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Hayward drops career high 41 in win over Thunder
Apr. 9, 2013
After Gordon Hayward's 2-18 performance against Golden State 2 days ago, many figured that Hayward would be ultra-passive and reluctant to shoot against the Thunder. Instead, he did the opposite, and shot the ball 28 times, getting the shot to fall 14 times.
Matched up against Kevin Durant throughout most of the game, Hayward was forced to utilize his quickness against the bigger forward. Most of the time, Hayward ran the pick and roll with one of the bigs or just came off screens for jumpers. It seemed to work, considering Hayward hit 5 of 10 threes and 14 of 28 shots from the field while also racking up 8 assists. Definitely the most impressive game from Gordon Hayward in his short career thus far.
A 3rd quarter outburst by the Jazz allowed them to get a comfortable lead in the 4th, but OKC came fighting back, riding on Durant down the stretch. Even though Durant nearly had a double-double and finished with 27 points, OKC couldn't overcome Hayward's hot hand, as the Jazz pick up the much-needed victory 112-104.
When asked about how he kept his confidence so high after the Golden State game, Hayward said, "I just kept my head up and kept playing. Coach Corbin talked to me during shootaround this morning and told me to stay aggressive and shoot if I had a good look, which I did, and it really payed off for us."
If Hayward can keep shooting like this, Utah should clinch a playoff berth against Minnesota in either of their 2 games this week.
| Utah Jazz at Oklahoma City Thunder |
| Apr 9, 2013 | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | SCORE |
| Utah (41-38) | 24 | 21 | 38 | 29 | 112 |
| Oklahoma City (57-21) | 17 | 25 | 28 | 34 | 104 |
| Utah Jazz |
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS |
| PG - Mo Williams | 34 | 5-6 | 5-6 | 0-0 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 15 |
| SG - Alec Burks | 31 | 1-8 | 0-3 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| SF - Gordon Hayward | 40 | 14-28 | 5-10 | 8-8 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 41 |
| PF - Paul Millsap | 30 | 4-9 | 0-0 | 4-6 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 12 |
| C - Al Jefferson | 32 | 4-8 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS |
| Derrick Favors | 22 | 5-9 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Enes Kanter | 12 | 3-4 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| Randy Foye | 16 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Jamaal Tinsley | 10 | 2-6 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Demarre Carroll | 9 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 5-6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Marvin Williams | 7 | 1-3 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Earl Watson | 4 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kevin Murphy | DNP | Inactive | | | | | | | | |
| Jeremy Evans | DNP | Inactive | | | | | | | | |
| Hamady N'Diaye | DNP | Inactive | | | | | | | | |
| TEAM TOTALS | 41/89 (46%) | 12/28 (42%) | 18/22 (81%) | 49 | 26 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 112 |
| Oklahoma City Thunder |
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS |
| PG - Russell Westbrook | 36 | 5-15 | 1-2 | 5-5 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 16 |
| SG - Thabo Sefolosha | 37 | 6-12 | 3-6 | 2-2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 17 |
| SF - Kevin Durant | 38 | 10-21 | 2-4 | 5-5 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 27 |
| PF - Serge Ibaka | 37 | 2-10 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| C - Kendrick Perkins | 26 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS |
| Kevin Martin | 19 | 6-12 | 2-5 | 2-2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 16 |
| Nick Collison | 11 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Jeremy Lamb | 10 | 2-4 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Ronnie Brewer | 10 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Reggie Jackson | 8 | 2-5 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Derek Fisher | 7 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Perry Jones | 6 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Deandre Liggins | DNP | Inactive | | | | | | | | |
| Hasheem Thabeet | DNP | Inactive | | | | | | | | |
| Daniel Orton | DNP | Inactive | | | | | | | | |
| TEAM TOTALS | 39/89 (43%) | 8/20 (40%) | 18/19 (94%) | 47 | 23 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 104 |