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

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

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.