Utah Jazz: Randy Foye says his offense is fueled by defense

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The second question directed to coach Tyrone Corbin during his postgame meeting with the media Monday night concerned Randy Foye's performance.

Foye scored a team-high 17 points in the Jazz's 107-91 win over Philadelphia on Monday night at EnergySolutions Arena.

Corbin praised his veteran guard's aggressiveness and, as he was finishing his answer, Foye happened to walk past the gathering outside the Jazz locker room.

"Thanks, coach," he said, smiling.

"No, thank you," Corbin replied.

The Jazz, of course, desperately needed to beat the 76ers if they hope to catch the Los Angeles Lakers for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

Because of Utah's precarious situation, Foye's effort was critical.

"He did a great job of just coming out aggressively," Corbin said. "I thought, defensively, he got himself going. He was aggressive on the ball and, as a result, he was able to get his offense going. He had a couple of early drives to the basket ... [and] got the feel of the ball going into the basket."

For Foye, it was his highest-scoring game since Feb. 2-4, when he finished with 23 in a win at Portland and 20 in an overtime victory over Sacramento.

Foye had reached double figures only once in the previous nine games — a stretch when he was 18-for-57 from the field.

As Corbin said, Foye believes his effort on defense and to-the-basket mindset on offense keyed his breakout game against the 76ers.

"The past six or seven games I've been tremendously aggressive on defense and trying to drive the ball," he said. "I just tried to stick to it."

Foye's first basket came after a drive only 1:24 into the game.

"As a scorer and a shooter, you see the ball go in on a layup and — gosh — now it seems like I'm throwing a rock into the ocean," he said.

Defensively, Foye was part of an effort that limited Philadelphia's starting backcourt of Jrue Holiday and Damien Wilkins to 20 points on 7-for-17 shooting. They only shot eight free throws in a combined 47 minutes.

"My main focus has been defense," Foye said. ".... I just try to take a lot of pride in my defense and try to shut guys down."