As the decade comes to a close tonight, it’s time to take a trip down memory lane to the beginning of the decade.
The date was Jan. 14, 2010, and LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers were in town. The Jazz had recently signed unknown prospect Sundiata Gaines to a 10-day contract, but soon every Jazz fan would know his name.
Down two, Gaines hit a game-winning, buzzer-beating 3-pointer in what became one of the best regular-season games this decade for Utah. The ball was inbounded to Kyle Korver, who was double-teamed. Korver swung it to Ronnie Price, who gave it to Gaines with just two seconds on the clock.
“It was a special shot. It was a big day, big moment for me. The play was actually designed for Kyle Korver to come off and shoot a 3 and we knew that there was a good chance he was going to get double-teamed and people were going to come toward him, so he wasn’t able to get the shot off,” Gaines said in a new interview with NBA TV. “He passed it to Ronnie Price. When Ronnie caught the ball, I kind of anticipated that he didn’t want to shoot the ball at all, so I yelled his name and he just flung it toward me.”
Gaines hit the shot over Cleveland’s Anthony Parker, sending the then-EnergySolutions Arena crowd into a frenzy. His new teammates mobbed him and he stood on the scorers’ table, soaking it all in.
“I had a split second to decide whether I was going to shoot a 3 or take a dribble and take a jump shot. I felt the guy, Anthony Parker, closed out a little short and I was confident all along and I just let it go,” Gaines told NBA TV.
Even though the shot came in a huge moment, Gaines just followed the fundamentals.
“I may have got fouled, but from how I was raised, in New York City, you get away with a lot of stuff in the streets, so just playing in the NBA, a little tic-tac, I was more focused on just making the shot. For me, it was the follow through and knowing that the fundamentals, what you grow up on as a kid, just following those same reps. It just comes through for you at the end of the game,” Gaines said.
Other links ...
Alex Smith and Colt McCoy will be honorary captains for Utah and Texas at the Alamo Bowl
Joe Ingles has a funny charge call
And finally ...
New Jazzman Jordan Clarkson gets the water bottle treatment after a 20-point performance Monday night.