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Philadelphia » The way they played Friday in Deron Williams' absence, Eric Maynor and Wesley Matthews might be allowed to lose the pink "We love to sparkle" backpacks they've had to carry around this season as part of their rookie initiation.
In fact, Maynor and Matthews had no trouble sparkling as they made the first starts of their NBA careers together against the Sixers, the first time the Jazz had started a pair of rookies since Williams and Andre Owens nearly four years ago.
"I just wanted to win," Matthews said. "We knew everybody had to pick it up with Deron being gone and we all were hitting on the same cylinders and you see the result."
"That's a great mark of our character, man," Carlos Boozer added.
"We had guys that weren't afraid, weren't afraid to step up in the big moment."
Maynor overcame two first-quarter fouls to finish with 13 points and 11 assists, his confidence growing almost by the minute as he connected on a three-pointer and pulled up on the break for a jumper in the third quarter.
An undrafted rookie, Matthews came out focused on his defensive assignment on Sixers star Andre Iguodala. He hit two first-quarter three-pointers, though, and had three for the night as he outscored Iguodala 16-11.
"You can't put that into words," Matthews said. "You work so hard for something and you get an opportunity and your first two shots -- I've been struggling
Matthews now is averaging 7.0 points and 18.4 minutes, establishing himself in the rotation with C.J. Miles and Kyle Korver out to start the season.
Maynor had played only 31 minutes all season before logging 36 on Friday. He started slowly, called for his first foul only a minute into the game and his second with 2.0 seconds left in the first quarter and the Sixers on the fast break.
"I picked that up, I was like, 'Oh man, I might be sitting over here for a while,'" Maynor said.
By the end of the night, Maynor even tipped in a miss over 7-footer Jason Smith. He joked about feeling as if he were in college again -- it was his first time back at Wachovia Center since Virginia Commonwealth's NCAA Tournament loss to UCLA.
He even was asked to appear on NBA TV after the game, a show co-hosted by Matt Harpring. Maynor owns the locker next to Harpring's at EnergySolutions Arena, though he never has met his teammate who is out with career-threatening injuries.
"These guys had a lot on their plate," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said, adding, "We've been up and down a lot and it was nice to see them pull together, try to win a game."
Maynor, meanwhile, was asked if he'd made the case for an increased role once Williams rejoins the team and Ronnie Price returns from a sprained toe.
"It's not even that," Maynor said. "I'm always going to do what coach Sloan tells me to do to win. If it's go out there and play 10 minutes or play 30, I'm going to just try to do whatever it takes to win a game."
