This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

It's fair to say Rodney Hood had been in a slump.

The Jazz shooting guard hadn't broken double-digits in scoring in a week. He had connected on three of his past 17 attempts from beyond the arc.

So perhaps his confidence was shaky when Jazz coach Quin Snyder called his number Tuesday night.

"He drew up a play for me to shoot it," Hood said, "and I didn't feel comfortable shooting it."

Snyder's response?

"I told him I was going to take him out if he didn't shoot," the coach said.

That was motivation enough and Hood's change of heart — and change of fortune from the field — helped fuel the Jazz past the reigning NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers, 100-92, at Vivint Smart Home Arena.

"He yelled at me," Hood said with a grin, recounting Snyder's motivational tactics. "From then on, I just kept firing away."

Hood scored 18 points, knocking down seven of his 15 attempts from the floor as the Jazz took down LeBron James' squad.

"When he gets going, he's hard to stop, huh?" Jazz forward Gordon Hayward said.

Even during Hood's recent slump, Snyder has tried to keep his shooting guard confident.

"The only thing that discourages me is when he doesn't shoot," Snyder said. "I'm confident he'll make them. I just don't want him to be hesitant. I don't want to see him dribble four or five times. I want to see him shoot, or dribble twice and shoot. Just be decisive."

The coach, however, added he needs more effort from Hood on defense.

"He was invested in the game. He wasn't thinking," Snyder said. "He looked like a guy that was just out there playing and playing aggressively."

That's how Hood felt, too, especially when his team needed him late in the game.

With the Cavaliers applying pressure, cutting the lead to six with two minutes to play, Hayward trusted Hood to fire away.

"I just shot it," Hood said of the 3-pointer that pushed the lead to 99-90. "I can't start worrying about makes or misses. But I knew it uplifted our team. We were struggling a little bit. … We needed that one to go down."

So did Hood.

afalk@sltrib.com

Twitter: @aaronfalk