Utah Jazz Blog

Miami Heat Fail to Burn Jazz Again

2007-12-04T10:09:00.000-07:00

The Miami Heat had beaten the Utah Jazz 7 straight times. Not even the Spurs have an active streak like that against the Jazz. Forget trying to explain how they've mastered the Jazz, other than saying Pat Riley has been around the block a few times and has been able to get his teams to rise up. But like all streaks, they are made to end. Behind big performances from their rising stars, the Jazz cooled the Heat and ended the streak with a 110-101 (box score) victory at Energy Solutions Arena Monday night.

Dwayne Wade summed it up pretty well:

"This team brings out the best in you," Wade said about the Jazz. "I thought we played a great game but they just made more plays when it counted to win the ballgame."

Give the Heat credit, they battled hard and the game was very much in doubt most of the way. In the end, Miami simply doesn't have enough talent to finish what it started. They did however shoot 53% from the field and 41% from 3pt range. What they didn't do, was what winning teams must do - play defense down the stretch and make free throws. The Heat allowed the Jazz to score 36 points in the 4th quarter and pretty much lost this game at the free throw line by going 16-31 for 51%. I haven't done any digging, but when is the last time you saw an NBA team miss that many free throws and shoot so poorly? Before you blame it all on Shaq (2-6 FT), you should know that Mr. Wade was the biggest offender (6-12), and Alonzo Mourning (3-6) didn't exactly look comfy at the stripe. If the Heat had shot 80% from the line, they would have scored 9 more points in this game...which was the margin of defeat.

Some Headlines -

Booz continues to roll: Carlos Boozer came back from injury in a big way with 24 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists.
Jazz get their money man back: Mehmet Okur had perhaps his best game of the year after returning from his back injury - 25 points and 6 rebounds while finding his outside stroke, with 10-14 shooting and 4-5 from downtown.
DWill decisive over JWill: Deron Williams continued his red hot streak with 24 points, 15 assists, 2-3 from 3pt range, and only 2 turnovers. For the season he is shooting 52%, averaging 9.1 assists and now up to 19.3 ppg. If you are not watching him play these last few weeks, you are missing some special PG play.
Team ball produces results: The Jazz assisted on 38 of their 42 field goals (90.5%). So in today's 1-on-1 game, Utah stands out as unique. They lead the league in assists per game, field goal percentage, and 3rd in the league in points per game.
Brewer slows Wade: We give Ronnie Brewer the heat whenever a stud guard scores 35 points, we should give him credit when he slows down a great one. DWade still had 26 points and 10 assists, but he did have to take 20 shots to do it and was not able to get to the basket down the stretch the way he has in the past. DWade against last year's Jazz would have taken over the close game late.

Was it throw back night or what?
Sixty percent of the Heat starting line-up could very well be 10 years past their prime, and if you didn't know better, you'd think it was throwback night.
Consider Penny Hardaway, started with Orlando 15 years ago and the 1999 season was the last time he scored more than 12 points a game. You are forgiven if you didn't realize he as still in the league - he play only 37 games for New York 3 years ago, 4 games for New York and Orlando 2 years ago, and last year ago he took the year off - so that is 41 games in 3 years. Talk about a reclamation project! Penny however went scoreless in 14 minutes against the Jazz.
Consider Jason Williams, who has been solid in Miami, is now in his 10th season and maybe will never find his prime. Remember the aggressive, bald-headed Jason Williams from his Sacramento days. Who had all the promise in the world, but was too out of control. Looking at his career, he has found control - but never shooting accuracy (only 1 season has he shot better than 41% from the field) or big time scoring (only 1 season has he scored more than his 12.8 ppg rookie average).
Consider Shaquille O'Neal, who is now in his 16th season and 4th for the Heat and officially on the downward slide statistically. While he has had some terrific seasons in the last 10 years, he just isn't in the physical shape to impact the game the way he has in the past. Rather than be negative with the Diesel, let's be real - he is a giant man who has had an amazing career and has been one of the most dominant big men to play the game. It's no fair to ask him to carry the load these days.

Up next for the Jazz, are the Sacramento Kings in California. The Kings have all 6 of their wins at home (6-3) and join the Knicks as the only win-less teams on the road (both 0-7). To read up on the Kings, I recommend Sactown Royalty as a strong blog (and one of the best looking too).

Jazz Dismantle the Lakers

2007-11-30T23:37:00.000-07:00

The Jazz hosted the Lakers, and before tip-off received the crushing news that two starters would miss the game with injury. Undoubtedly the hearts of Jazz fans sunk when they heard that Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur would miss the game with injuries. So much for the great start to the season - losing 37 points and 16 rebounds a night would be fatal against the Lakers.

Instead, in a shocking display, the Jazz crushed the Lakers 120-96 (box score). Sure, the Lakers came in on the 2nd night of a back to back - but before you write this off as Laker fatigue - consider that the Jazz scored 70 points in the first half and led by 19 at the break. This was not a typical back to back outcome where the road team wore down in the second half, as this game was over long before fatigue was the issue, plus the Laker's blew out Denver last night and were able to rest many guys.

It was a Jazz night all around:

Deron Williams scored a career high 35 points and took it upon himself to pick up some of the scoring slack with Boozer and Okur out.
Andrei Kirilenko's line was ridiculous - a triple double, the 3rd of his career and plenty more. AK47 produced 20 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, 6 steals, and 4 blocked shots - with no turnovers in 41 minutes.
Paul Milsap tied a season high with 20 points and added 9 rebounds while starting in Boozer's spot. Milsap is two things that the Laker big men are not - fearless and physical.
Ronnie Brewer worked hard against Kobe, didn't get lit up for 50 again, and put up a nice line scoring 14 points, 6 assists and 2 more steals.
The NBA got it's first peak at Kyrylo Fesenko, Utah's 7'1", 20 year old rookie who out hustled and over powered the Lakers interior players in his first NBA action with 6 points, 7 rebounds, in 17 minutes - just one night after playing for the Utah Flash in the NBDL. He's big, he's agile, but he's very young and raw.
Utah Jazz Injury Update: Boozer's sore ankle is healing, but still has some swelling. I'd guess he'd be ready to roll Monday Night. Okur's back spasms also sound like he is close to return, and he also looks to be ready to return Monday.

For Lakers, a few things worthy of note:

Kobe got his average with 28 points, and put on a show in the 2nd quarter - but failed to torch the Jazz and maintain the dominance that he has asserted against Utah over the last few years. Credit team defense and individuals Brewer and AK for big defensive efforts.
Fisher has a miserable return to Utah. 1-8 shooting for 3 points and was absolutely torched in the 2nd quarter by Deron Williams.
Andrew Bynum shows flashes, but is young, isn't a strong finisher yet and the Lakers seem to give up on him pretty easy. That said, the kid had 8 points and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes. To AB's defense it's hard to contribute on offense when the triangle seems set to produce jump shots.
What happened to Odom? He is a good shooter, but was Lamar sleepy or what? He was a pedestrian with 7 points, only 5 shot attempts in 29 minutes. This guy has to be big if the Lakers are going to be and for him to disappear on the road is surprising. I subscribe to theory that stars play almost the same at home and away, and it's the average and young guys that fluctuate. Odom is too good to disappear like this.
Insanity! Phil Jackson signed on for two more years for a reported $24 Million. What the heck is going on? Phil has had some amazing benefits in his coaching career - big money, big stars, and now dates the owner's daughter while earning $12 Mil per year with little prospect of getting out of the first round. Sure, he spouts enough philosophy to keep some lunatics in line - BUT has had the pleasure to always have at least one of the top 3 players in the league on his team, and at times has had two of the top 10 at the same time.

In closing, this game was terrible fun for Jazz fans. With two stars out - the Jazz saw their remaining stars DWill and AK just take over and the team as a whole played very unselfish team ball the whole night. Williams ball-handling was an amazing display. Poor Farmar and Fisher got absolutely scored in the 2nd quarter. All the bench guys stepped up big and just hammered the Lakers. Los Angeles has to be very embarrassed by this display.

Want to read on the opponents? I'd recommend The Forum Blue and Gold to get a lot of good content and comments on the Lakers. Up next for the Jazz is Miami, you can peak ahead at the Heat by reading some strong stuff on the MVN's Miami Heat Blog - Crazy From The Heat.

The Jazz Finish Eastern Booz' Cruise

2007-11-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

The Jazz wrapped up their week long trip to the East Coast with a 106-95 victory (box score) over the Philadelphia 76ers Wednesday Night. The win meant the Jazz finished a solid 2-1 on the trip, and improved to 5-4 on the road this season. After the Jazz opened the trip with a win at Detroit, a sweep seemed possible - so the loss to the Knicks was a disappointment.

Booz' Cruisin on the East Coast
Carlos Boozer missing a shot on the the 3 game trip was a rare thing. That is not much of an exaggeration, considering the numbers he piled up:

Philly: 12-17 FG, 26 points 7 rebs
New York: 12-18 FG, 30 points, 12 rebs
Detroit: 17-20 FG, 36 points 11 rebs
The Tally for the Eastern Cruise - a whopping 41-55 for 74.5% from the field, while averaging 10 rebounds per game.

The 76ers have some pieces to the puzzle, but not nearly enough talent to battle the big boys. After starting the season 2-2, they've now dropped 8 of the last 10 games to land at 4-10 and in the basement of the Atlantic Division.

Since the Jazz don't see the Sixers often - let's answer the question - who are these guys? Really they have three guys worth noting, and then a bunch of spare parts.

The Big 3 from my perspective - not in order:

Andre Miller - I'm still a Miller fan and think a pass first guard helps any team. That said, I could see them dealing him at some point this season to a competing team that faces a PG injury.

Andre Iguodola - AI, the 2nd is of course a well rounded athlete who is the star of the team. On this night he had 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists, but only took 12 shots. He isn't the type of player who does well in the half court however, and therefore didn't get a lot shots he wanted. In the open court he is big time.

Kyle Korver - Beside being Ashton Kutcher's look-a-like, Mr. Korver is a long range assassin - so says his rep anyway. In the game against the Jazz he had trouble making anything - in fact, this might have been Kutcher covering for Kyle. Korver was 1-9 from the field, and only 1-6 from 3 point range. Before you assume it was him having to deal with the athletic duo of Kirilenko and Ronnie Brewer think again. Half of Korver's misses where wide open 3s that the Jazz almost seemed content with him taking. Looking at KKorver's numbers on the season, you notice he's only 39% from the field and 37% from downtown. I like the guy - but geez - half his FG attempts this year are from behind the Arc and he's not impressing anyone.

Other warm bodies:
Samuel Dalembert - Solid young big man who averages 11 points and 8 rebounds.
Willie Green - Another double figure scorer (11pts), but awful FG% (38%) and poor assist to turnover ratio of 1.10 to 1.0.
Reggie Evans - Just over 4 points and 8 rpg - a defensive hustler with no offensive game.

The next best player on the Sixers is clearly Maurice Cheeks - the coach and former all-start guard. That means it's going to be a long season in Philadelphia.

Quick Shots:

The stat of the night? The Jazz assisted on 32 of their 39 field goals. Deron Williams passed out 15 assists in what was at times just beautiful team basketball.
Ronnie Brewer won't be a secret much longer. He tallied 19 points and 3 more steals as he continues to be 2nd in the league in steals, while shooting well over 50% on the season.
3 NBA teams are winless on the road: Knicks, Sacramento, and Portland.
1 NBA team is winless at home: Seattle is 0-6. With the city of Seattle deciding not to fund a new arena - and the Sonics deciding not to compete in the existing arena - maybe Stern will step in and let them head to Oklahoma City a little early - say after the all star break?
Didn't see this coming#1 - Boston is 11-2, and I thought they'd be good but this is amazing. Still, let's give them some time. They have played 10 of 13 games in the Eastern Conference.
Didn't see this coming#2 - The Bulls are 3-10? What the heck is going on? Maybe Pippen should have come back. Did they offend their whole team when they tried to trade them all away for Kobe?

Up Next for the Jazz are the Lakers at the ESA Friday Night. Phil's triangle makin' boys are 8-6 and playing reasonably well with Kobe doing the scoring and Andrew Bynam growing in to his high trade value at quick pace. To read up on the Lakers, I'd suggest the Forum Blue and Gold.

I don't make a lot of predictions - but I think the Jazz avenge an early season loss and take the Lakers by 10+ on Friday night.

Knicks are Ugly, Selfish, Non-Coached, but Winners

2007-11-27T05:49:00.000-07:00

The Knicks beat the Jazz in the Garden last night 113-109 (boxscore), giving New York it's 2nd straight win and once again proving that life on the road in the NBA can result in many surprises.

I think the New York and Utah battle was very much a battle of Good and Evil. The Jazz who play team first ball with some structure are Good. The Knicks who play an ugly one-on-one style game with very little structure are Bad. Therefore - a biased, Jazz first mentality leads to many quick thoughts....

