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Derrick Favors might have had an extra bite of sweet potato, but other than that he showed a restraint most don't on Thanksgiving.
"I swear I didn't eat that much," he said, "… because I knew we had the game coming up, practice the next day. So I'm just going to be smart about it, don't take too much of a big portion and just be smart."
Gordon Hayward skimped, too.
"I think we're professionals," he said after practice Friday. "You've got to know your body and know it's your job."
What the Utah Jazz would like a second helping of is what they dished out to the Clippers on Wednesday night in Los Angeles. In a 102-91 win, the Jazz put together a complete performance.
"Yeah, I thought we played extremely well as a team," Hayward said when asked if that was the best 48-minute performance the Jazz have had so far this year. "We defended. We shared the basketball. We made the plays that we had to down the stretch."
"Hopefully we can build on that," he added. "I think it was a good confidence booster for us."
Hayward particularly looked impressive in the win, scoring a season-high 33 points and knocking down 5 of 7 attempts from 3-point territory.
"I got a lot of good looks," he said. "When that happens, it's a lot easier. Instead of always starting with a couple fadeaway twos or some tough floaters, I got some good looks early and once you see the ball go in, things start to open up for you."
The Jazz host the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday to start their first homestand of the year, after playing 10 of their first 14 games away from Salt Lake.
Highs and lowlights
First, DeMar DeRozan's dunk over Rudy Gobert made the rounds. Then, on Wednesday, Gobert became the victim in another highlight when Clippers point guard Chris Paul caused Gobert to fall down while defending him on the perimeter. The replay showed that Paul pushed Gobert and the Jazz center tripped over Paul's foot.
"Rudy's been through a lot lately," Favors said with a grin. "… I didn't even ask him about it. I just let it go. There have been a couple plays where stuff happened. So I'm just gonna let it go. Whatever you feel happened happened. I'm just going to take your word for it."
Counting the minutes
Hayward played a season-high 40 minutes on Wednesday, perhaps more than Jazz coach Quin Snyder would like to see on an average night. But the Jazz were missing point guard Trey Burke in the second half because of injury, they knew they had time off ahead, and Hayward was hot.
"So it made sense that night to let him play more," Snyder said. "We're not usually playing our guys [that much]. We're conscious of that."
Injury report
Burke and guard Rodney Hood are both dealing with back spasms and both listed as questionable to play in Saturday's game against New Orleans. Hood's injury appears to be less severe, however. He practiced Friday, while Burke did not.
Twitter: @tribjazz