. The shimmy, however, was something he said he'd only just picked up, watching center Rudy Gobert dance in the locker room.



— Aaron Falk