Rest is Good. The Knicks have been at home since Thanksgiving, and were off since Saturday waiting for the Jazz game. Utah was playing a back to back road game and didn't arrive with the defensive energy it need to stop the Knicks. The result - the lack of rest is either a loser's excuse, or a benefit to an idle home team.
A cardboard cutout of Luke Skywalker could coach this team as well as Isaiah. The Knicks winning had nothing to do with scheme, play calling, or the type of suit that Isaiah thought would provide the best balance of the late fall season - yet contrast to the road team's uniforms. Down the stretch when the game was tight, Cardboard Cutout guy could have called as many plays as Thomas. Instead, whoever happened to get the ball would go one on one. It worked for one night, and might work a few nights at home or against the weak Eastern Conference. Congrats to Cardboard Cutout Guy!
Making Shots is Bad.The fact that some of these awful shots went in for New York will do nothing but convince some of their players to keep taking them. Zach Randolph had a terrific shooting night. He made some tough shots. Truth is - he is a black hole who took some dumb shots. On this night they went in. The bad thing is - Zach thinks he should keep taking them. The ball doesn't move and the Knicks are easier to guard when he is in the game. Zach making dumb shots is bad.
Crawford and Richardson are Square. Okay, not square but not well rounded. How about 1-D, as in one dimensional. In 76 minutes of combined playing time the teamed up for a total of 2 rebounds and 3 assists. I guess it's a style of play to get some talented offensive guys and ask them to shoot the ball, but don't require anything else.
One Way Only. Fallen Star-bury played a nice game, on ONE end of the floor. Guess which one? Well, he played no defense on DWill, and a couple times go burned so bad he wouldn't even be in frame for a poster. Still, on offense he was motivated, agressive and when he was creating - the Knicks where tough. He did a great job of getting his shoulder in front of Deron Williams a couple times and drawing fouls or getting into the lane to create for others.

Up Next for the Jazz are the 76ers in Philly tomorrow night. The 76ers feature a couple of my favorite NBAers to watch - Andre Miller, a former University of Utah player who still favors team first ball, and Kyle Korver one of the best long range bombers in the league. The Jazz need the win to finish the 3 game trip at 2-1. To read up on the 76ers, I'd suggest Passion and Pride, a solid blog on the MVN.

Jazz Beat Detroit for 5th Straight Time

2007-11-25T17:51:00.000-07:00

When I think of the Detroit Pistons, I think of two strengths - their tough defense and the talent of their starting five. Unfortunately for the Pistons, neither element was on display Sunday afternoon as the Jazz handed Detroit their first home loss of the season 103-93 (box score). For the Pistons, Rasheed Wallace missed the game and the Detroit missed his defensive spark and overall intensity. The Jazz trailed by 8 in the second quarter, went on a run and pretty much never gave up control after that. At the end, the Jazz beat the Pistons for the 5th straight time (3 in Detroit) and ran their win streak to 3 games and totaled their 8th win in 10 games.

Boozer Near Perfect
There were several bright spots for the Jazz - but none brighter than Mr. Carlos Boozer, who posted a season high 36 points, on an eye-popping 17 of 20 from the field. Boozer hit everything - some layups and put backs (8-8) and an array of jumpers (9-12) over a variety of defenders - check out the shot chart. Not having Wallace to guard Boozer was a big thing in this game. Though we all know how Rasheed can be - he could have very well gotten frustrated by the Jazz offense, landed in foul trouble and picked up a technical or two. Funny thing about Wallace- he must have felt left out and contributed a technical while on the bench in street clothes.

As a side note - the referees were not the Pistons' problem. The Pistons were actually called for 6 fewer fouls on the night, and the call that got Flip Saunders tossed was a correct call - though I had the advantage of replay and Flip tried to make a judgement all the way down the court and had a over-reacting player that probably swayed his viewpoint.

DWill vs. CBill
One of the other bright spots was Deron Williams, who handled Chauncey Billups in a similar fashion as he did Jason Kidd a few nights ago. Meaning - taking another of his US National Teammates to task with a one sided result. To be fair, CBill's game was not the disaster that Jason Kidd posted against Williams, as Billups tallied 15 points and 6 assists falling just short of his season averages of 17 and 8. Deron Williams on the other hand was brilliant with 21 points and 14 assists, while adding 4 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. A couple of Deron's baskets were the result of his quick pushing the ball up the court and then exploiting Billups or Rip Hamilton in a one on one match-up. Watch-out NBA, DWill might have been soft for a few games with the sore toe, but as he said tonight - he is pain free for the 1st time in two weeks.

Detroit Pistons forward Jason Maxiell (54) has his shot blocked by Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko (47), of Russia, in the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Nov. 25, 2007, in Auburn Hills, Mich. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

Quick Shots:

The Piston game was the first of a stretch that includes 12 of 16 road games for the Jazz.
Ronnie Brewer is a relentless cutter without the ball and a terrific finisher. Today was the 13th time in double figures - out of 14 games. He was 4-6 from the field and 3-3 from the line - check out his shot chart - and notice were all the makes are.
AK47 posted 11 points and 10 rebounds, but only one block. The one block would say that he wasn't a defensive force - but if you saw the game you saw him contest and alter shots all day.
Want to see NBA confidence in action? Memo Okur finished the game with 12 points and hit a couple of big hoops in the 2nd half. But, Why in the Heck was he still shooting? I believe Memo was 1-10 at the half, but went 3-6 in the 2nd as he kept taking the shots that came to him within the offense. I count it as trust in himself and trust by the coaching staff.
Detroit's starting guards - Hamilton and Billups combined for 11-30 shooting. That is a lot of shots, a lot of misses, and wow are these guys going to need some help off the bench at some point in the year. When they aren't hitting shots, who can they turn to? Bueller? Bueller?

Up next, the New York Knicks - tomorrow night in Madison Square Garden. After a chance to witness the train wreck known as the Knicks up close and personal, the Jazz will move on to Philly on Wednesday and then close out the week at home with Kobe and Lakers Friday Night.

To read up on the Knicks, I recommend KnickerBlogger.net for not only good writing, but an analytical view into how the Knicks are doing. Check out the 4 Factors they track for each game.

My Quick Take on the Knicks - from a distance without seeing much of them:
The Knicks have a bunch of guys if you looked at on paper, by themselves, appear to be very talented. However, mix them together on a court at one time and you have no chemistry, no flow, not enough balls, not much defense, not much rebounding, and not many wins. Looking at some official league stats you can see the Knicks are 2nd to last in the NBA in assists per game, 27th in FG%, 26th in point differential (-7.3 OUCH), 26th in 3pt FG%, 28th in turnovers per game, and last in the league in blocks. I won't even start on Isaiah Thomas who has done little off the court to warrant employment of any kind. I'm still trying to decide if I feel bad for the owner of the Knicks, or if he is simply having to deal with the results of some very bad decisions. Either way, in order to truly start again the Knicks will have to write another coach a big check in order to leave town (see Larry 'newtown' Brown).

All this means of course that it's the NBA, the Jazz are playing road games on back-to-back nights, and for all my comments - the Knicks might pull the upset. The keyword there is MIGHT. If the Jazz youngsters stay in their system and rely on each other, we may well get to see a few more cars fall off the track in New York.

Jazz Squash Pesky Hornets

2007-11-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

The final score of Saturday's Utah Jazz and New Orleans Hornets game is misleading to those who missed the first half of the game. Utah's 99-71 victory (box score) looked very much in doubt for most of the first half - as New Orleans led nearly through the first two quarters and owned a 5 point lead just a few minutes before half. The Jazz however, scored the final 6 points of the first half and the first 6 of the second half and never lost control.

Think about the two halves this way...
First Half Hornets - as dictionary.com defines a hornet, "A large stinging wasp". Wiki chimes in with "typically stings multiple times. Doesn't die after stinging. Capable of biting and stinging at the same time". Those were the Hornets that played at the ESA in the first half - while shooting badly, they were tenacious on defense and very tough on the boards.

Second Half Hornets? Think Bee movie. The Hornets, after trailing by one at intermission, got lit up 55-28 in the 2nd half and tied an all-time Hornet record for fewest points in a 4th quarter (7). The Hornets record for the fewest points in any quarter is 6 points (vs. Milwaukee in 1996). In case you are wondering about the fewest points the Jazz have given up in a quarter - it's also 6 (Detroit in 205).

Other Jazz Notes:

Battle at the Point - Deron Williams and Chris Paul both had some nice moments at the point. DWill blew by Chris Paul 3 different times to end up with a layup, while Paul show some slipperiness off of screens and nice kicks to the wings. The truth is however, that Williams was slowed most of the game with foul trouble and a sore toe that he had an in-grown toenail removed earlier in the week. Paul never really got on track offensively, but stilled ended with solid 15pts, 6 rebounds and 6 assists.
Why don't these Hornets run the ball? The have a point guard built for speed in Paul, they have shooters for the wing (Stojakovic and Mo. Peterson), and two seemingly mobile big men in West and Tyson Chandler. What gives? I'm not asking for them to abandon their defense and rebounding strengths, but why not push it a bit more. New Orleans has scored 100 or more only 5 times in 14 games - very surprising.
Clunk, Clunk, Clunk - that was your replay of the shooting exhibition that Peja Stojakovic, Bobby Jackson, and Morris Peterson put on, going a combined 2-19 from the field and and 1-12 from 3pt range. You must admit, these guys don't lack confidence as they kept firing away. If I remember correctly, one of these mis-guided missiles hit Memhet Okur in the head.
David West is a nice player. In the first half he had 13 points and owned the glass. In the 2nd half the Jazz collapsed with a zone and let the Hornets continue to hoist outside shots.
Back-up Point Guard Problems? Jason Hart has caught a lot of fire for this 3.8 ppg and 34% shooting early in the season, while he tries to handle the back-up point guard position. On this night, Hart and fellow reserve guard, Ronnie Price, nearly stole the show as they combined for 23 points on 9-13 shooting, including 5-7 from 3pt range in over 34 minutes of combined play.

Up next for the Jazz are the Pistons, in Detroit on Sunday. Detroit leads the Central division with a 8-4 record, including 4-0 at home. Utah, however, has won 4 straight games against the Pistons. To read up on Detroit, I recommend an interesting Piston blog - Detroit Bad Boys.

Jazz Scorch the Nets - look ahead to Hornets

2007-11-20T06:24:00.000-07:00

Monday night the Utah Jazz played their final game before the Thanksgiving holiday and had to be thankful for the feast that awaited them. The New Jersey Nets came into the game, having only played 2 of their 10 games this season on the road. To say they look uncomfortable and out of their element in Energy Solutions Arena would be an understatement. The Jazz on the other hand looked completely at home and hammered the Nets 102-75 (box score). New Jersey played again without Vince Carter and when he isn't on the floor they do not appear to have an NBA ready offense.

Many Jazz fans wanted to see this game for the match-up between Jason Kidd and Deron Williams. Williams who grew up in Dallas, Texas and idolized Kidd, certainly got the best of this battle. Kidd who came into the game nearly averaging a triple double - 10 points, 10 assists, and 9 rebounds - was held amazingly in check. Kidd sat out the 4th quarter of the blowout, but was dominated by Williams on the court and in the stat sheet.

Knocking off the Idol

Kidd: 1-9 FG, 0-4 3pt FG, 2 pts, 2 rebs, 8 asst, 6 TOs, in 28 mins.
DWill: 8-11 FG, 2-3 3pt FG, 20 pts, 4 rebs, 6 asst, 4 TOs, in 34 mins.

Williams assist numbers have dropped a little in recent weeks, but much of it has to do with the team approach the Jazz employ. Often Williams will deliver the ball, and the the teammate rather than taking a good shot, will make another pass for a even better shot. It's a beautiful thing to watch, even if it isn't the best in stat land.

Up next for the Jazz, the impressive New Orleans Hornets. It's impossible to talk about this game without jumping into the Chris Paul vs., Deron Williams debate. The key thing - both guys are supremely talented and are the future at the PG position in the NBA. In Utah we certainly wouldn't trade DWill for CP3, but the Hornets fans probably feel the same way about their guy. At the end of the day, the Jazz picked first and took the bigger, more rugged guard in Deron, while leaving the speedster Paul for the Hornets. One stat that validates the Jazz selection is durability. In just over two seasons, Deron Williams has only missed 4 Jazz games (2.3% of Utah's games), while Chris Paul has missed 24 Hornet games (13.6%).

To read ahead on the Hornets, I recommend Hornets247.com, a strong site featuring the thoughts and opinions of Ron Hitley.

Jazz go flat in Indy, drop 2nd in a row

2007-11-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

The Jazz had one of those games Saturday night. A few times per year the NBA schedule delivers a situation where you play a back to back games, with both games on the road and come out flat. The home team hits a few 3-point field goals, and you don't have the energy to fight back and get things on track. The Utah Jazz were blown out by the Pacers, 117-97 (box score) in a game where Indiana pretty much did whatever they wanted the entire night.

How bad was it? You can be challenged to find a single Jazz player who had a good night. Kirilenko might be the only one you can say had anything at all - with 12 points, 5 blks, 3 rebs, and 4 assists. Virtually every statistic that is recorded went in favor of the Pacers. The Jazz were out shot (58% to 47%), out rebounded (35-31), out assisted (29-20), committed more turnovers (20-18), made fewer steals ( 11-6), made fewer blocks (7-5), made fewer 3-pointers (11-2) and took fewer freethrows (28-22). If I was searching deep for things Indiana didn't do right, I'd come up with the fact that the Jazz outscored the Pacers by 3 in the 4th Quarter (as if that mattered) and just over 12,000 fans decided to show in Pacerville.

So a road trip that look like a possible sweep, ended up at 1-2. The Jazz battled hard, and could have won in Cleveland, but then mailed it in Saturday night. What observations can we make about the Jazz after this 3 game trip?

