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Indianapolis • Jamaal Tinsley sat in courtside seats and chatted idly with Pacers executive Donnie Walsh. Earl Watson praised the Pacers as "amazing" and told stories about working around Larry Bird.

Seems like Wednesday's game at Indiana was a homecoming for everyone — but no one more so than Gordon Hayward.

Tinsley and Watson spent time with the Pacers, but Hayward is the biggest draw.

The Jazz shooting guard held court with local media for 15 minutes before the game in his hometown, covering a range of subjects from his thoughts on the current team at Butler, his alma mater, to whether he sees himself spending his career in Utah ("You want to cross when you get when you get there.).

However, the sentimentality of the evening will be placed on hold starting at 5 p.m. Mountain when on Root Sports and 1280 AM/97.5 FM when the Jazz (14-12) try win games on back-to-back nights for the first time this season. On Tuesday, the Jazz overcame a 13-point halftime deficit to rally and beat the Deron Williams-led Brooklyn Nets, while the Pacers fell to 13-12 with a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.

"In the second half," Tyrone Corbin said, "I thought we learned how to play aggressive defense and how effective it can be to help get us going on the offensive end."

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