Kyle Filipowski has career night in Jazz win — and he thinks there's plenty more to come

SALT LAKE CITY — Donovan Clingan walked across the Barclay's Center stage in June and shook hands with the NBA commissioner after the Portland Trail Blazers took him with the seventh overall pick.

In the crowd that night? Kyle Filipowski, hoping he'd get to do the same thing.

The former Duke star didn't, though. Filipowski slid out of the first round, robbing him of a moment he had long imagined, with his anguish on full display on national television as he waited and waited, and waited some more.

"I remember how long June (26) was for me, how long of a night that was," Filipowski said.

But it was Clingan who had the long night on Wednesday.

Filipowski had career-high 30 points and 18 rebounds to lead Utah to a 133-126 overtime win over the Trail Blazers Wednesday at the Delta Center.

With 2:09 left in overtime, Filipowski crossed over Clingan and drove inside for a two-hand dunk — one of his six dunks of the night. It almost felt personal, and it kind of was in a roundabout way.

"It's nothing against anyone I'm going against, but it's just a reminder to myself of the struggle I went through," Filipowski said. "So just getting a chance to prove that to the whole league, that's something that definitely fuels me."

And it has ever since that long night in June.

Filipowski admitted that after the draft, he indulged in some self-pity. He left Brooklyn after the first round and didn't return to the ESPN set to hear his name in the second round. The basketball world had just seen one of his worst moments live; he didn't feel the need to face more cameras.

But he quickly realized that being melancholy about the situation wasn't helping.

"I'm proud of myself for persevering through that because my dream of walking across that stage was shattered, and I'm never going to be able to get that back," he said. "I'm not going to feel sorry for myself anymore. I went through a period where I did and I learned that that wasn't helping me."

He relied on his inner circle and the people at the Jazz to get his head on straight and to see the big picture.

His draft night didn't go as planned, but that didn't mean his career couldn't.

Wednesday showcased some tantalizing potential. Filipowski used the threat of his newly-respected 3-point shot to get inside, where he punished the Blazers. In doing so, he became the first Jazz rookie to record a 30-point, 15-rebound game — and he added five assists, too.

"When teams are switching a lot, that's when Flip's brain stands out," Jazz coach Will Hardy said. "A lot of really good reads, some of the fake handoffs, keeps — his intelligence really shows when you're playing against switching."

That was seen on Utah's final possession of regulation. The Jazz were down by 2 and Hardy had drawn up a play to get Filipowski a 3-point look for the win.

The inbound pass was a bit short, though, so Filipowski broke the play, spinning into the paint for a game-tying dunk.

"That's the Flip I know," said Keyonte George, who hit two 3-pointers in overtime to help lift the Jazz to their 17th win of the season. "I don't know a passive Flip. I don't know, like the soft Flip — the Flip I saw tonight — that's the Flip that I grew up with seeing him on the circuit."

And the Flip that is starting to emerge in the NBA, too.

"I definitely know the potential I have," he said.

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