At times, the Jazz executed so well - looking like a veteran and well-oiled machine. Thinking primarly about stretches of the Toronto game, and then the final few minutes of Cleveland as the Jazz almost stole the game.
At times, the Jazz revert back to a youthful team that has more faith in the individual than in the team system, breaking the offense with forced shots and passes.
Deron Williams is human. After a terrific start to the season, he laid two eggs in the final two games of the trip - going 7-25 from the field, averaging 9.5 points, and totally 10 assists and 8 turnovers.
Despite these two games, the Jazz duo Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer have been very consistent and both have essentially the exact scoring averages on the road as they do at home. Boozer averages 25 ppg and DWill averages 17 ppg at home and on the road. Typically younger players - usually the non-stars, do well at home, but struggle on the road. This can be seen as a sign of maturing for both players.

Clearly the disappoint thing with the Pacer game, is that Indiana had a 6-game losing streak and probably would have been an easy win if the Jazz jumped on them early. Good teams learn when they can take out a weaker team and don't give them life.

The Jazz return home for the New Jersey Nets Monday Night. The Nets are 4-6, and a full 5 games behind the undefeated Boston Celtics. This is bad for the Nets since they've played 8 of their first 10 games on the road. To read ahead on Nets, I'd recommend Joe Netsfan.com as good Net's blog.

King James says no to Booz

2007-11-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

Utah's dynamic duo, Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer, almost stole another game from Lebron James. With the Jazz trailing by 2 points, Utah ran another pick-and-roll to perfection. Well almost - until the King stepped in. As Boozer turned to toss in a short jumper, Lebron swooped in and stole the ball. Cleveland made their free throws and went on to win 99-94 (box score), ending Utah's five game winning streak.

The story again was Lebron James, who ended one assist from a triple double and scored 34 of his 40 points in the 2nd half. Still, the Jazz duo almost took this game. Trailing by 7 with just over two minutes to go, Williams and Boozer combined for 9 points in the final two minutes with a variety of moves from their trusted pick and roll set-up. In the end it wasn't enough and Cleveland protected the home court. Just a week and a half ago, Deron Williams drove the length of the court for a basket to edge Cavs 103-101.

Cleveland continues to play close games while missing key players: Larry "Spiderman" Hughes, Eric Snow, and Donyell Marshall to injuries - and want to be key player Anderson Varejao continues to holdout. You must give a lot of credit to coach Mike Brown and the leadership of the Lebron James for keeping this team together while missing so many key parts.

Quick Shots:

King James gets most of the ESPN attention, but Cleveland does not win this game without their commitment to defense, and especially some big block shots by Illgauskas. Deron Williams for the Jazz shot 4-17, but had several shots blocked as he easily blew by Gibson, only to have his lay-ups rejected by the Big Z.
Typical night in the NBA - home team seems to get the benefit of enough whistles in the 2nd half to allow some momentum changing runs to continue. Most noticeable was a couple exchanges with Harpring down low in the 4th quarter not getting a call, then getting called for petty over the back and a charge shortly thereafter. In the end, the Jazz were whistled for 26 fouls and the Cavs only 17.
A couple things that make Lebron so great - forget the 40 points, because their are some scorers in this league - but you can miss the his commitment to passing and his willingness to play defense. He was credited with 3 blocked shots and no steals - it feels like a few of each might have been missed - and you could see him talking on defense and keeping his team on track.
The 6 assists by Okur were impressive. Career High? Nope - he had against Philly in the '05-06 season, and twice has posted 7 assists.
Who is the starting shooting guard going to be? 2nd year player, Ronnie Brewer has stepped up and seized the job. Brewer has scored in double figures in all 10 games and is shooting 54% from the field.

Up next - Indiana tomorrow night at Conseco Fieldhouse. The Pacers at 3-6 will be playing their 4th game in 5 nights, while the Jazz will play their 3rd in 4 nights. To read ahead on the Pacers, check out a pretty interesting blog - Indy Cornrows, part of the SBNation NBA coverage.

Jazz run streak to 5 games

2007-11-14T19:51:00.000-07:00

In Toronto, the Utah Jazz executed down the stretch again and left with a 92-88 (box score) victory over the Raptors. The win pushed their winning streak to 5 games and an overall record of 7-2. It was a pretty tight game all along, but toward the end of the game, the Jazz executed better to win to hold on to the lead.

The difference in the game? The box score would say the game was pretty even, but the Jazz shot the ball better (43% to 39%), got to the line more (29 attempts to 12), and Chris Bosh was extremely quiet with only 12 points. All that is accurate, but what the numbers don't clearly say, is that this game was there for the taking. The Raptors, either by poor on the court leadership or lack of coaching, didn't do what they should have done to try and take it.

Let's start with leadership and the point guard position. T.J. Ford did not get it done. The big disclaimer, since I don't see him play much - is that he could have had an off night, or Deron Williams could have simply been too much for the guy - but regardless, some of his decisions are ridiculous. Consider late in the game when the Raptors needed a 3 to tie, he simply refused to run a play and pass the ball to a better shooter (hello Kapano). Sure, Ford had made a 3 a few minutes prior, but that was an off balance fall away shot that was luck and maybe falsely built his confidence. His line of 13 points and 8 rebounds make it sound like he was a big contributor, but his 5 of 17 shooting (1-6 from3-pt range) and inability to get the ball to other people at big times reveal him as a weakness on this team. OR - of course, just a rare bad night.

Let's look at coaching. On the bright side, the Raptors are scrappy on defense, they don't give up, and rebound very well. In fact, out rebounding the Jazz 50-46 says a great deal about how they work. That said, Sam Mitchell, last season's coach of the year (never mind it should have been Sloan - so says the biased Jazz writer) doesn't seem to be utilizing his biggest asset. The only guy on this roster that strikes fear in the opponents is Chris Bosh, yet Bosh only took 12 shots? Keep in mind, he was guarded much of the night by Boozer - who isn't the best defender at this position. A fundamental question - why does Bosh spend so much time on the perimeter? Bosh is off to a slow start this year, and since I've heard nothing about health, I can only think that the coach might want to consider an offense that runs through his star.

Quick shots:

Andrei Kirilenko is on a tear, consider his averages over the last 4 games: 12 ppg., 9.3 reb., 9.8 apg., 3.3 stl., and 2.5 blks. A big thing about Kirilenko is his passing. He now has 5 games with 8 or more assists - out of 9 games, and is averaging 7.1 apg - which is out of this world for any forward not name Lebron. Great to see AK and the Jazz rewarded for their patience and effort to work things out.
Vegas had the Raptors favored by 2. I would have guessed Utah favored by 2-3. Apparently, Vegas wasn't impressed with the 6-2 Jazz. Toronto entered the game at 4-3, but just 1-2 at home.
Kris Humphries - a former Jazzman, seems to have found a home with the Raptors - and put up 14 big rebounds off the bench.
The 92 points scored by the Jazz were a season low (previous low was 95), and only the second time they've been held to under 100.
Matt Harpring missed the game with the flu. AK and Giricek took care of the extra minutes in fine fashion.

Next stop: Cleveland on Friday. This game should be a tense and tight game. The Jazz squeaked out a close game last week in Salt Lake City. Another reason for interest - the town of Cleveland still gets very up for Mr. Carlos Boozer. To prep for this game, I recommend Cavalier Attitude -a great NBA blog on the MVN.

The No-Name Kings bow to Jazz

2007-11-12T22:07:00.000-07:00

The Utah Jazz took care of the Sacramento Kings 117-93, to move to 6-2 on the season and remain one game ahead of the Denver Nuggets. The Jazz feature a starting line-up that is probably 80% known by most NBA fans, and if Ronnie Brewer keeps up his solid play - the entire starting line-up will be a known entity (For the record: Boozer, Kirilenko, Okur and Deron Williams are the other starters).

The Kings on the other hand, start a grab-bag of no-names. C'mon, think about it, how many Kings can you name right now? If you follow the game- you'd probably come up with Kevin Martin, the up-coming shooting guard. However, you'd be wrong if you also included Ron Artest, Brad Miller and Mike Bibby - as all three are either injured or suspended. The other 4 starters for the Kings? See bottom of this post.

The Kings, led by first year coach and former NBA player, Reggie Theus stuck with their passing and outside shooting game the entire night. At times the Jazz were on the verge of blowing out the Kings, but each time the Kings rallied to cut the lead to around 10-12 points. In the end, the lack of a post game, a non-existent defense, and a reliance on the outside shots finally did in the Kings and the Jazz coasted down the stretch. Looking at the post game stats you'll see the Kings launched jump-shots on 61 of their 78 shots (78%) - even for a good shooting team, that won't hold up on the road very often.

Another Question - who is the NBA's top scoring team? Okay not to drag it out - the Jazz are #1 in scoring and continue to get great shots. A popular myth is that Jerry Sloan runs a slow structured offense. The truth is the Jazz run and move the ball as well as anyone, but they do so within a structure and don't launch too many 3-pt shots. A surprise when looking at the rankings of top scoring teams, is that the Suns aren't currently in the top 5 (instead it's the Jazz, Lakers, Warriors, Celtics and Nuggets). The Suns will get there, but it's clear without Amare Stoudamire, they aren't running on all cylinders. You also tend to wonder how long Shawn Marion continues to fit in and play nice. So far he is shooting nearly 50% from the field and averaging 16 points per game, which sounds good on the surface, until you realize it would be his lower ppg average since his rookie season (he is now in 9th NBA season).

Answer to the question above: King starters - Kevin Martin, John Salmons, Mikki Moore, Kenny Thomas and Francisco Garcia.

Quick Shots:

Deron Williams was very quiet, scoring only 6 points and posting 7 assists. In truth, he wasn't needed, as when the starters were in the game - the Jazz were in control and Deron never need to assert himself.
Boozer racked up 32 points and 10 rebounds, while shooting 13-18 from the field. Boozer, now averaging over 25 points per game has picked up where he left off in last season's playoffs.
AK47 is filling the box score in huge ways this season. Tonight - 15 points, 8 rebs, 8 assists, and 3 blocks, while flying all over the court.
Kings starting big men - Moore and Thomas, combined for 8 fouls and only 5 points on a combined 2-8 shooting in 60 minutes of court time.

The Jazz venture off on the Road with a 3 game trip, stopping in Toronto, Cleveland, and Indiana. To read up on the Raptors, I recommend the Raptors Den a pretty good blog on the MVN.

Jazz Take What NBA Schedule Gives

2007-11-11T07:09:00.000-07:00

The Jazz beat the Memphis Grizzlies 118-94 (boxscore) Saturday night and accepted the gift that the NBA schedule periodically provides - and that is a home game on a back to back night for both teams in a match-up that the home team would be a solid favorite on neutral site with ample rest anyway. You could see this one coming - and I did, predicting Utah to score over 115 points and win by more than 15 points.

The Jazz continue to use turnovers to fuel a great deal of their offense. Utah has scored over 100 points in 6 of 7 games this season, and used 25 Memphis turnovers to easily surpass the century mark again. The Grizzlies spread around their inefficiency - as 10 of the 12 players who played, had one or more turnovers. Talk about playing hot potato.

The things Memphis has done in the past to hurt Utah were non-existent. A game committed working Gasol in the post? Nope, Gasol only scored 11 points on 3 of 8 shooting. Mike Miller bombing away from the parking lot? Nope, Miller did have 12 rebounds, but only fired twice from 3-pt range and missed them both. Damon Stoudamire turning back the clock again for another big performance? Nope, Damon only played 11 minutes and contributed more turnovers (4) than points (3). Memphis obviously looked tired, but based on a one game evaluation - I have no idea who they are or what the are trying to accomplish yet.

Something I thought in the past - that still seems to make some sense: The Jazz and the Grizzlies could change nicknames. Don't get me wrong, the Jazz have built a reputation and history with their nickname, so it won't ever happen. But, it would make some sense. With Beal Street in Memphis, there is a lot more Jazz music there than in Salt Lake City. And forget about Grizzlies - the only bear you are likely to see in the state of Tennessee would be at the city zoo.

The Jazz get one more very winnable home game against Sacramento Monday night, and then begin a stretch of 6 out of 8 road games. If you want to read ahead on the Sacramento game, I think the Sactown Royalty is one of the better blogs on the Kings.

Jazz Keep Sonics Winless

2007-11-10T09:47:00.000-07:00

The Utah Jazz beat the Sonics 103-101 Friday night in Seattle. Making it the 2nd straight game that the Jazz have won by the identical score - the other being the Cleveland game on Wednesday night. While the Jazz got the win they expected, it wasn't as easy as it looked on paper and several observations can be made after watching the game unfold.

The Jazz can be very good at times. However, at times they show that they are still pretty young are erratic. Several times the Jazz had a chance to blow this game open, and while you could argue it was the Sonics fighting back that kept it close - it's mostly that the Jazz couldn't sustain the momentum and execute the very things that provided the lead.

The Sonics can be good and you wonder how they are winless. Most of the time they looked young and very average, but at times you could see some strong pieces are already in place - Wilcox gives them something in the post. Collison gives the hustle. The Rookie Green doesn't get the hype, but is very legit.
Kevin Durant is a terrific athlete and but very raw. He can get a shot off at any time and can penetrate pretty well. However, his point per game average seems to be primarily the result of hoisting a lot of shots. Most of which are not good shots and some come from ridiculous distance. I realize the lack of maturity he has should be expected from such a young guy - but I think people need to give him time to climb up on the pedastal before putting him there unearned. This kid is future all-star, but right now he is an athletic gunner.
Kirilenko is playing with passion. His passing, his defense, his hustle are all game changers and in spurts he is unlike any other player on the floor. At this point, I give a lot of credit to the Jazz for maintaining their composure when all signs pointed to trading him in the off season. Kirilenko is doing his part an not pouting.
Point Guard play is sporadic at best for the Sonics. Delonte West was good in the 4th, but he seems best when he gets to shoot. Last night his shots went in so he looked good, but I wonder if that type of play is best for this young team. Earl Watson is just limited and while could help the supporting cast, is hardly starter material in this league.

