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The pain in Gordon Hayward's back has subsided — and so have any frustrations with the guy who caused it.
"At the time it definitely was a what-are-you-thinking moment," Hayward said Monday when asked if he was upset with Blazers guard C.J. McCollum's hard foul last week at EnergySolutions Arena.
The foul came late in the fourth quarter of last Monday's game. After Hayward picked off a pass, he raced toward the basket with McCollum trailing. That's when the third-year guard swiped at Hayward from behind, catching his left shoulder and causing the Jazzman to fall hard to the floor.
McCollum was assessed a flagrant-2 foul and ejected.
"I didn't try to, I was just trying to prevent a layup," McCollum told reporters after the game, according to the Blazers' official website. "It's unfortunate, I'm glad he wasn't hurt."
Hayward practiced through pain last week before sitting out both Friday night's practice and Saturday's preseason rematch with the Blazers due to a sore lower back, watching as McCollum scored 26 points and dished nine assists to help lead Portland to an overtime win.
"I don't think he's a dirty guy," Hayward said of McCollum. "I think it was just a bad play by him. He apologized and everything. He was just trying to do the right thing for his coaches and his staff" by following a directive to not give up dunks.
"It's a close game and everything," Hayward continued. "It's just one of those things where it's just a bad play."
On Monday, a week after the fall, the Jazz swingman was on the mend.
"I feel much better after taking some time and resting a little bit," Hayward said, confirming that he plans to play in Tuesday's preseason game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Posting up
Rodney Hood can score in bunches and in a bunch of different ways.
But Jazz coach Quin Snyder wants the 6-foot-8 guard to add something else to his repertoire this season: a post game.
"It really wasn't in my game," Hood said Monday. "I could shoot over a lot of guys, but as far as posting up, last year I couldn't really do it because I was too impatient. But working with [Jazz assistant coach] Johnnie Bryant, we've done a lot of work on different moves in the post and just being confident and not rushing myself."
On Sunday night, Snyder was barking at Hood to put some of that work to use.
"He just wants me to hunt it, especially during this time just to get more comfortable with it," Hood said.
Working overtime
After sitting out last Monday's preseason game in Salt Lake City, former Weber State star Damian Lillard went all out in Sunday's rematch, playing a whopping 42 minutes in Portland's overtime win.
"I mean, who are we to not want to win that game?" Lillard said. "So we stuck with it, we wanted to win the game and we stayed out there and played."
For a player of Lillard's caliber, a two-time All-Star expected to play heavy minutes as Portland's undisputed floor leader this season, it would have been understandable for Lillard to pull the plug earlier in the game. But that wasn't Lillard's thinking.
"Like I said, who are we to not want to win the game?" he said. "We fought our way back at the end of regulation and I said let's just win the game. There's no reason to say, 'All right, that's enough.'"
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