'I believe in him': Jazz coach praises Clarkson for breaking shooting slump
MANILA, Philippines — Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder expressed his unwavering belief in Fil-Am guard Jordan Clarkson after the latter's 30-point explosion to lead the team to a 116-98 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday (Friday, Manila time).
Clarkson, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, always had quality minutes off of the bench despite suffering from an early shooting slump in the past couple of games.
This was because of Snyder's faith in Clarkson that he would eventually break out of his struggles.
"I've taken a couple of guys out [of the rotation] but not Jordan Clarkson. I believe in him," Snyder said in an episode of Roundball Roundup.
"You know, I think that's part of when someone believes in you, the moments where you may have some doubts, you don't," he added.
And surely Clarkson did repay Snyder's good faith with his tremendous second half performance against Atlanta, scoring 25 points to pace the Jazz to their seventh win of the season.
But what Snyder commended Clarkson for most was even when he wasn't scoring, he was impacting the game in other areas.
The basketball tactician cited some plays in Utah's game against defending champions Milwaukee Bucks where he saw Clarkson keeping himself involved in the game amid his struggles.
"There's a couple of sequences in the Milwaukee game where he just threw himself into other parts of the game. I think that's the most important thing," Snyder said.
"If somebody's not making shots and they're going inward and feeling sorry for themselves, you can be frustrated. But when it impacts other parts of your game... that's different. There's a confidence that he has in himself and he and I have a little bit of connection in that regard," he added.
- Latest
- Trending