Memo to the NBA, the owners of the Sonics, the City of Seattle, and the fans of Seattle: Can't we all just get along? Why must so many machismo statements be made about do this or else? I don't think anyone will win by moving the team out of Seattle. Sure, I haven't followed this story - I'd recommend reading SuperSonicSoul.com for more of the history - but to move the team because it feels like the NFL and MLB were treated better by the city seems unfair. For crying out loud, Key arena was refurbished in a big way only what 15 years ago? Since then the city has built baseball and football stadiums. Maybe the NBA should negotiate something 5-6 years down the road and let the good people of Seattle catch their breath before demanding more money for Billionaire sports owners. That - or pull a Larry Miller and try to self finance your own arena. The Energy Solutions Arena (formerly Delta Center), still looks like new because the superior on-going maintenance - and that arena I believe is in it's 16th season. Instead of committing to a long term solution in Seattle, all the parties throw ultimatums around that will result in no team in Seattle. That would be a sad sad thing. No offense to Oklahoma City, because they stepped up when they had a shot - but how about that being a location for a team that isn't being supported - and leave the Sonics and their history where it belongs?

Next up for the Jazz - the Memphis Grizzlies at home. I expect 115+ points for the Jazz and if they play with some consistency tonight, a 15 point margin of victory. Read more about Memphis on a pretty good blog - the Grizzlies Locker.

Sweet Music by Ronnie, Milsap

2007-11-09T11:03:00.000-07:00

The second year of an NBA career often produces what is called the "sophomore slump" in many players. Fortunately for the Jazz, their two sophomores, Ronnie Brewer and Paul Milsap, led Utah to an exciting 103-101 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers Wednesday night.

Brewer and Milsap are off to great starts in their second seasons, quickly dispelling the notion of a sophomore slump. Brewer is perhaps the biggest surprise and after 5 games is averaging 16 points per game, shooting 60% from the field, and contributing big on defense with just over 3 steals per game. Quite the contrast to his rookie season when he only appeared in 56 games and scored just over 4 points per game. For Milsap, it was a career high in scoring with 24 points, raising his season average to over 11 per game (compared to 5.9 in his rookie year).

You have to credit the Cavaliers for hanging around and staying in the game. You can't argue with the fact that they just didn't play their best game. They were out-shot, out-rebounded, and out hustled for most of the night. However some big shots down the stretch from the perimeter kept them in the game. When Lebron hit a huge 3-pointer with 6 seconds left to tie the game, it seemed like the Cavs where going to win a game they had no business winning. Then a quick inbounds pass caught the Cavs defense relaxing, and Deron Williams drove the length of the court for the winning lay-up with just over one second remaining.

Related Reading: A pretty good Cleveland Cavaliers blog can be found at the MVN.

Quick Shots:

While Brewer and Milsap stole the show, Boozer and Williams still put up some good numbers. Boozer produced 23 points and 12 rebounds, and Williams posted 15 points and 12 assists. To be fair Williams did have 8 turnovers as he seemed a little out of sync at times and forced a few bad passes.
One myth is melting away - and that is that old school Jerry Sloan doesn't play young guys. Milsap and Brewer are both making major contributions in their second year, and you have to credit Sloan for building maturity beyond their years in Boozer and Williams. Maybe a more accurate statement is that Sloan doesn't play young players - if they aren't good enough yet.
At 3-2, the Jazz are off to a solid start. Given that all 5 games have been against NBA playoff teams from last year.
The Jazz entered this game leading the NBA in scoring with an average of 113 points per game. It's a wonder what playing the defenseless Golden St. Warriors two times can do for you.

Up Next: The Jazz travel to Seattle Friday night for their first view of top rookie Kevin Durant. To learn more about the Sonics, read one of the best NBA blogs on the web: SuperSonicSoul - where you'll find some great stats and writing. The Sonics may stink, but this blog does not!

Utah Jazz Blog moves to MVN

2005-03-10T18:06:00.000-07:00

The Utah Jazz Blog has moved! I've joined the Most Valuable Network (MVN) and started All That Jazz. MVN has been known as one of the best pro baseball sites on the net, but they are ambitious and growing into coverage of the other top sports.

I'm still writing. I'm still going to offer opinions, humor and statistics about the Jazz and the NBA, while seeking your opinions. So Click here to read All That Jazz. I'm excited for the move and to be apart of the growing MVN team. Hope to see you there!

Thanks!

Andy

Arroyo is gone, but the talk continues

2005-03-04T09:11:00.000-07:00

They say the month of March comes "in like a Lion"......instead I think I'll come in with "I hate to whine about the whiners who are whining about old news, but I can't resist, and must get it off my chest so I'll beat it to death with a big stick".

Therefore, my Whiney Sports Mumbling Rant...

I keep reading articles in the Salt Lake Papers about Carlos Arroyo and how the Jazz miss him and how great he is doing for Detroit (reference, Jo-Ann Barnas article for Detroit Free Press picked up and ran in Salt Lake this week). I've even read opinions sent in to the newspapers and other online sites by fans who hate the trade of Arroyo and are mad at the Jazz and mad at Coach Sloan in particular. The point they are missing, and missing, and missing (they could stop shooting and missing at that point, but since Carlos hasn't stopped, why should they), and missing....is Detroit is asking him to be a part-time helper. In Detroit he is a back-up and averaging only 18 minutes per game. In Utah, the Jazz thought he was the man who could embrace the team's philosophy, lead the team, play heavy minutes (35 per game), and basically make those around him better. Truth is, he did not play well this year, despite the contract and faith the Jazz put in him. Truth is, he got on the wrong side of Coach Sloan, and while some of that may have been Jerry's fault and this league at times may be run by the players, the Jazz never have been. He was woefully immature and continues to complain that no one talked to him, as if, Carlos had no idea where Coach Sloan's office was. I for one am tired of reading his quotes and tired of all the fans who continue to push this side of things. Its a team game, but Carlos chose to make it about him and didn't like the result. I've said a million times...I'd rather lose with the right guys than win with the wrong ones. If it took giving in to a player who demanded kid gloves and special treatment to win, I'd rather lose. Is Carlos a bad guy? Whoa, that's not the point. I liked Carlos and enjoyed the good times while he was here, but unlike great players in this league he didn't fight through adversity. He isn't as valuable as people make it seem, and to hint that he means more to the Jazz than Sloan (as many have done) is idiotic.

To Carlos I say,

"take care Carlos, may you end up better than the other guys who left thinking they could do better outside the Jazz system (see: Shandon Anderson, Howard Eisley, DeShawn Stevenson, etc) . I'd like to send some of your Utah fan supporters with you, but you know how they are...fickle, as soon as they see that the grass isn't greener, they'll be bagging on you in no time."

My guess is with the recent improvement of the Jazz and Keith McLeod, and Arroyo's failure to really change the fact that only 5-6 guys on the Pistons really carry the load, that this issue will die down. Come next summer when the Jazz have the money from the Arroyo contract to spend elsewhere and an extra first round draft pick, people will be glad the Jazz held to their principles and really evaluated the situation for what it was.

In the spirit of statistical overkill, and to convince those that still wish to argue the over value of Carlos Arroyo, I offer the numbers below (thanks to the www.82games.com for the +/-). The result is that both teams, Utah and Detroit, have been better while Carlos is on the bench.

+/- points
Carlos in Utah (this year): -7.3
Carlos in Detroit: -6.4
Keith McLeod (Utah Starter): +2.5
Chauncey Billups (Detroit Starter): +4.9

Shooting %
Carlos in Utah (last year): 44.1%
Carlos in Utah (this year): 40.1%
Carlos in Detroit: 39.0%

Minutes Played - per game
Carlos in Utah (last year): 28.3 mins
Carlos in Utah (this year): 24.7 mins
Carlos in Detroit: 18.7 mins

To assert that Arroyo and his 39% shooting and 18 minutes per game is the reason, or even a critical influence, for Detroit's hot streak (winning 8 of 10) makes only slightly more sense to me than heaping extra praise on the hot dog vendors at Auburn Hills. I mean yes technically they are there, and yes in some remote way they are making an impact on the things inside the building, but its really only a coincidence that they are associated with the Pistons at a time when they are rolling.

Whew, all better now. Until the next article...

Jazz Shoot Down Hawks, Push Win Streak to 3

2005-03-03T09:04:00.000-07:00

The Utah Jazz did in fact shoot down the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday night, thanks to 51.5% shooting. But, to be honest, these poor birds are falling pretty hard on their own.

With the 96-74 victory the Jazz have won three in a row for the first time since the opening games of the season. A combination of the Jazz feeling a little bit better about themselves, mixed with the road weary Hawks, meant for the first time in a very long time, there appeared to be a team that Jazz completely overwhelmed. To be fair, Atlanta is one of the worst teams in the league, have lost their last 10 games, is now only 2-28 on the road, and was missing point guard Tyronn Lue because of suspension.

Despite beating the very beatable Hawks, the Jazz should feel good because....

They are starting to more consistently play the team style game they are known for. Numbers speaking to that cause in this game: no player took more than 11 shots, Jazz assisted on 25 of their 35 field goals, 3 players had 5 or more assists, and 5 guys scored in double figures.
The Jazz defended Atlanta well, holding the Hawks to 35 % shooting and blocked 9 Atlanta shots. Atlanta's two most aggressive offensive players, Josh Smith and Al Harrington combined to shoot 8-34. That includes at least two of Josh Smith's shots that were a layup and a dunk.
Keith McLeod had some foul trouble but in limited minutes was solid again: 10 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds and only one turnover. In addition two of his baskets where difficult shots to beat the shot clock.
Matt Harpring who tweaked his knee in the last game, could have taken a night off and the Jazz won without him. The modern day player absolutely sits in this game. Harpring however, isn't a free ride kind of player, so he suited up and scored 11 pts and 6 rebs in only 23 minutes. In the era of Stockton, Malone, and Hornacek the Jazz key players were known for showing up and getting the job done despite physical ailments of all kinds.

Atlanta is missing at least 3 critical pieces. They need some veteran players, but in specific places. They don't have a point guard, and even Tyronn Lue when healthy shouldn't be considered the answer. They don't have a low post presence on either defense or offense and the ideal situation is to have something down low on both ends, but they at least need the defense and rebounding. They need an outside shooter to commands a little respect. Now the Hawks are certainly no unique in these needs, but its almost painful how glaring these are. On the bright side, they will have cash for the free agent market. They will have another high draft pick, that they might want to consider dealing for a needed veteran. They have coach that some people around the league seem to think has potential in Mike Woodson. And, the Hawks have three improving playmaking type of players in Al Harrington, Josh Smith, and Josh Childers. Unfortunately, in the NBA when you have so many weaknesses you get exposed.

Jazz Notes:
Carlos Boozer was put on the injured list, meaning he will miss at least 5 games with the injured foot. The Jazz will replace him on the roster with PG Randy Livingston, who will be signed to a 10 day contract from the CBA. This will be the 8th NBA team for Livingston. If you are a diehard, see how many you can name on your own without peaking at the list. When you are ready to peak, read Randy's bio by clicking here.

Up next, the Jazz travel to New Orleans to play the Hornets on Friday night. A win would be Utah's 4th in a row. The Hornets have a young point guard that I think has a future in Dan Dickau, and have just added Speedy Claxton as a backup. You can read this Hornets Blog for a little background on New Olreans.

Jazz Nearly Clipped, but escape 87-86

2005-03-01T22:25:00.000-07:00

The Utah Jazz won their second straight game. It's been since January 10th and 12th that the Jazz had won two in a row. A more staggering figure, is the fact that the Jazz are going for their 3rd straight win Wednesday against Atlanta, and that is something the Jazz haven't done since the first 3 games of the season.

The game against the LA Clippers counts as a win. It dropped the Clippers to 1-27 in the Delta Center. However, Bobby Simmons rushed a layup that missed as the final buzzer sounded that could have given LA a big win. The Jazz were clinging to a one point lead, when Keith McLeod missed two free throws after making his first 12 on the night. Despite having a foul to give, and thereby stop the Clippers, the Jazz allowed them to nearly win it at the buzzer. You could look at this game and say the Jazz nearly lost. The truth is, the Jazz made several key plays and free throws in the fourth quarter that created the win. Did it nearly go away? Sure, but that fact has to be credited to the Clippers for scrapping throughout the game and then making two long difficult jumpers in the waning seconds of the game.

