Utah and Minnesota have in common the fact that they are non-performing investments this season. Friday night the erratic Jazz posted a nice win, to remind fans of what could be, and to Wolves posted another frustrating example of their up and down season.
For most of the season, the Utah Jazz have failed to meet the high expectations of their ownership and fan base. Larry Miller invested big into this team this year by bringing in lots of free agent talent. The result has been hard to explain as the Jazz have combined youth and with inconsistency with a mix of injuries and bad to luck, to not perform as expected.
The Minnesota Timberwolves dropped to 25-26 with the loss to the Jazz. This is a team featuring one of the very best players in a the game in Kevin Garnett. This is a team, much like the Jazz, that an owner invested big money to acquire the surrounding parts. Spreewell, Cassell, Szcerbiak, and Michael Olowokandi all make big money and are expected allow them to challenge for an NBA title. The Wolves are also an under performing investment.
For one night, the Jazz reversed their season trend and played inspired ball to dominate the Wolves 100-82. My only comment is to contrast the two stars of the respective teams. Andrei Kirilenko filled the stat line with 20 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks. He was everywhere and in the 2nd half when the Jazz took over it was all AK47. Contrast with Kevin Garnett, who was limited to 12 points and 8 rebounds and only took 9 shots in 36 minutes. That is more amazing in that Garnett only had 1 assist. No shots. No assists. That means he wasn't the focus or cornerstone of the offense. That is inexcusable. For complete coverage of the game, you can read a good article by Brian Hamilton of the St. Paul Press by clicking here.
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