Randy Foye had been dreadful and he knew it.
Each of his six shots came up short. At no point in the process, from when he set his feet, powered a jolt from his legs through his torso and out his arms, did he feel good about any of the attempts.
“I just didn’t have it the way I usually have it,” Foye said.
But with 3:11 left Wednesday against the Orlando Magic, the Jazz down one and positioned to once again lose after building a large lead, Foye watched Magic guard J.J. Redick leave to help on Al Jefferson. The pass came from Mo Williams, and Foye did everything the same. Set his feet, shot from his legs. This time it went in.
The timely basket gave the Jazz an 81-79 lead, and they never trailed again in the eventual 87-71 victory.
“The whole time I felt as though I was letting my team down,” said Foye, who finished with 3 points on 1-of-7 shooting. “I was getting a lot of open shots, I was front-rimming all of them. But once I hit that shot, I just felt as though [it made up for] all those shots that I missed.”
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Published May 21, 2013 08:49:54AM
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Published May 16, 2013 11:38:21PM 0 Comments
The Jazz (10-10) broke a three-game losing streak with the victory and once again nudged their record to .500. Al Jefferson scored 23 of his season-high 31 points in the second half and pulled down 15 rebounds. However, he left the game with 1:35 remaining after leaving the game with back spasms.
The Jazz list Jefferson as day-to-day, although the center was upbeat in postgame interviews and said he did not expect to miss any games.
For a Jazz team that has been atrocious on the road and comforted only by home games, the win was true to the narrative of their young season. But Orlando nearly disrupted it, as it had done in earlier wins at the Lakers and Golden State.
And if one measured only the guard play, the Jazz appeared to be toast.
The group of Foye, Mo Williams, Gordon Hayward and Earl Watson were a combined 4 of 25 from the field. Hayward’s four points all came on free throws.
Thankfully, the Jazz got support from Jefferson and Paul Millsap, who contributed 22 points.
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