Things to note:

Keith McLeod is looking more and more like a young player that could develop into something good. He posted a career high 18 points to go with 8 assists and 12-14 free throws. You could hear it in Jazz assistant coach Phil Johnson's voice, how much they like the effort this kids is bringing. Watch for a profile on McLeod to come in the next few days.
Rookie Kris Humphries posted a career high 12 rebounds, including 5 on the offensive end. In his last game, he posted 6 offensive rebounds. Kris is showing that he is grasping some concepts that will get him more playing time.
Elton Brand posted only 10 points on the night, on 4-13 shooting. Maggette scored 16 points, but only took 8 shots from the field. Brand and Maggette are two players the Jazz tried hard to sign a year ago, only to have offer sheets matched by the Clippers. They both have immense talent and would benefit by having a point guard to get them the ball.
Congrats to Jerry Sloan who moved into 7th place all time on the NBA's all time win list, with victory #936. Jerry will keep moving up, as Bill Fitch and Red Auerbach can both be passed with another 6-7 wins.
Matt Harpring tweaked his knee and the final outlook isn't known. Its sounding like a sprain that could put him day to day, which would be good knews given the rampant injury issues for the Jazz this year. Carlos Boozer remains out for the Jazz, who are hopeful he'll return any day.
The Jazz and Clippers combined to attempt only 8 three point FGs, making 4, which is a rarity in today's game.
In a post game locker room interview, Corey Maggette responding to some of the issues the Jazz have faced this year, commented, "The Jazz have no real go-to guy....". A pretty fair assessment, as the Jazz have filled the roster with a bunch of good players, but are waiting for one to step up. When healthy, you can see Boozer taking a stab at it, and day by day, young Keith McLeod seems more comfortable creating under pressure.

Up next, those mighty Atlanta Hawks. If you want to get a peak at a Hawks blog ahead of time, go here.

Jazz Find Rhythm in Houston

2005-02-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a big fourth quarter from Raja Bell, Mehmet Okur, and Matt Harpring, the Utah Jazz surged past the Houston Rockets for a 99-92 victory in Houston Sunday afternoon.

The Jazz have had trouble in the 4th quarter of games. Coming into the Houston game, Utah was 6-21 on the road. Starting the 4th quarter with a tie score seemed to be pointing the direction of many games this year. Good effort, but not good enough to win. Instead of wilting, Memo scored 9 points in the 4th Quarter, Bell 7, and Harpring 8 as the Jazz seemed to either make every shot or get an offensive rebound on each miss in the fourth quarter. There were a couple of 'you had to see it' type shots in the fourth quarter as well. One was a reverse by Kirilenko, when he got caught under the backboard he reached his long arm out and quickly flipped it back into the basket. He made it look almost effortless, but the truth is there aren't many guys in the league who could have done it. Moments later, Mehmet Okur drove the baseline and was fouled hard, but with a showing of great strength, flipped it over his head with his left hand and into the basket. The Jazz took advantage of a couple of bounces and combined that with beating the Rockets in the effort and energy departments of rebounding and defense.

For the Rockets, McGrady was terrific in the first quarter, but didn't have as much pep over the final three quarters. The new guy Mike James played hard till then end and scored 19 points, making just enough 3-pointers in the 4th quarter to keep the Rockets within shouting distance. Perhaps I miss something, but I just don't understand why a 7'6" player like Yao Ming only gets 10 shot attempts against the Jazz who don't have a player over 6'11". Is Yao not aggressive enough in demanding the ball or getting position? Or is it, what appears to be a team that overall has questionable shot selection and doesn't appear to be running an offense most of the time? I know that normal point guard Bob Sura was out with an injury, so perhaps that was the problem in lack of offensive sets and touches for Yao. Lets hope so.

On this Day in the NBA- Houston Style: Feb 28, 1981 Calvin Murphy set the record for most consecutive made free throws with 78 (against San Diego). This record was later broken by Michael Williams of Minnesota and pushed all the way to 97 (in 1993). Murph still holds the record for highest FT percentage for a season at .958 (1980-81 season).

There is also a great write-up of this game in the Houston Chronicle (click the link), that includes sharp comments by McGrady, Jon Barry, and Van Gundy. Also, in keeping with the trend of looking for the best blogs for the opponent, I point you to the Houston Rockets Fan Blog.

Jazz Win.....the 1st half. Celts take game 109-102

2005-02-26T12:18:00.000-07:00

The Utah Jazz are very disjointed right now. There is no other way to look at it. The effort is there more times than not, but the lack of a consistent line-up mainly due to health issues, means this team just hasn't come together.

Things were going pretty well...for the first half. The Jazz enjoyed a 55-49 lead over Boston, and with all the jump shots you'd expect the likes of Pierce, Walker and Davis to jack-up in the 2nd half you could easily see this lead ballooning with easy lay-ups coming off the fast break. However, this season has been anything but predictable, but then again maybe something is predictable. Vanishing leads. The Celtics while still firing jumpers all over the court, also found their way into the lay too easily, too often and for too many easy shots. So many times have the Jazz had the lead going into the fourth quarter, only to see the lead disappear. The loss dropped the Jazz to 17-37 on the season, and marked the 10th time the led after three quarter of play.

There is a terrific detailed write-up of this game and pretty much everything concerning the Celtics on the Boston Celtics Blog.

Speaking of the Celtics, it is really hard to figure out where they are going. I think many people, myself included, tend to think Danny Ainge is a sharp guy who has a good chance at fixing things in Beantown. But, the trade to get back Antoinne Walker seems odd. At least in the short run, you bring back an erratic, selfish player, to a team that is trying to make a playoff run in the Eastern Conference. I wouldn't want this guy anywhere near my young players. He is often a poster-child for "things I don't want to see done" and I'd hate for some of his shot selection decisions to rub-off on any of those talented youngsters. Even in this victory against the Jazz, with the Celtics clinging to a 3 point lead, Walker hoisted a long three point attempt that missed and allowed the Jazz a lay-up on the other end to cut the lead to one, with 35 seconds left. It all worked out, because the Jazz had to foul and the Celts made all their free throws to widen the final score. In the long run, the Walker trade may have merit. The Celtics will have created salary cap room after this season is over and can use it to get someone who fits into their long-term plans better than Antoinne Walker and the departed Gary Payton. There is rumor that Payton will get waived by Atlanta and could end up back in Boston. If that works out the trade gets a hair better for the Celtics in the short run.

Positives in this game for the Jazz: Andrei Kirilenko scored 29 points and tried to assert himself. Perhaps over-asserted in the 4th quarter as he broke the offensive execution and went his own way a few times. However, for a team lacking stars and someone to step forward, I didn't see it as a complete negative. Another promising note, is Keith McLeod's attitude and the way he competes to the end. Still McLeod with 3 assists and 4 turnovers, still needs to execute the offense better and use his ability to break down a defense to create easy shots for this teammates. Offensively the Jazz were fine, but to allow the Celtics to come into the Delta Center and shoot 52% is hard to overcome.

Up Next: Jazz in Houston on Sunday, Feb 27th.

Mavericks make themselves at home in Utah

2005-02-24T18:00:00.000-07:00

The Dallas Mavericks are thriving on the road. They are good at home, but they are terrific on the road. As they push toward the playoffs, I might suggest they drop the name Dallas and just go with "Mavericks", start staying in hotels even when they play home games in Dallas, and ask the fans who fill American Airlines Center in Dallas to boo them now and then for motivation.

How good are the Mavericks on the road? After beating the Jazz 101-83, Dallas is now 19-7 on the road. That ties the Mavericks with Seattle and Phoenix for the fewest road losses this season. How impressive is a 19-7 road record? As of now, only 8 teams in the NBA have a winning road record. Six in the Western Conference and only two in the East.

Something rare to note, Dallas and Phoenix are the only two teams in the league with better road records than home records. Both teams are good at home, but they really crank it up on the road.

Making an effort? Local papers contend the Jazz were still on vacation and weren't making of an much effort. I have a hard time agreeing with that angle. That is nothing more than kicking a young dog while he is down. The Jazz did endure their worst shooting night of the season at 30.7%, but played even on the boards and blocked some shots. Dallas is a good team, and while Utah was somewhat out of sync, battling injuries, and out-matched on talent, I don't think it was simply a lack of effort.

Some quick shots....

Dirk Nowitzki is terrific. I worried in his younger years he would become a big guy content to bomb three pointers and skip playing defense, passing, or even attempt driving to the hoop. Credit Dirk for growing his game. Last night he posted 29 points while having an off shooting night (7-21), because he drove to the hoop and drew fouls (15-16 FT). I even saw him play some good defense and he picked up 8 rebounds. He is worth the price of admission and does much to dispel the stereotype of soft euro players.
Seeing Raul Lopez gone for the season with injury gave me an idea for the ultimate solution. Bring back John Stockton. Okay, it would never happen and we love John too much to put him through this kind of a season, but think of the benefits to young Keith McLeod of watching Stockton. In addition, Carlos Boozer would get to see what it could be like with passes coming at the right time and right place, not to mention cross screens in the lane that would actually get him some open lay-ups.
Here a block, there a block. Last night 7 of the 10 Jazz players who played longer than one minute of game time blocked a shot.
Resting during the all-star break? Andrei Kirilenko traveled all the way to Russia for a quick visit. Memhet Okur went to Hawaii with his wife. So much for taking it easy and resting up for the 2nd half of the season. AK47 and Memo combined to shoot 3-17 last night, but word is they racked up a bunch of frequent flyer miles.
You can't play Dallas without thinking of Mark Cuban. Mark is a super-fan, who became an owner, and remained a super fan. You can check on Mark by reading his blog, titled "BlogMaverick", which covers much more than just the Mavs. I can't recommend enough that you check out his commentary on the NHL.

For Raul Lopez life just isn't fair

2005-02-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

The Utah Jazz announced that point guard Raul Lopez will have season ending knee surgery. The good news is that this is not further damage to his twice-repaired left knee. The bad news is that this was his 'good' knee. For a point guard with the right attitude and a load of youthful talent, his brief NBA career has been an injury fest. Raul has shown a lot of perseverance, but this is getting ridiculous. This is definitely something classified as bad things happening to good person, again.

The injury leaves the Jazz with a thin point guard position. Luckily, Keith McLeod is expected back from injury for the Mavericks game. Howard Eisley will continue to handle back-up PG duties and is coming off two great games before the allstar break, where he averaged 17 pts and 10 assists against the Lakers and Suns.

The Jazz training staff stays busy as Carlos Boozer is expected to miss the game with injury as well. Andrei Kirilenko is said to be better after the all-star break and should return to action from his ankle injury.

Lakers ready to Booz' it up?

2005-02-21T15:35:00.000-07:00

The rumor circulating today is that Carlos Boozer of the Jazz is being traded to the Lakers for some combination of Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Vlade Divac, and Devan George. The latest rumored combination included the last three players listed. The first rumor was Odom and either Butler or George. Per the Utah Jazz PR Department, as reported by the Jazz Flagship radio station (1320 KFAN) as of 225pm MST today, there is nothing to that rumor/deal.

I for one think keeping Boozer is best option, but with a losing record, everything short of trading Andrei Kirilenko should continue to be discussed.

Timmmmberrrrrr....Wolves fall hard to Jazz 100-82

2005-02-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

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.

Sometimes talent is enough

2005-02-09T23:40:00.000-07:00

Jazz start slow, and Denver's talent takes advantage with a 97-87 victory.

The Jazz starters had a tough time getting well, started. Denver jumped out a 9 point first quarter lead. The Jazz reserves led by Mehmet Okur (Memo), Matt Harpring, and Raja Bell battled back to make it interesting. In the end, the overall talent of Carmello Anthony, Kenyon Martin, Andre Miller, and little 5'5" Earl Boykins was just too much.

There was actually some fun talent on the floor in Denver. Some fun names to say as well. Including: Nene, Mello, Raja, and Memo.

Speaking of talent. Talent isn't always enough to succeed this league. When they debate how much of the game is mental and how important it is, you can always site Carmello Anthony's performance on Tuesday night as exhibit A. He is a young player that just reacts and lets his natural talent carry him. On this night it carried him to 25 points. As for the mental part of the game? Anthony had his shorts on backwards and when he finally noticed, he decided to pull them down and turn them around right there on TV and in front of the home crowd. More cerebral players might not have decided to fix the problem in the same way. They might not have had the issue in the first place. Other players might have even been embarrassed or knocked off their game because of it. A more cerebral player might have done a lot of things different. Carmello on the other hand posted 25 points and one of his better games of the season. It was however, pretty funny.

The Nuggets who have struggled with consistency this season looked pretty solid. They still miss Voshon Lenard's outside shooting, but when they are playing hard they have many of the needed pieces to play with anyone.

Marbury was great, but is that a good thing?

2005-02-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

Stephon Marbury was great in the Delta Center Monday night. Leading the New York Knicks to a 102-99 overtime victory over the Utah Jazz. Marbury posted 30 points with 8 coming in the overtime. He showed a real life example of what it means to eat someone's lunch, referring to the two point guards on the Jazz. He had zero problem with the young Raul Lopez and the ancient Howard Eisley. While Lopez and Eisley can both give you good things at different times, they both ran into a dynamo they couldn't handle.

Marbury's season stats are terrific at 20.9 ppg and 8.2 assists per game. Those are right on his career averages of 20.5 and 8.3 respectively. One statistic this year is up. Way up. He is shooting a career high 47.2% this season, which is up from his career average of 43.4%. His previous career best was 44.2%.

Now, establishing that it was a great night for Stephon, I wonder if it was a good thing for those Knicks. Interim head coach Herb Williams and the man with the controls, Isaiah Thomas, both publicly shout praises about Marbury being 'the man'. However, its hard to wonder if some of these great performances don't perpetuate the love affair in New York and distract the people in charge from noticing that one trend in Marbury's career is continuing. Losing. New York is now 19-29 and will have a tough time making the playoffs, despite playing in the awful Eastern Conference. Despite a huge payroll, they won't be competitive at much except for the size of the paychecks they distribute every two weeks.

