3-point shots: Punching Portland

Extra observations from the Jazz’s 93-89 win over Portland:

C.J. Miles said players told each other in the locker room:

“‘We’ve got to pick it up, basically. We’ve got to come out and go at them, punch them in the mouth.’ They came at us. They put their hands on us in the first half, got us out of our sets a little bit, scored inside at will a little bit.”

POINT 2: The first unit — well, Monday’s makeshift first unit minus Raja Bell and Al Jefferson — got things going in the third quarter and then handed the baton over to the sparkplug second unit.

The man at the center of the comeback: Earl Watson.

His line is worth repeating: six points, five rebounds, five steals, four assists, two blocked shots. (The partridge flew away with the pear tree out of fear of getting in Watson’s way.)

“That second group, we came in and we brought it up another notch. We just came up another notch of energy. Earl did a great job of just getting up and down the floor and putting guys in the right positions.”

— C.J. Miles

POINT 3: Before the game, Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin said it was unfortunate that Josh Howard had been hurt. The small forward was just starting to get into the swing of things and hadn’t been able to get into a good rhythm since returning from his quad strain.

Howard’s still searching for his shot (5-for-15), but he contributed overall and played in a season-high 37-plus minutes. He had 11 pts, seven rebounds, four assists and the Jazz were plus-8 with him on the court.

“I thought as the game went forward he got better,” Corbin said.

“That’s the first time I’ve played that many minutes since last season, so it was kind of fun to be out there,” Howard said. “It was just cool. I’m glad to be out there like I did, to help the team.”