SALT LAKE CITY – The smile was contagious.
From a room in the bowels of Vivint Arena, pure joy flowed from Jarrell Brantley and permeated everyone who witnessed the boyish smile that spread across his face.
“It’s amazing,” Brantley said, his bright smile growing bigger and bigger. “These moments are great. Today was great. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but today was great.”
On Tuesday, the rarely used attacker lived the dream he was regularly so close to getting. He scored 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting and grabbed four rebounds in 22 minutes in Utah’s 106-96 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Jazz on Tuesday went without Royce O’Neale, Jordan Clarkson and Joe Ingles – they needed someone to give them a lift. They found it in their reserve on a two-way contract.
“I had a bit of a feeling, just like it is on this team,” Brantley said when asked if he expected such a big role on Tuesday. But at the same time, I try to tell myself every day that I’m going to play, even when I know there is no shot – but prepare myself mentally to be ready and be useful to my team. So I think in many ways I’ve been preparing for this moment since the start of the season. “
Normal NBA rotations are usually 8-10 players deep. It is difficult for the players on the deep bench to get time on the court. Brantley has played in 17 games this season, but they have all erupted. A few seconds here, a few minutes there – all unimportant to the result.
On Tuesday, Brantley came in at the start of the second quarter, trailing the Jazz by 9 points. Suddenly he had to play an important role. By the time he checked out, he had scored a lay-up, grabbed a rebound and assisted on a Donovan Mitchell 3 ball that gave the Jazz by one lead. Brantley had a team-high plus / minus in the first half.
“Most players have heard, ‘Keep working, stay ready, you never know when your chance will come,’ and JB has done just that right,” said jazz coach Quin Snyder.
And he wanted to show his teammates that he was ready when he got on the field. While Oklahoma City was shooting free throws, Brantley went to Mitchell and the two seemed to be having a detailed conversation, pointing to spots on the field.
“I try to pick Don’s brain as much as possible; and frankly, during that time, I want them to feel comfortable knowing that I’m paying attention,” Brantley said. “I want them to know that I know their moves and that they can rely on me.”
Georges Niang, who started his first game of the season in the win, knows the happiness that Brantley felt on Tuesday. He’s been in his shoes – on a two-way contract, inactive, little to no time – and he knows how hard it is to do all the work and rarely see the results.
“The boy did the job and he has to go out tonight to show it off,” Niang said.
Brantley scored 8 of his 10 points in the second half, and his 3-pointer with 8:46 left in the game gave the Jazz their biggest lead of the evening at 25.
“I’m not saying we weren’t impressed because we know he’s capable of that, but we were clearly impressed to see him do that in a match,” Niang said. But more importantly just super happy for him because I know how hard it is to be on a two way street and get your chances and want to hit a grand slam, and he sure did, so I’m glad that he came out. and perform and play just as well as he does. “