It got so bad for the Jazz in that pivotal moment that Foye missed three free throws after being fouled while shooting out deep on a night when he'd previously made four 3-pointers.
"When they made a little run, we kind of just got sidetracked," Jefferson said. "We didn't stick with what we were dong earlier."
Grueling and gut-wrenching have become the norm for these two old rivals. The teams split four games decided by a combined 12 points last season, and the three contests coming into Saturday's game had been decided by four points.
"It's always a tough game — either on our floor or their home floor," Corbin said. "They just seem to match up with us well."
Utah played without starting point guard Mo Williams, who suffered a moderate sprain in his right foot Friday. Tinsley filled in for Williams in the starting role, finishing with a season-high four 3-pointers, seven assists and three turnovers.
The Jazz can thank the hot hand of Foye for helping them turn an 8-0 deficit into a 29-21 first-quarter lead. The starting shooting guard, Utah's best outside shooter, went 4 for 5 from beyond the arc in the first quarter.
Overall, the Jazz came out cold yet again, struggling against the physical and athletic Kings. Despite taking a 56-51 lead into the locker room at halftime, Utah only shot 40.5 percent in the opening half compared to 53.8-percent shooting for the Kings.
A night after scoring 10 points and hitting three 3-pointers in 19 minutes, former BYU star Jimmer Fredette saw limited action in this showdown.
Fredette, who only averages nine minutes a night in his second season, only saw five minutes Saturday. He hit his only field goal — a familiar-looking floater in the lane — and drained two late free throws for four points. He also dished out one assist and made one turnover.
NOTES: The Jazz return home for a game against the Denver Nuggets on Monday night before hitting the road for a three-game trip in New Orleans, Oklahoma City and Houston. Utah and Sacramento play again on Feb. 4 at ESA. Tinsley went 4 for 6 from 3-point land Saturday after beginning the season 1 for 14 from beyond the arc.
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I thought it was flat out ugly. Wild shots and very little effort. Corbin seems to like playing Big Al and Little Paul together? Together they are one of the worst defensive tandems I have seen. They need to be split up. IMO.
Jefferson didn't get posterized by Cousins because he wasn't even moving his feet to get in position to be faced.. I thought (and have always thought) you can't play AJ and Sap together. AJ didn't want to play last night, he More..
don't think big al and little paul did as bad as big favors and big kanter. looked like cousins had little problem scoring over big favors or big al or big kanter. so what differance would it make who was paired up. looked like who got More..