Former Houston Rockets Hall of Fame coach Rudy Tomjanovich once told reporters that he would tell the very best shooters on the team if they ever felt like they were in a shooting slump to keep shooting.

I guess he must have passed that information on to Rockets second-year head coach Stephen Silas last month when he was being honored at a home game at the Toyota Center. In turn, coach Silas may have whispered it to guard Garrison Mathews at some point in the last couple of days to help him with his shooting woes.

Mathews, 25, had a terrible three-game stretch where he averaged 1.6 points per game and shot 1-for-11 from three-point range, with that one made shot coming against the Philadelphia 76ers over a week ago. He was held scoreless for the first time all season against the San Antonio Spurs in his next game and followed that performance up with another scoreless night in the first game of a two-game series against the Sacramento Kings.

Even though he was in a horrific shooting slump, Mathews never lost confidence in his three-point shot, which earned him a four-year contract with the Rockets earlier this season. In a 118-112 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday, he scored 17 points while hitting four out of the six shots he attempted from beyond the arc.

On Monday night, when Houston needed a spark against the Utah Jazz, Mathews career-high-tying 23 points and 5-for-9 shooting behind the three-point line helped propel the Rockets to a 116-111 win at Vivint Arena.

“When you have a good shooting game, your confidence starts to build back up,” said Mathews about having back-to-back good games. “I had a tough few games, but that is just going to happen. The main thing for me is to not get so high or too low. When you are a shooter, you are going to have games like that or little stretches like that, but it is very important as a shooter to just keep your confidence all the time.

Mathews gained the confidence of his coach on Monday night as he played 19 straight minutes off the bench to end the game, which is an excellent indicator that he has fully recovered from the time he missed due to COVID-related issues.

“He was so good, it was hard to take him out of the game,” said coach Silas. “I was definitely concerned. I was waiting on a time he looked like he was running out of gas. He didn’t show that, so I kept him in the game. He fought defensively. He made big shots. It was hard to get him out of the game.”

Houston has now won three out of their last four road games and will see how much improvement they have made when they face the Golden State Warriors on Friday to conclude their five-game road trip.