Gordon Hayward and the Utah Jazz have had some ups and downs this preseason, both literally and figuratively, but the outlook is promising as the preseason nears its conclusion.

An up, followed by a painful down came late in Utah’s meeting with the Portland Trail Blazers this past Monday. G-Time swiped an errant pass, raced downcourt and went up for an open dunk, when McCollum fouled the Jazz swingman hard from behind, sending him crashing to the hardwood. McCollum was ejected as a result of the play, and Gordon sat out the following game against the Blazers with a sore back. But he was a full participant in practice nonetheless, and he told the media this week that he’s feeling better after some rest.

“I feel good after taking some time and resting a little bit,” Gordon said. “”At the time it definitely was a what-are-you-thinking moment. I don’t think he’s a dirty guy. I think it was just a bad play by him. He apologized and everything. He was just trying to do the right thing for his coaches and his staff.”

Portland Trail Blazers v Utah Jazz

McCollum said as much when he told his side of the incident. The play came late in a close contest, which the Blazers went on to win 88-81.

“I didn’t try to, I was just trying to prevent a layup,” McCollum told reporters after the game. “It’s unfortunate, I’m glad he wasn’t hurt.”

It’s water under the bridge now. That was an altogether rough night for No. 20, who had his coldest shooting performance of the preseason. He had just 10 points and Utah shot only 31.2 percent as a team in the loss.

The team gave an inspired effort in his stead several nights later in Portland. Trey Burke, Alec Burks, Rodney Hood, Jeff Withey and Joe Ingles were all in double figures. The Jazz forced 19 turnovers from the Blazers, though they ultimately fell 116-11 in overtime, moving them to 2-3 on the preseason.

Utah started the preseason with back-to-back wins in Hawaii against the Los Angeles Lakers. Gordon did all he could in Game 3 to lift his team to 3-0. No. 20 scored a game-high 24 points in 32 minutes of play. He went 6-of-11 from the floor, 8-of-8 from the free-throw line and 4-of-6 from three, but the rest of the Jazz were ice cold from beyond the arc, combining to go 1-of-11.

Derrick Favors was the only other Jazzman in double figures in that game. The rough night from the field, coupled with 19 turnovers, led to a 101-85 loss for Utah. The Jazz coaching staff wasn’t happy with the way the team played in that defeat to Phoenix, so they reconvened on Sunday and practiced for more than three hours.

“I thought we played really well in Hawaii. I thought we played really hard. I thought our energy was good,” Gordon said. “We just kind of stagnated in Phoenix, fatigued mentally and physically, and we just weren’t as good. We weren’t as sharp. We let them punk us a little bit there.”

Utah Jazz v Phoenix Suns

The young Jazz have continued to work hard to build into regular-season form, and they’ll have two more tests at home to close out the preseason. They host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday and the Denver Nuggets on Thursday. Both games are set for a 7 p.m. MT tipoff.

So far, G-Time likes the way his team looks, and he hopes they can continue to build off a promising preseason, as well as the fantastic finish they had in 2014-15.

“I think we’ve had some up and down moments already in the preseason. We’re still getting some rust off. But I definitely think we’re more ahead than we were last year,” Gordon told reporters this week. “Hopefully these last two preseason games we can get more of that rust off and be ready to go once the season starts.”

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