SALT LAKE CITY -- To their credit, both rookies knew what to say and how to say it.
They're rookies after all, not fools.
When asked about their two-game stint together in the Utah Jazz starting lineup, both Eric Maynor and Wesley Matthews put the team above themselves.
Yes, they got to start and play extended minutes -- indeed a rarity for first-year players under coach Jerry Sloan. However, the Jazz managed only to split the two games, winning last Friday in Philadelphia before losing Saturday in Cleveland.
"If we could have won (the Cleveland game), that would have been great," Maynor said Monday, prior to the Jazz's practice session.
Wins and losses come before personal statistics, both players admitted as much. But still, it was an exciting couple of days for Utah's version of the M&M Boys.
Maynor, 22, scored a career-high 24 points in the loss to the Cavaliers, hitting 9-of-16 from the field and 6-of-7 from the free throw line.
In Utah's 112-90 victory over the 76ers, Maynor notched his first career double-double: 13 points, 11 assists in nearly 36 minutes of work.
Maynor was pressed into the starting role when Deron Williams left the team to tend to a family medial situation back in Utah.
With backup point guard Ronnie Price dealing with a sprained left big toe, Maynor was Sloan's main option.
Matthews, 23, the son of former NBA journeyman Wes Matthews, was pressed into service as Utah's starting two guard because of injuries to Price, C.J. Miles and Kyle Korver, Matthews has seen at least some action in every Jazz game this season. But the games at Philadelphia and Cleveland were his first two starts.
In them, he scored 16 against the Sixers and 13 against the Cavaliers. He went a combined 6-for-7 from behind the 3-point line in the two games.
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