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Naturally reserved and further shellshocked by what had just happened, Derrick Favors was wide-eyed and stunned mostly into silence when he first joined up with the Utah Jazz that February day in Indianapolis.

Nearly five years after that blockbuster trade, Favors was having another quiet night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse last weekend. Through one half Saturday, the Jazz trailed by seven and Favors had scored only two points after missing four of his five attempts. This time, however, the forward wouldn't stay quiet for long.

"We saw Derrick Favors get emotional," shooting guard Rodney Hood said. "… We came back and [Gordon Hayward] hit a big shot. At the timeout, I just saw Derrick bow up and just get excited. That was my first time in my year and a half that I've seen him do that. It meant a lot to us."

Favors may be one of the NBA's most underrated players. The 24-year-old Atlanta native is certainly one of its more understated players. But as the Jazz try to fight their way back to the playoffs for the first time since his rookie year, Favors expects to make a little more noise this season.

So far, his performances have been coming in loud and clear.

Utah has won twice in its first three games to open the season, and Favors has been the team's leading scorer each night. He dropped 26 on Detroit and 20 two nights later against the Philadelphia 76ers.

"He's just had a real focus," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "I think there's a determination right now that he's playing with on both ends of the floor. You can just see it. He's getting the ball deeper and he's not content. You see it in every possession. In some way he wants more."

On Saturday, the Jazz fed the ball inside to Favors on the first possession of the game. With the smaller C.J. Miles on his back, Favors caught the ball about 5 feet from the basket, turned and launched a hook shot that missed.

"Nobody was more upset about that than he was," Snyder said.

It took until 3:30 let in the first half before he turned another mismatch, this one with point guard George Hill on him in the paint, for Favors to score his first points Saturday night.

After that, Favors started to find his way.

The sixth-year power forward hit eight of his 11 attempts in the second half, finishing with a team-high 18 points. With Hayward struggling to find his stroke early on, Favors has been glad to help pick up the slack.

"He's been passionate in the way he's played," Snyder said. "That's probably the biggest thing. It seems like he's enjoying the game. He's attacking the game."

Favors is averaging 21.3 points per game and hitting 52 percent of his shots, though that in itself isn't enough for him.

"I've been working on my game for five years now … so it's kind of satisfying for me to see my hard work paying off, he said. "But overall, I'm still not satisfied." —

Home opener

P Blazers at Jazz

Wednesday, 7 p.m.

TV • ROOT Sports