I have no vendetta against Stephon Marbury, but its hard not to wonder why the teams he plays for so often lose and underachieve. In a few cases, when he has been traded, the team went on to achieve great things in his absence. You could argue he was so valuable to the teams that he left, that they were able to obtain a great deal in the trade, almost a Herschel Walker type thing, and that could have some merit. Still, the losing is the key. The goal of this game is to win. I discount the personal goals of making lots of money, buying big houses, fancy cars, and posting big numbers...because, well...hey..losing makes you a loser and that isn't the goal. I don't mean any disrespect to Latrell Spreewell, if I just dissed his rationale for waking up each day, but well, I believe he can feed his kids. Okay, back to Marbury, I know its a team game and he shouldn't get all the blame. But, just for conversation consider, what happens to teams when he leaves, even if it is just coincidence....

Phoenix in Marbury's last full season there, went 44-38. This year they are on pace for 64-18. Also, before Stephon arrived in Phoenix they were 51-31, and in his first year there they dropped to 36-46.

Minnesota was 45-37 in Marbury's last season there ('97-98). When Terrell Brandon came on board they improved to 50-32.

New Jersey was 26-56 in his last full season there and then vaulted to 52-30 the year after he left.

I am not a big Isaiah Thomas fan, so I hope the Knicks hold on to Stephon.

Marbury by the way, brings this type of critical analysis on himself. Here is a recent statement from Stephon:

"Don't get me wrong, I love Jason Kidd, he is a great point guard," Marbury said. "[But] how am I comparing myself to him when I think I'm the best point guard to play basketball? That makes no sense. I can't compare myself to somebody when I already think I'm the best.

"I'm telling you what it is. I know I'm the best point guard in the NBA," Marbury said.

Stephon, have you ever heard of the saying, when you are great you don't have to spend all your time telling everyone and trying to convince them of your greatness? When you are great, they know it and are probably the ones telling you.

New Orleans New and Old

2005-02-07T21:33:00.000-07:00

Saturday Night the Utah Jazz hosted the New Orleans Hornets in the Delta Center. There is always something strange in the air when the Jazz, originally from New Orleans, play the latest NBA team calling New Orleans home.

The Hornets are either building, rebuilding, or still in the demolition stage, although its very difficult to guess which it is. They have injuries galore and came in having played the night before. Therefore, they had more than enough excuses stockpiled to cover them in this one. Well, the Hornets probably used every one after losing to the Jazz 108-92. Speaking of excuses, if you don't use them, are they really there?

In fairness, you cannot overlook the excuse that the Hornets played without their modern day stars Baron Davis and Jamaal Magloire. They also played without their star of recent years in Jamal Mashburn, who contrary to popular opinion, doesn't appear to have retired, despite his endless string of injuries and permanent resident status on the injured list. Forget stars here, the Hornets even played without serviceable fill-in Lee Nailon with an injured groin.

New Orleans simply does not have the needed bodies to defend, score or rebound in the low post. Their starting front line of journeymen (PJ Brown, George Lynch, and Rodney Rodgers) only combined for 14 points and 9 rebounds, while also posting 12 fouls, 6 turnovers, and no blocked shots.

The Jazz took advantage with many easy shots. They shot 80% for the first quarter and finished the game at 53%. Seven players scored in double figures, five players had five or more rebounds, and five different guys blocked a shot.

I'll give this to the Hornets, they got off the bus and competed. They have a couple of terrific shooters in Casey Jacobson and Bostjan Nachbar. I also like Dan Dickau, that big haired, but small framed point guard who really seems to understand this game even if he looks to be a high school gym rat. I cannot resist commenting however on their road uniforms. They are a sort of a aqua-blueish, tv out-of-contrast, all of the good colors were taken type of color. Maybe they are a Miami Vice inspired mardi gras parade uniform that doubles as a road team jersey. Ugh.

(Jazz rookie, Kirk Synder avoids PJ Brown and his electric blue uniform)

Jazz Update: Nets, Bobcats, and some quick shots

2005-02-02T09:05:00.000-07:00

Just when you think the Jazz have come around the corner or are at least getting close, they get ran over by a big truck that stops all forward progress. Then they try to get up and dust themselves off, only to have a little kid on a scooter mow them down. The Jazz played pretty well in Minnesota last Friday. They lost the game in ugly fashion at the end of the game, but in all honestly a young team playing on the road often falls apart. That hurt, but its been the last two games that have caused the pain.

The Cast, staring as the 'Big Truck': The New Jersey Nets

Trying to rebound from the Timberwolves game, the Jazz hosted the Nets on Saturday night. The Nets are under .500 and looked on paper like a team the Jazz should beat at home. However, the Nets had won 2 in a row and 5 of 7 coming in to Salt Lake City, and they featured a line-up with a healthy Jason Kidd and Vince Carter. Still even with that build-up, I don't think Jazz expected a big truck with New Jersey across the front, to completely run them over. The Nets routed Utah 99-82, in a game that was only that close because the Jazz ended the game on a bit of a run. How dominant was New Jersey? The Nets led by 24 after 3 quarters and they beat the Jazz in statistical categories of: FG%, 3PT FG, FT Made, Rebounds, Assists, Steals, Blocks, turnovers, and they committed fewer fouls. Ouch!

And in the role of 'little kid on a scooter': The Charlotte Bobcats

So after the big truck ran them over, the Jazz had the perfect remedy scheduled. A home game against the expansion Charlotte Bobcats, who had only won one road game on the season. To make it even better, the Bobcats number one draft pick, Emeka Okafor was injured for the game. Despite an 11 point lead in the fourth quarter, things went haywire, and the Bobcats led by castoffs like Brevin Knight and Gerald Wallace surged past the Jazz enroute to a 109-105 win. For the Jazz, Andrei Kirilenko did about everything humanly possible to push the Jazz to victory. He finished with 27 points, 6 rebounds, 10 assists, and 3 blocks, and setup both Carlos Boozer and Gordan Giricek for potential winning baskets with in the last minute. How bad did this game hurt? The Bobcats clearly won the game on hustle and heart. Notice, no mention of talent. At least known talent. I challenge anyone reading this to name another Bobcat player not mentioned in this article. Can't do it can you? (click here for their roster). Double Ouch!

Closing with some Quick Shots:

For a team that was always healthy and predictable for so many years, this year's Jazz are more like the anti-Jazz. Hurt and erratic.
The Jazz are now the only team to lose at home to both New Orleans and Charlotte.
The Jazz are also the only team to beat Phoenix, Seattle and San Antonio.
Despite being a losing team, the Jazz feature one of those NBA players worth paying to watch in Andrei Kirilenko.
Flip-flop. The first game between the two teams this year was a nearly identical score 107-105 (Jazz win). In that one, the Jazz came from 20 points down to get the win.
The Jazz are now 9-13 at home.
Speaking of losing. I find it surprising that Denver, Utah, Portland, Indiana and every team in the Atlantic division all have losing records.
Did anyone else just notice that San Antonio is not in Utah's division?
Want to stump someone in Jazz Trivia? How many years has it been since the Jazz have won less than last season's 42 games? They might go back to the early eighties to start their guessing. The Jazz were 41-41 in 1984-85, and 30-52 in 1982-83 which was the last time they failed to reach .500. However, the answer: In 1998-99 season the Jazz went 37-13 in a strike shortened season.

Jazz let another Fish off the hook

2005-01-29T23:16:00.000-07:00

A Promising start ends in 4th Quarter Heartbreak

The young Jazz struggled to complete a promising game in Minnesota on Friday night. In fact after leading my 16, the Jazz let Minnesota wiggle off the hook late in the game and ruined what was nearly a great trip to the Great Lakes Region. Until the NBA starts giving credit for winning partial games, or counting “we almost did its” as victories, the Jazz will have to keep clawing.

In fact to best understand what happened to the Jazz Friday night, we could examine a hypothetical fishing trip made by a group of young fishermen.

The young fishermen showed up to fish the challenging unfamiliar lake in Minnesota. The young fishermen didn’t have much experience, nor did they feel too comfortable, in the strange surroundings. Luckily, they were given some guidance by an old Ranger, who tried to impart all the wisdom and planning needed to obtain a fine catch. The young fishermen were full of youthful energy and spunk, and while not completely sure how to accomplish the task, they marched bravely ahead. Initially following the plan laid out for them by the seasoned Ranger, the fishermen looked to have a great deal of success. In fact, they hooked a big fish and started to reel it in. The fish while not a trophy fish that would garner national attention, it was certainly a conquer worth having and would gain the young fishermen some esteem and acknowledgement within their region. Things seemed to be going very well, but in the excitement of landing the big fish and thinking of all the grandeur and pride that would be achieved, the young fishermen forgot to stay with the plan and tips provided by the Ranger. As the fish got near the boat, the young fishermen were excited but also getting very nervous and caught up in the moment. The fish decided to fight back and try to free himself. The young inexperienced fishermen went ahead and tried to land the fish anyway, but as they were lifting the fish up out of the water and clearly able to see their prize, they neglected to quickly scoop it into the net. The big fish shook and spun and freed itself. Splashing back into the water the fish swam away and left the young fishermen broken hearted. Instead of leaving their adventure to the Great Lakes Region feeling successful, the young fishermen were forced to endure a late night trip home empty handed.

After the game the Ranger…urr Jazz coach, Jerry Sloan, had to feel encouraged by the way his team of young fishermen, battled and attacked early in the game. However, losing composure at the end and not showing the mental toughness required to win, was surely a tough thing to swallow. One thing is for certain, I don't expect Sloan to give up trying to teach these guys how to fish...urr Win.

For a non fishing related recap of the game, you can read the Salt Lake Tribune’s coverage of the game by clicking here.

Shooting and Missing

2005-01-27T09:33:00.000-07:00

Shooting Percentages in the NBA : The Best and the worst.

As you know, I love to look at statistics of different kinds. One very common statistic is field goal percentage. Usually the best big men in the league are the best percentage shooters. Looking at the top 5 in the NBA, there are no real surprises:

Shaquille O'Neal .610
Amare Stoudemire .572
Eddie Curry .537
Carlos Boozer .530
Udonis Haslem .528

One guy who makes the top ten is somewhat shocking. Jason Terry of Dallas is #10 in the NBA at .521. This is surprising in that he is a guard who shoots mainly from the perimeter, but also, the guy is a career .432 shooter. Something has changed, and I'd guess it's playing on a winning team that features several other great players who are demanding double teams.

One thing that people don't always look at is the worst field goal percentage shooters. I did, and I was surprised to find who was dead last in the NBA for made FG %. The criteria requires that all these players must be on pace to make 300 FG for the season, so for that reason part time players don't appear much in this list. Okay, who is last?

How about Kobe Bryant. Yes, Kobe is ranked #101 and therefore is the lowest ranked player in terms of shooting percentage. It doesn't help that Kobe takes almost 30% of his shots behind the arc, where he only shoots 33%.

Here are the brick-layers (bottom of the FG% rankings):

Kobe Bryant .406
Antoinne Walker .409
Earl Boykins .412
Allen Iverson .414
Morris Peterson .415
Corey Maggette .415

You can see the entire list on ESPN by clicking here.

Jazz Show Signs of Life

2005-01-26T02:05:00.000-07:00

The Utah Jazz showed signs of life in their 109-100 victory over the Seattle Sonics last night. It might be more accurately stated as "Signs of Health". The two stars of the game for the Jazz were Andrei Kirilenko, playing just his 3rd game back from injury, and point guard Raul Lopez, who has had his career limited by injuries.

Andrei Kirilenko played two 10 minute stretches for the Jazz, as he is still being limited by the trainers who do not want to rush him back too quick. Perhaps no other player is as hard to describe as AK 47, in that when he is on the floor good things happen and you can't always measure them. That doesn't mean he is a quiet player, as when you are finished watching you know his impact is huge, and huge in a way that the box score sometimes misses. I am not sure whether "Jigsaw" is a good nickname for him or not, but its many different pieces that come together to make an effective result with Andrei. Blocked shots, steals, offensive rebounds, deflections, and off the ball movement are things that he excels at. Sure, he delivers points and rebounds and some assists, but he is dominant in those other areas. Kirilenko being back from injury definitely brings hope to the fans. You can sense it.

Raul Lopez was the unquestioned star of the game. Raul played a career high 38 minutes and set season highs of 20 points and 11 assists. Keep in mind, Lopez had averaged only 13.6 minutes per game this season, but was thrust into the starting point guard position due to the trade of Carlos Arroyo and the recent injury to Keith McLeod. Health will be a key, but this guy may not give back the starting position for a while.

Did anyone see this victory by the Jazz coming? The author of the best Sonics blog going, is in tune with pulse of his team and predicted this outcome correctly (click and read for yourself). I for one was somewhat surprised. I thought the fact that Seattle played the night before, while the Jazz were home and resting, meant it could be close. However, after watching the offensive show Seattle put on the Jazz over the weekend, it was hard to imagine them being slowed down by the less than impressive defense the Jazz have been playing.

The Jazz have a home dominated schedule with 4 of the next 5, and 5 of the next 7, being played in the Delta Center. As the season is rapidly ticking away, the Jazz must now start to win if there is any prayer of playoff contention. I shouldn't mention this, but the Jazz are now 15-28 on the season, and would have to finish 26-13 to get to .500 (which still may not be a playoff birth in the rugged Western Conference).

A closing comment on the Sonics (whom the Jazz have finished playing for the year), is that they sure are fun to watch shoot the basketball. Ray Allen might be the purest bomber in Seattle since Downtown Freddie Brown. And probably not since Jack Sikma have they had a big guy step out like Vladimir Radmanovic and bury endless jumpers. It doesn't end there either as Rashard Lewis, Luke Ridnour, and Antonio Daniels all seem to drop daggers when left open.

