Price was just another short guard ... 5' 4" ... when he entered Clear Brook High School as a Freshman. But by the time he left ... he was 6' 3" and looking forward to a bright future in basketball. He loved watching the Rockets,"I watched all those games ....during the championshiop years. I loved Sam Cassell, Kenny Smith, Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler ...even Charles Barkley. You ask me to name any player off those teams and I'll do it." So ...I asked him if he felt even a "little bit" bad about beating his once favorite team...He shook his head,"No ....not at all. We needed this win badly ...we needed it ...so no ...not at all."

Ronnie played at a small school in Utah ...(Utah Valley State) ...before signing as a free agent out of college to play at Sacramento. Rick Adelman was the coach. But after Adelman left .... so did Ronnie. This is his first year with the Jazz ... where he's been backing up Deron Williams. Asked about Price after the game Monday night Williams said,"Yeh ..Ronnie can run the team well ...but he can shoot also. He did a great job."

His younger sister, Chelsi, is a sophomore at Clear Brook ..and also plays basketball. She told me sometimes ...she can't believe that Ronnie is her brother out there on the court. She said the Rockets fans were pretty mean with their anti-Jazz comments ....but she loved watching Ronnie tear the Rockets apart Monday night. His mother, Wanda, told me that Ronnie's favorite player while growing up ....was Pete Maravich. He watched all of the video on him he could find ....she said. As a result Ronnie went everywhere with his basketball. "He lived with the basketball. He slept with it. The basketball was his buddy. Everywhere he went that basketball was with him."

Ronnie Price Sr. ...who didn't want to appear on camera .....said his next door neighbor used to be not very happy when Ronnie would be in the driveway between the Price house and his ...shooting baskets at all hours of the night ... but that neighbor came over Tuesday morning and said,"Well, all that shooting in the driveway finally paid off. Tell him I owe him a 6-pack."

At the Jazz/Rockets game Monday night Chelsi and her mom displayed a homemade poster that proclaimed "Ronnie is Priceless!" But in typical Price family fashion ... Chelsi told me that Ronnie wasn't really comfortable with it drawing attention to him ...so they put it down. Wanda and Ronnie Sr. have taught their kids to be respectful and humble ... but I have to agree with Chelsi the way Ronnie played the other night was "priceless."