The Jazz Finish Eastern Booz' Cruise

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

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.