2005-01-22T15:31:00.000-07:00

Stop the Zebras

The Jazz are all FOULED up

2005-01-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

Every time the official blows the whistle, victory is farther away

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a strong Jazz supporter. However, it has become clear that the Jazz are FOULED up this year.

One over-looked statistic that actually tells a great deal about winning and losing is the fouls called differential. Meaning, the number of fouls called on the Jazz, minus the number of fouls called on their opponent in the same game, creates the fouls called differential (FCD). I'm not sure that it's statistic that is monitored all that often, and perhaps is only being done so now as I grasp at straws to explain the Jazz season thus far. That said, this statistical review delivered a pretty powerful result.

The Jazz have the highest and worst FCD in the NBA at +2.82 per game (A good FCD is a negative number). How important is the FCD to winning and losing? Consider a study of the worst 6 teams (highest FCD) and best 6 teams (lowest FCD) as of Friday night (01/21/05):

Worst 6: Utah (+2.82 ), Atlanta (+2.47), New Jersey (+2.00), New York (+1.92), Chicago (+1.88), and New Orleans (+1.78); Combined Record: 77-153, or .335 winning percentage.

Best 6: Phoenix (-2.82), Miami (-2.47), San Antonio (-2.39), Detroit (-2.26), Sacramento (-1.76), and LA Lakers (-1.67); Combined Record: 163-73, or .691 winning percentage.

How could the fouls called differential be so important? Consider that every additional foul called would most likely be a foul called when the team is already in the bonus for a quarter, and their opponent would get two free throws. So the Jazz are fouling almost 3 more fouls per game than their opponent and therefore giving up nearly an extra 6 foul shots per game. For a team that has lost many close games that is important. Add to the fact that an extra foul here or there could be putting one of their good players on the bench during a key time.

Don’t the Jazz always play physical defense, and most likely always been poor in this category? Actually No. Last year when the Jazz finished with a 42-40 record, their FCD while still not great at +1.18, was more of a middle of the road number. In the last two Stockton and Malone years, the Jazz had impressive -1.38 and -1.19 FCD’s and won 55% of their games.

Why are the Jazz doing so poor this season? It could be the fact that the NBA has changed the way they call fouls this year and are whistling aggressive defensive teams for more fouls. However, three aggressive and physical defensive teams (Miami, San Antonio, and Detroit) are 3 of the best 4 teams in the NBA in terms of FCD.

Missing Andrei Kirilenko with injury, could that be a reason? Could be. Interestingly, with Andrei in the line-up this year the Jazz are 8-6, with a -1.36 FCD, which would be 8th best in the entire NBA.

Perhaps having Kirilenko back in the line-up will allow the Jazz to make a few more defensive plays, and result in the referees blowing that whistle a couple less times per game. One thing is certain: Over a period of games, fewer whistles, means fewer losses.

Breaking NBA News: Arroyo Traded to Detroit

2005-01-21T10:53:00.000-07:00

There were rumors that Utah Jazz point guard Carlos Arroyo could be traded. Most people figured it just to be natural speculation because Arroyo was struggling to succeed this season. However, it appears the rumors to be true:

ESPN's Chad Ford is reporting that the Jazz are sending Arroyo to Detroit for Elden Campbell and a future first round draft choice.

This move would give Detroit a true PG, something they have been lacking. It would give the Jazz a first round pick and salary cap room in the coming off season. Elden Campbell would probably be waived. Some will say it was a quick hook by the Jazz to deal him so soon, especially given the fact he played so well last season and had a terriffic Olympic tournament leading Puerto Rico.

Bottom line: I like Arroyo, but he is young and hardly reliable for the Jazz. They have played better without him this year (see previous post on this) and the Jazz ownership has always backed Coach Sloan.

Bell rings up Lakers in 4th

2005-01-18T08:49:00.000-07:00

Arroyo on the bench again, while Jazz sparkle in the 4th Quarter

The Jazz beat the Lakers in the Fabulous Forum last night, 102-94. Okay, so it was the Staples center and Magic Johnson nor Stockton-to-Malone were on exhibit. For that matter, the modern day heroes of Kobe Bryant and Andrei Kirilenko were also absent with leg injuries. It still doesn't change the fact that there is still something fun about playing the purple and gold in La-La land and something terrific about winning, no matter the circumstances. When the camera panned we saw all that we needed: The LA Skyline outside, the stars courtside, the banners in the rafters, and the Jazz with more points than the hometown Lakers on the scoreboard.

As typical with many Jazz games this season, one of the most interesting things was who played and who didn't. Raja Bell, for instance, didn't play much. In the first half that is. Raja even admitted after the game that he didn't like not playing. But in the end, he respected Coach Sloan's decision and did not show signs of frustration or a selfish motivation. Instead, when he was finally given extra minutes in the 4th quarter of Monday Night's game, Bell let his play do the talking and scored 14 of his 16 points in the quarter. He was hardly the only star, but his big 3-pointer late in the game was crucial. The fact that he had the attitude when needed was huge.

In contrast, Carlos Arroyo continues to ride the pine for the Jazz. I understand his frustration, but I'm still optimistic enough to think that if he keeps his head right, that he'll get another opportunity to be the lead point guard down the road. Last night, even during a gripping game against the Lakers when a grumpy person would have been forgiven to lose himself and excitedly support his teammates, appeared somber. There were several times when you could not miss his glum and less than enthusiastic expression. He's young and I hope will rebound, but visually he looks like he is completely crushed.

The media typically refers to Arroyo's not playing because of a fallout with Jerry Sloan. Was there a fallout? Yes, we all saw the argument, but you forget that Sloan routinely fell out of sorts with others in the past, only to give them playing time when they were willing and able to contribute. Greg Ostertag, for instance, was always banging heads with Sloan, but they quickly put it behind them and Greg contributed shortly afterwards. I think rather than pointing to that one argument as to why Carlos isn't playing, we can look at the numbers for the problem.

First, a general comparison of some of Arroyo's average numbers between this year and last:

This year: 24.7 mins, 40.1 FG%, 38.9 3pt %, 1.5 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.8 TO, and 8.2 points .
Last year: 28.3 mins, 44.1 FG%, 37.4 3pt %, 2.6 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 2.2 TO, and 12.6 points.

There isn't a huge fall off statistically, although he isn't shooting or rebounding quite as well, but the key is that the team isn't performing as well when he is in the game. The role the Jazz give their point guard is to be responsible for others and the overall flow of the team. You might say that it's subjective to say that Arroyo isn't doing as well as the other PGs on the roster, and there isn't much tangible proof that the team isn't performing when he is on the court. Well after a little digging some interesting numbers can be found. The amazing folks at www.82games.com have taken statistics to a new level. You can see a report on the Jazz, that shows how the Jazz perform with each player on the court, in terms of +/- points relative to their opponents (based on a 48 minute game). When you compare the three point guards on the Jazz, this is very telling:

Arroyo -8.3
McCleod +6.0
Lopez +8.4

For conversation sake, and to highlight how much the Jazz miss Andrei Kirilenko, his number is a +21.7. How big is Kirilenko's presence? Compare his to some other NBA greats: Duncan (15.6), Iverson (1.6), Garnett (14.4), Kobe (9.7), Lebron (12.2) and Steve Nash (12.7). We'll have to keep monitoring these numbers as the season goes one.
(Note these numbers seem to be very fluid and change with each game, but as of this moment, you can get the idea)

Kings execute Jazzmen

2005-01-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

The Jazz were playing sweet music the last two games. Cliche? Sure, but after beating two of the best teams in the NBA this week, the Jazz may be entitled. Thursday night in Sacramento, the Utah Jazz were brought back to earth a bit, when the Kings used terrific offensive execution at key moments, to end Utah's two game winning streak.

The Kings were warriors. It was a physical and bloody night. Greg Ostertag had his false teeth knocked out when he was accidentally elbowed in the mouth by Jazz center Curtis Borchardt. Kings forward Maurice Evans went strong to the basket late in the 4th quarter but was challenged in mid-air by Carlos Boozer and Kirk Snyder of the Jazz. Evans lost his balance and landed gruesomely on his head and shoulder. When all said and done, Ostertag has six stitches, Evans had twelve stitches and a concussion, but the Sacramento got the victory.

Perhaps the most impressive part of the Sacramento victory was the execution on offense. Especially noticeable after timeouts. Virtually every time they came out of timeout the Kings scored a basket off a well designed play. One of the few times the Jazz completely defended the designed play, Chris Webber took it up on himself and made a forced shot. With regard to Webber, he clearly is not the same guy physically that he used to be. He isn't as quick and his swagger and way of moving now seem to be a product of years of banging on his body, rather than a style point being made. That said, Webber is savvy, still very talented, and makes up for physical slowing by good decision making. You may not always respect things he says and does off the court, but there are many reasons to respect the way he has continued to adapt his game over the years.

There were a few comments that always need reacting to....

What was said:
Peja Stojakovic, perhaps the best shooter in the NBA, said, "When they grab and hold you for 30 minutes you get mad. I was just letting the referee know, if you are going to call it by the rules, you should do it, and not let them get away from that."
What I think:
You know I respect his shooting, but his whining about someone trying to actually guard him is a little irritating. It is not as irritating as his constant flopping, whining, arm swinging, and exaggerated movements he makes to try and draw fouls, but you get the idea. From the, 'If I could get what I want file', I'd like to see Peja being guarded by Jerry Sloan, the young or old Jerry would be fine. For the record, Peja can relax, the officials noticed and called the game exactly the way he would have hoped, with Utah being whistled for 26 fouls and Sacramento only 16. I'd rather have Peja commenting about how great his teammates Brad Miller and Chris Webber played, or the precision play calling of Rick Adelman. He is a marksman on the court, but a few of his comments are a little off the mark.

What was said:
Greg Ostertag, former Utah Jazz center, said, "That's just Jerry [Sloan]. You don't expect to see stuff like that happen, and I don't think it was intentional, I think he just got caught [Maurice Evans], and that's what he gets for jumping so high. But Jerry's hands on. 'Stick your nose in there , and if it gets busted, stick it back in', that's the way Jerry coaches."
What I think:
All those years of banging heads with coach Sloan, we always thought he and Jerry didn't understand each other. We were wrong! Actually, in all seriousness, the fall by Maurice Evans was scary. To the point that after the first couple of replays, I was very tired of seeing it and had to look away. It is however part of the game and I don't like how the world and NBA are always looking for someone to blame. The other quotes and comments suggested it was a dirty play, and even the officials gave the Jazz a flagrant foul on the play. The truth is, two players on the Jazz defended the basket and tried to get the basketball, and Evans was a high flyer who went strong to the rim. Falling and getting hurt is a risk and Evans should share some of the blame. To leap into the heart of a defense like that without assuming that bodies will collide doesn't make sense. In the end, this kid looks to have a bright future, is a terrific athlete, and reports are that despite the mild concussion he'll be fine.

Closing notes...
Kudos to the Sacramento Bee and writer Scott Howard-Cooper for the fine piece about Jerry Sloan and the emotions he has over losing his wife Bobbye. It is a must read and you can do so by clicking here.

Jazz announced Kirilenko is out until January 22nd, despite rumors and hopes that he would be back Saturday the 15th.

All in the Family. Sacramento's fill-in point guard, Eddie House is actually Mike Bibby's brother-in-law.

A rare eclipse - Jazz block out the Suns

2005-01-13T07:02:00.000-07:00

For the second time this week, a true NBA powerhouse rolled into the Delta Center.

For the second time this week, a true NBA powerhouse was beaten by the Utah Jazz.

The Jazz won the game, 115-108, behind a huge night from Mehmet Okur. Okur ended the night with 21 points and 17 rebounds, 10 of which were on the offensive end. There were many other contributors for the Jazz, as they flashed signs of what could be. Signs of what they hoped and thought they could be all along. They did not flash any signs of a team that entered the game in last place in their division, and had only won a third of their games on the season. To understand the brilliance of this victory, you need to look at the opponent.

Phoenix entered into the game with an astonishing 31-4 record. With only 4 losses the Suns had only half as many losses as the next closest team in the entire league (San Antonio with 8). The Suns were on pace to win 72 games in the season, which would match the Bulls for the most wins ever in an NBA season. The Suns, the night before had beaten Miami, the best team in the Eastern Conference, in a dominating fashion 122-107.

Phoenix departed Salt Lake City with loss number 5 and while showing amazing offensive ability, also showed a few areas of fragility. Lack of Depth - An injury to a key player (Nash, Stoudemire, or Marion) and this team would become very beatable. Who does the dirty work? The absence of any real ability to do the thankless tasks of rebounding and defense was evident.

The outside observer trying to explain what happened, would write this one off saying the Suns overlooked the Jazz, were tired from the night before, and probably victims of an officiating crew that favored the home town club. To be honest, the first two items are true. The Suns who rightfully have a healthy swagger going, probably overlooked the Jazz. Its also likely they were tired from the night before. However, some of the fatigue issues have more to do with team setup and coaching philosophy, than the fact they simply played the night before. Even though the Suns are young and energetic, the fatigue issue won't go away because Phoenix has no depth and a coach with a philosophy of "keeping 7 or 8 guys happy" with playing time. The result: Only two Sun reserves played more than 10 minutes, and none played more than 19, leaving the Suns with a grand total of 6 points and 3 rebounds contributed by the bench. The third explanation, about the Suns getting unfair treatment by the officials who may have been inclined to favor the home team, is simply untrue. The Jazz were whistled for 26 fouls, the Suns only 16. The Jazz shot 16 free throws the entire night, the Suns shot 36 and that factor alone kept the Suns close.

