26-year-old Jazz rookie Simone Fontecchio shines in first extended NBA action

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HOUSTON — Nine seconds. That's how much time Jazz rookie forward Simone Fontecchio played in Utah's thrilling overtime win in Minnesota.

Funny enough, those seconds came in two stints: one right at the end of the first half and another at the end of the third quarter. Both were the same situation: a low clock and Utah had to go full court in little to no time.

It wasn't an accident that Jazz coach Will Hardy turned to Fontecchio at those moments.

"Simone is a good athlete. He can get out and run, and he can really shoot the ball," Hardy explained before the Jazz's loss to Houston on Monday. "So if we've got one of our downhill guards bringing it up full court on short clock, I love having a shooter on the floor."

That was the first indication that Fontecchio was in for a bigger role. The other: The Jazz were seemingly running through mud after playing their third game in four nights and needed a spark. Fontecchio said that with the team playing on a back-to-back, he thought there might be a chance for the rotation to expand.

Sure enough, with 3:14 left in the third quarter, Fontecchio checked into the game for his first full-time meaningful NBA minutes.

On his first play, he grabbed a rebound and immediately lost it out of bounds. A few moments later, he rushed an outlet pass, which led to a turnover.

After that, he found his rhythm — and then some.

The fourth quarter opened with Fontecchio swinging out to the 3-point line and burying his first NBA bucket. By the end of the night, he had a handful of them.

Fontecchio scored 13 fourth-quarter points, including three 3-pointers and one driving dunk that brought the Jazz within 4 points with 3:37 to play. He went from not really playing over the first three games to suddenly closing a game (Related: The Jazz have used a different closing lineup in each of their four games).

"It was great; he gave us a lift. He can really shoot the ball and knows how to play," Hardy said. "Played well against the close out, made a couple of great decisions on drive and kick. I was really happy for him."

Last month, the 26-year-old rookie from Italy said it was a dream come true to be in the NBA. He had bounced around Europe — playing professionally in Italy, Germany and Spain — and hoped to be good enough to get his chance on the NBA stage.

That chance came on Monday.

It wasn't some grand moment for Fontecchio. In fact, once he was out on the court, it was just basketball. He was good at it in Europe, and he showed a lot of promise of being OK in the NBA, too.

"I just tried to be focused on what I have to do, what my team needs me to do," he said. "I'm not really thinking: 'This is the NBA. This is amazing!' — even if it is amazing. But I'm just trying to stay focused."

For Fontecchio, Monday's game gave him a benchmark of where he is as an NBA player. Yes, he did a lot of things right, but he was quick to point out the things he did wrong — like committing four foul in just 16 minutes and the two quick turnovers.

"I know I've got a lot of things to work on. … But I'm really happy with how I did today," he said. "Unfortunately, we lost, but we've got another one on Wednesday."

And he might be in line for more than nine seconds, once again.