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His team needed this win.
Those were the defining words of Utah Jazz power forward Derrick Favors following an exhausting 122-119 overtime victory against the Indiana Pacers. Favors knew his team was teetering against the brink of falling below .500 for the season. And after disappointing home losses against the Golden State Warriors and the Orlando Magic this week, someone had to step forward and stop the slide.
That someone was Favors, with ample help from Gordon Hayward. The sixth-year center out of Georgia Tech had a career night, scoring 35 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. He converted a three-point play at the end of regulation to force the extra session. He scored a team-high six points in the overtime period.
In every way on Saturday night, Favors was the alpha that the Jazz needed down the stretch. And because of this, Utah was able to survive a sensational performance from Indiana star Paul George, who scored 48 points and grabbed eight rebounds in front of 19,500 at Vivint Smart Home Arena.
"We had a couple of home games and we dropped two, and we just needed this one, especially with Rudy Gobert being out," Favors said. "The coach trusts me to make decisions and my teammates trust me as well. I've been working on my game a lot the last five seasons, and I'm glad everything is panning out for me."
It was a huge win for Utah because at many points during the fourth quarter, it looked as if the Jazz were on the verge of another disappointing loss. When Pacers guard Rodney Stuckey drove the lane for a lay-up with 3:38 remaining, Indiana had a 102-96 advantage, its largest lead of the game.
The Jazz spent most of the first three quarters ahead, and led by as many as 17 points midway through that third period. But the Pacers are no longer a plodding and methodical bunch offensively. Now, they are explosive, and can make it rain from 3-point land.
Against Utah, that's exactly what they did, shooting their way back into the game. But down six with three minutes left, the Jazz didn't panic. Down 108-105, Trevor Booker secured an offensive rebound, and hit two free throws. George went to the other end and made it 110-107 at the foul line with 15.8 seconds remaining in regulation. But Jazz shooting guard Alec Burks drove the lane, found Favors for the score and the foul, and Favors converted to send the game into overtime.
"This one really hurts," George said. "We played well enough to win tonight. We were up and winning and we didn't take care of business to close."
Although George was unstoppable for much of the evening, Hayward did a tremendous job on him defensively in overtime, denying him the ball, getting into his space when he did make a catch and not allowing him any clean looks at the rim.
As a result, George scored just three points in the extra five minutes. That forced the other Indiana players to make plays at important times, and they weren't able to do it. Hayward scored 22 points, grabbed five rebounds and handed out five assists, but his biggest contribution on this night came when he didn't have the ball in his hands.
"Gordon's begun to take challenges on the defensive end," Snyder said. "I thought Derrick and Gordon were both terrific. We needed them to step up and I asked them for that yesterday. With Gordon wanting to guard Paul George down the stretch, I thought what Gordon and Derrick did tonight was equally impressive."
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Storylines
R Utah puts five players in double-figures, including 19 points from Trey Burke off the bench.
• Former Jazz guard C.J. Miles scores 12 points, but misses eight of his 10 shots.
• There were 12 lead changes in Saturday night's game and eight ties, which shows how close the game was.