Hard-fought win gives Jazz much-needed confidence

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SALT LAKE CITY — Coming into Friday night's game, few expected the Utah Jazz to come away with a win against one of the best teams in the league, let alone take an 18-point lead late in the third quarter. However, the Jazz were poised and pulled out a huge win to help boost their confidence as they leave town to play their next five games on the road.

Gaining confidence and progressing seemed to be the overriding factor in Friday night's game, with every player on the Jazz roster exerting their all on the court — playing as a unified, consistent team. A hard-fought, close win against one of the best team's in the league helped to show a struggling Jazz team that wins are possible.

"It's a big one for us, especially to go on a five-game road trip. It gives a lot of momentum now. We finished the game finally, so, obviously we can learn from this and keep our composure and keep doing what we've been doing," Devin Harris said following Utah's win. "We're learning. We're still growing as a team and hopefully we can still grow as the season goes on."

Harris, a veteran of the league, but a player who has oftentimes struggled to find his identity with the Jazz, came up big for the team when it mattered most, hitting the game-winning shot. Harris ended the game with 13 points and five assists, but his six-for-seven free throw shooting helped push the Jazz over the top for the win.

"You know that a team like that is bound to make a run at some point," Harris said. "The first half we did a good job of hitting first, but with guys like (Miami has) you know they are going to come back. We took the hit and won the game."

But consistency is key for Utah. The Jazz have had several momentum- changing wins this season, but have not been able to harness the momentum and turn it in to consistent play or wins. Road victories against the Denver Nuggets and the Memphis Grizzlies, and home wins against the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers were all big wins, but never amounted to a consistent winning streak.

"I think you've got to look for the future. You've got your failures, you try to learn from them — do better. Today we made a lot of progress," Paul Millsap said. "It helps us out. It helps us build a little confidence. We know that we can close out games against good teams."

And the confidence Millsap speaks of will be definitely needed starting Saturday as the Jazz begin a five-game road trip in seven nights, starting with defending champions Dallas Mavericks and ending with the red-hot, first place Chicago Bulls.

"Especially going out on the road, this is a huge win for us; a huge boost for us," Coach Ty Corbin said. "We need some good things to happen. We've been playing well and playing hard, but just to get the win after a team makes a run and comes back and finish a game off like this is a great boost for us."

LeBron James took it to a whole new level. He made some video game shots; shots you can see on 2K.

–Al Jefferson

LeBron James in clutch moments

LeBron James has taken a lot of heat over his career for not possessing the so-called clutch gene; the gene that seems to encompass the game of Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant. And the criticism continues following James' decision to pass the ball off to the wide-open Udonis Haslem with seconds quickly winding down in Friday's game.

James was red hot in the second half, particularly the fourth quarter, where he scored 17 points and brought the Heat back into the game. Many shots looked like James did not even try, yet the ball went into the hoop. But with four seconds left in the game, and a hot-handed James getting the ball, the outcome seemed imminent.

"LeBron James took it to a whole new level," Al Jefferson said. "He made some video game shots; shots you can see on 2K."

And while Jazz players were shocked to see James pass the ball, many thought he made the right move passing it off to Haslem, who would likely make that shot 90 percent of the time.

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"I wasn't really expecting Udonis to get the shot, but everybody did a good job playing defense," Josh Howard said. "Every guy in the NBA is an NBA player for a reason, so they had faith in U.D. to knock down the shot, but he didn't and it was a good thing for us."

But the criticism about James passing the ball unfortunately overshadows his phenomenal play, and it has for much of his career. From the NBA Finals to games similar to Friday night, James' career has been surrounded around his seemingly inability to take the clutch shot.

Even James lamented, tweeting: "Man I have a sick feeling in my stomach right now! Really wanted tonight's game. I just had to make one more dang play out there." He followed that up with another tweet, saying: "A stop, rebound, a shot, assist, a block, whatever it took. I fell short again."

And although the Heat lost Friday's game, putting an end to a nine-game winning streak, James scored 73 points in back-to-back games, with his Thursday night performance putting him in the record books. On Thursday, James recorded 38 points with 11 rebounds, six assists and five steals and no turnovers. He followed that up Friday with 35 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, three blocks and no turnovers.