A few things and numbers, that I find interesting....

Suns forward Shawn Marion said, "We came out of the gates on fire tonight and I think we just relaxed a little bit. And as soon as we relaxed, they became the aggressors and they started getting the calls." Can someone send Marion the stat sheet showing that the Suns attempted more than twice the number of free throws as the Jazz? Can someone remind Shawn that he took 6 free throws, which is twice his season average (3.2 per game)?
The Suns totaled 14 assists for the game. Not bad. However, take away Steve Nash's 11 assists and you see only three other Suns contributed one assist each.
The Suns shot 27 three pointers, only making 9. That sounds like an awful lot of three point attempts, but the Suns average 24 per game on the season. It also sounds like they weren't too successful with all those shots by only making 33%. However, consider those 9 made three pointers totaled 27 points, meaning the Suns would have needed to make 14, or 52%, of 27 two point shots to equal the total points scored. Bombs Away!
This was the first game the Suns had lost to a team with a losing record this season.
A bunch of young guys were on the court last night. The oldest starter on either team was Steve Nash at 30. The 10 guys starting for the two teams averaged 25.2 years of age.
The Suns up-tempo, offensive style is fun to watch. They average 110 points a game, which is nearly 8 more points than the next closest team (Dallas - 102).

Did you Know? The Suns hold the NBA record for most points scored in the first half of a game, with 107. Record was set in 1990 against Denver.

The Jazz head to Sacramento tonight and then return for a game against the second best team in the Eastern Conference, Cleveland on Saturday. It will be interesting to see if they can keep building on this new found ability to play an entire game. They should receive a boost if Andrei Kirilenko returns to the lineup this weekend as predicted.

Why they play the games, and why we watch

2005-01-12T00:42:00.000-07:00

The Jazz are enduring a difficult year. That is an understatement. However, before we over-react to their losing record and struggles in the what seems like the 2nd half of every ball game, we need to keep perspective. Perspective, like Jerry Sloan, who recently said:

"Hardships never hurt anybody. It's how you deal with them. I've dealt with plenty of those things," said Sloan, whose wife died last June. "This is not a hardship. This is just basketball. Last year was a hardship."

Only perhaps a demeanor like Sloan could set the stage for the, "We are down, but we are not out, game of the year" thus far.

Monday Night in the Delta Center, the San Antonio Spurs entered the game having won 18 straight games over the Jazz. The Jazz last beat the Spurs nearly 5 years ago (Feb 2000). The Jazz entered the game having lost 9 games in a row, which was their longest losing streak since 1983. While those streaks didn't sound promising, the further realities of the Jazz season made it even worse. The Jazz announced that afternoon they would be without Forwards Matt Harpring and Raja Bell, who would both sit and rest injured knees. Keep in mind the Jazz were already without their best player, Andrei Kirilenko, and another rotation regular in Jarron Collins. No problem, they'll just lean on Carlos Arroyo who stared in the summer Olympics, and give him a chance to shine. Right? Well, Carlos hasn't been himself and is barely getting any playing time in Sloan's rotation.

Was I alone in feeling that the task before them was ridiculous? Hardly. In fact, I think I may always remember the demeanor and tone of those on the Jazz radio network during the pregame show. Former Coach Tom Nissalke and co-host Ian Fitzsimmons, were sort of chuckling under their breaths as they tried to give credence to the Jazz's chances of winning that night. I don't blame them, I didn't see it coming. In fact, I probably would have forgiven the Jazz if they just mailed this one in.

Well by now, you all know what happened. Mehmet Okur tipped in a miss by Keith McLeod at the buzzer and the place went nuts, as the Jazz beat the Spurs 97-96. The players and fans celebrated like they had won a playoff game. Getting the monkey, at least for a night, off your back was clearly a huge thing. Even the normal even keeled Jerry Sloan stated, "Tonight they deserve a reward because they stayed with it for the full 48 minutes". Just how much love was in the air? Even San Antonio coach Greg Popovich wasn't entirely disappointed with the outcome of the game and commented, "I'm happy for them, in a strange sort of way."

Was this the game that will turn around the Jazz season? I'd like to say yes, but the truth is, this is a Sloan coached team. He will eventually get the best out of them, and their success will hinge more on the health of key players, improvement by the new players, and the ability for the team to improve together, than the emotion or result of a single game.

For one night, the fact that the improbable happened cannot be underscored enough. It was a terrific game and a terrific thing to watch. In fact, its games like this that explain why they play the games that seemed decided ahead of time, and why we love to watch them.

Allen tops 50, but Jazz top 76 (ers)

2004-12-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

Last night Allen Iverson was spectacular. Dominant. Fearless. He stood out among his pears. He scored over 50 points for the 2nd straight game. Luckily, for that one night he was also a loser. I have not been the biggest Allen Iverson fan, but it was hard not to really appreciate what he was doing last night.

Thanks to Mehmet Okur's offensive rebound and two free throws with just over 4 seconds left, the Jazz snuck out of Philadelphia with a much needed two point win, 103-101. In case you missed it, Allen Iverson was terrific. This was not the way Iverson used to score 50 points, when he seem to need to take 40 shots, usually making less than half of them, didn't bother to pass the ball, and found defense to only be an optional requirement. Looking at Iverson's line, you see he made 18 of 31 shots, 4 of 6 three pointers, 6 assists, and 7 steals before fouling out at the end.

For the Jazz a few things to note-

For a coach who years ago was accused of being predictable and stubborn with his rotation, Jerry Sloan is showing a split personality. You can barely predict who will start, and you can almost never guess who will play. He is working very hard to field a productive team at all times and with 4 different point guards who have yet to be healthy and consistent, its been a challenge. Last night for instance, Raul Lopez started at point guard and picked up two quick fouls, appearing to have no confidence against Iverson. Lopez was forced to the bench just two minutes into the game and never returned.
Jazz starting center Aleksandar Radojevic attempted 3 shots and missed them all. This is significant in that he is 7'3" and all three were blocked.
The Jazz record improved to 11-15. I think most fans are frustrated and disappointed at this point. It must be said, that for a team that thrives on playing 'team' basketball that requires organization and execution on both ends of the floor, it looks like we've all underestimated the challenge of bringing so many new teammates together. How many new faces??? Counting the players on the injured list, the Jazz have 7 players who were not with the club last year. Also, of the guys who were with the team last year, 3 of them missed all or most of last season with injuries (Harpring, Lopez, and Borchardt) and two players, Arroyo and Kirilenko, who were counted on to stabilize things from last year have not due to injuries and inconsistency.

For now the Jazz will have to settle for a few moral victories and take the Ws when they can get them. If they can stay in the playoff hunt, the talent they have pooled could still be dangerous later in the season. That said, last night's victory was good and was worth the price of admission for the good folks in Philly.

(AFP/Getty Images/File/Jamie Squire)

Still searching for answers and a win, Jazz drop to 8-11

2004-12-09T20:13:00.000-07:00

The Jazz lost last night to the Orlando Magic, 106-100. The loss was the 6th in a row for Utah, and 8th in the their last 10 games. Players are frustrated and having trouble offering much in the way of an explanation or solution.

Some have tied the string of losses to when Carlos Arroyo returned from injury, thus effecting the Jazz's chemistry and the substitution rotation. Carlos, has not been playing well, but I don't that is the biggest reason.

Others have blamed the lack of defense by the Jazz. First they blamed the interior defense that was allowing opponents to get too many lay-ups. Lately they've questioned perimeter defense for allowing a barrage of three pointers as Cuttino Mobley and Damon Jones have each hit seven three pointers in the last two games. I think defense is a huge part of the problem so I agree to this point, but its more than that.

It stands out to me like a sore thumb. Ok, well actually a sore knee. Andrei Kirilenko injured his knee early in a game against San Antonio on November 27th. The Jazz went on to lose that game and the next 5 games. Not only have the Jazz yet to win since AK went out of the line-up, they have allowed the opponent to score over 100 points in each ball game. So can one, tall skinny, ball player make that much of a difference?

I don't argue the Jazz would have won all six of those games with a healthy Kirilenko. To be honest, four of those six teams are considered to be the very best this league has to offer. But AK brings defense with blocked shots and steals, he brings fast break baskets, he brings offensive rebounds and at least a couple spectacular plays per game. Further, he is the one player on the Jazz who you never see get intimidated or lose confidence. This is the man that got slammed to the ground by Shaq, only to go face up to him later in the game so Shaq could do it again. Fearless, confident, and not willing to back down. A little big of Andrei could go along way towards picking up this young team and giving them the attitude to deal with the good and bad.

The bad news is that Andrei isn't expected back anytime soon. I've heard nothing definitive, but I suspect it will be at least another two weeks. For a team that desperately needs veteran leadership, it can't happen soon enough.

Stock rising to the roof

2004-11-22T08:26:00.000-07:00

Tonight the Utah Jazz will hoist John Stockton's #12 jersey to the rafters at the Delta Center. That means, not only will we never see a player who could fill his shoes, or his void in the league, but certainly not his jersey. It is a bit cliche to say he was one of a kind, but there isn't much other way to put it.

Stockton is loved by most, and is often labeled as 'Old School' and remembered for the length of his shorts. I guess he was 'old school', but did it in a way that was un-matched by any other. Perhaps he should be titled Dean or President of the Old School. And thinking about Old School, I think you could argue that many of the new generation of players should be called "No School". Players of today skip college, skip fundamentals, and basically skip the idea that playing with respect for the game is a core value. Mr. Old School is the NBA's all-time assist and steals leader. With regard to the length of his shorts, like any other aspect of fashion, if you wait long enough those too will come back 'in'.

This ceremony tonight isn't really for John. I think he cares, but doesn't seek this type of attention. This ceremony is for the fans, giving us another reason to warrant his appearance back in Arena, and a chance to remember him (and remember those great teams). Perhaps next year we'll get him back into the spotlight long enough to unveil the Stockton and Malone statues outside the Delta Center. Then in a few years we'll host a Hall of Fame inductee celebration. After that we are just going to have to wait for one of his sons to get into the NBA.

A few things of interest you may not know about John:

The Jazz trainer said at one point his body fat was 2.4% and his resting heart rate was 36.
UCLA legend coach John Wooden said John was the one player he'd pay to watch.
John was cut the first time he tried out for the US Olympic team. In addition, Karl Malone and Charles Barkley were cut during the same tryout. He later went on to star on the Dream Team and collect a gold medal. That was in the days when the best players wanted to play in the Olympics.
Not only is John the all time assist leader at 15,806, but he has 5,463 more than 2nd place. No active NBA player has more than 8,100. Of the 9 times that an NBA player has posted 1,000 assists in a season, John has 7.
No Days off. John played in 1,504 of 1,526 games in his career, and in 17 seasons he played every game. He obviously played with countless illnesses and sprains, but felt his duty to play. In today's NBA, some guys miss games because they are tired from pushing their own CDs.
A security guard once pointed out Karl Malone to John and said, "I don't know if you're a basketball fan, young man, but that's Karl Malone".
Once when Stockton was a free agent, he re-signed with the Jazz for less money than he could have received on the open market. When questioned why he turned down the bigger money offer, he replied "How much is enough?" He'd likely get banished from the league today, as the guys think they are entitled to the crazy salaries.
John is married to Nada, has six children, and now lives in his hometown of Spokane.

Rather than closing with a flashy, clever line, I'll keep it simple and straight like Stockton himself. Thank you for wearing #12 so well and so often John.

2004-11-03T23:42:00.000-07:00

No easy catch.

2004-11-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

Stockton Bobblehead

2004-11-01T17:18:00.000-07:00

Utah Jazz Logo

Utah Jazz Blog, Initial post

2004-10-28T07:22:00.000-06:00

I think a story that best describes my feelings about the Utah Jazz, centers on the answer to the question you could ask my wife: "When have you seen him the happiest?" Surely, you'd expect answers like when children were born, buying our first house, graduating college or something similar. She would say the night Stockton hit the shot against Houston sending the Jazz to the finals for the very first time. I danced around the coffee table, drank a bottle of champagne (by myself), and breaking only to call everyone I knew and yell into the phone "woooooo".

I'm a long time Jazz fan. I moved to Utah when they did, and I sorta grew up with them. I remember the Salt Palace, which sold out only when the biggies came to town. Initially that was the Lakers, Celtics, and 76ers. I remember draft days, when names like Stockton, Malone, and others were announced. I remember when it was easy to get near the players before a game and as a result talking to Jordan when he was young rookie on his first appearance in Salt Lake. I remember the non glamourous players of the early years, including Ben Poquette, John Drew, Rich Kelley, Jeff 'the franchise' Wilkins, Mitchell 'JJ' Anderson, and Jerry Eaves. I remember the guys who carried the load too, Darrell Griffith, Mark Eaton, Adrian Dantley, Thurl Bailey, and Ricky Green.

I will attempt to blog and report on the 2004-2005 in the way only a true homer would. But also, I know their history, and the journey they've been on is very much apart of this team. It's corny, and maybe not a popular opinion, but I'd rather lose with the right guys, than win with the wrong ones. Hence, as long as Sloan is in charge, the right type of old school, non-selfish players will be the norm. The fact that they not only play the game the right way, but also win is truly a great thing.