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SALT LAKE CITY — Danuel House Jr. transformed into an archer grabbing an arrow. Not any archer, either.
He turned into Legolas from Lord of the Rings as his followed through and reached for his imaginary quiver. As he pulled the strings, his hand shaped in the way Spider-Man shoots a web.
Yep, House's trademark 3-point celebration is a combination of him playing Legolas and Spider-Man. If that sounds like it came straight out of a little kid's imagination, well, that's because it did.
Every time House fires up the bow — like he did after hitting a 3-pointer in the first minute of overtime during Utah's 121-115 win over Memphis on Tuesday — it's a nod to his four children.
"My sons are really big into Spider-Man, and then, of course, we watched the Lord of the Rings and they like all that type of stuff," House said. "So Legolas was the bow and arrow because we shoot 3s, and then kind of some Spider-Man with it because we just made it up together. So it's just something to do in celebration for my kids and my family."
He's getting to fire up the bow quite a bit, too. House is shooting 42% from deep since signing with Utah on Jan. 7. And he hasn't been shy, taking 3.1 attempts in 18 minutes per game.
That number should only go up as House gets more playing time. If Tuesday was any indication, that time will come.
House was part of Utah's closing lineup in the fourth quarter and played all five minutes of overtime. It was the second time this season House has closed out a game — the first was in Utah's win over the Phoenix Suns in late February. The Jazz beat the top two teams in the Western Conference, with House being the team's main wing defender. That role could very likely continue into the postseason.
He's the team's best screen navigator, and he stuck with Desmond Bane during critical possessions down the stretch.
"His length in a lot of situations has an impact," Quin Snyder said of House, before going on to praise the rest of Utah's bench. "I thought our whole group competed. Our bench was really good tonight — Jordan (Clarkson), Rudy (Gay), Hassan (Whiteside) — it was good to see all those guys really step up. That stretch there was a lot of energy."
Maybe none more so than early in the fourth quarter.
Like a sprinter leaving the blocks, House exploded past everyone as he raced down the court in transition. He had barely stepped inside the 3-point line when Mike Conley threw a lob to the rim that House caught in full sprint and slammed it home.
Not bad for someone who got to Utah on a 10-day deal in the middle of the season.
"It's just creating floor spacing and easy opportunities for myself or someone else; it's just being selfless and the selfless part is what the team needs," he said of his aggression in transition. "As I've said since my first day, I'm just coming here to contribute whatever I can give to the team, whatever we need that night so we can come out on top."
As for any grand meanings to Tuesday's game — be it him closing the contest or the Jazz finding their footing — House shrugged them off.
"We won a game. We gotta win some more. That's it," he said.
