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HOUSTON — Early in the fourth quarter, Mike Conley stepped up to the foul line to take a technical free throw. He never shot it.
As Conley prepared to shoot, Rudy Gay came up and more or less pushed Conley off the line.
Why?
Gay wanted to see one go through the hoop. On Sunday against Phoenix, in his first game back due to an injury and then an illness, Gay went 1 of 5 from the field. He wasn't any better against Houston on Wednesday, shooting just 1 of 7 — his only make coming as a layup. So, yeah, Gay wanted to make a shot.
So he went up to his old pal and asked him if he could take it. Actually, he more or less told him he was going to do it.
"He walked up and said, 'I need one,'" Conley said when asked about the encounter. "A guy needs an opportunity to see the ball go in when you've missed a few and need to get a rhythm."
Conley said something like that happens fairly frequently; it's just part of the team looking out for each other. It's better if Gay finds a rhythym than if he doesn't.
So Conley let Gay take the shot, but with one important caveat: "Don't miss it."
"I said, 'I understand you, brother. Go ahead and do it,'" Conley said. "If he missed it, I was going to give him hell."
Gay made the free throw, which was a shot that ended up being quite important at the end of the game.
Will that one shot help Gay find some touch going forward? That remains to be seen, but it's a good thing Conley didn't need the attempt on Wednesday.
Conley was just 1 of 6 himself at the time Gay came over and asked for the ball. It turns out, he found the range without it.
It was Conley's late shooting that helped rescue the Jazz from what would have been a bad loss in Houston. On Utah's final offensive possession of regulation, Donovan Mitchell broke the paint and found Conley open in the corner. Conley, who had gone 0 for 3 from 3-point range up to that point, buried the shot with 8.3 seconds left to break a late tie.
When the game was sent to overtime, Conley came through again, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers with under two minutes remaining to help seal the win.
"To get opportunities and moments that I'm kind of accustomed to being involved in, and Don and the guys having trust to make those plays down the stretch, felt good to deliver and be there for them," Conley said
Added Quin Snyder: "I'm not thinking he's having a bad night. Watching him shoot, I think it's going in. That's what his teammates feel as well."
Even if he didn't have the extra free throw.
