Jazz Notes

6:11:25 PM EST

I've switched this blog over to Most Valuable Network; it's now under the name All That Jazz.

http://jazz.mostvaluablenetwork.com/wp-admin/

 

Laurie

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3:56:46 AM EST
Feeling Happy

Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko combined for forty-eight points, two more than Allen Iverson managed alone. You'd think if one guy scores so much, his team would win, but it doesn't always (or even often) work out that way. Ask Kobe Bryant.

No, that superstar scoring is nice, no doubt about it, but a team needs defense too--and that's something the Philadelphia 76rs just don't quite get. The Sixers couldn't have stopped a team of centurions last night; the Jazz waltzed into the Wachovia center and proceeded to dance around wherever they pleased, scoring at will. Even the bench guys went off, outscoring Philly's pine-riders 44-6.

Now comes the flat-out truth: The Jazz are simply a better team than the Sixers, AI notwithstanding. The sort of balanced scoring, all those assists, tons of rebounds--compared to AI doing it mostly alone for Philly.

Even more impressive is that guys we don't usually expect to produce are doing it lately. How about Milt Palacio putting up seventeen points? Wow. 71% on field goals in the second half?! Just wow. Sure, the Sixers suck on defense, but still, that's an amazing stat.

With AK-47 healthy, this is becoming an astounding team, a real Jerry Sloan team. On the downside, I still don't trust that Andrei will be healthy for very long. Gotta have faith, though, gotta try to believe he'll stick around long enough to mathematically lock the Jazz into the Playoffs.

Final score: 110-102, Utah. We've won eight of our last nine. Oh, my God.

Sidelines: Utah usually loses if their opponent scores at least 100. Nice to break that stat.

Utah's now taken both games in the series against Philly this year. We own them just like we own the Detroit Pistons. Good job, that.

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3:21:36 AM EST
Feeling Anxious

The good news is that the Jazz got a win in DC over the  hopeless Washington Wizards. That gives us seven of the last eight--we won't even think about that shipwreck in Memphis--and puts us above .500 ball.

The bad news is that, after having a twenty-two point lead, Utah let those helpless twits get back to within seven. Considering how flat-out rotten the Wizards are nowadays, that's too close for comfort and closer than the score should ever be. I'm sure Jerry Sloan will have something ugly to say.

Memo didn't quite make the magic twenty, but I'm beginning to think that maybe with Andrei back, it's not so necessary for Okur to hit that number...as long as he comes close. As in so many other ways, Andre's presence changes that situation. Still Memo put up a nice double-double, and Matt Harpring, Deron Williams and Andrei all did it up proper for Utah...until things started to go awry in the fourth quarter.

Still and all, a win's a win.

Sidelines: Deron's three to beat the shot clock was a thing of beauty.

This hateful old geezer is a Jazz fan? I never would've guessed.

Utah's senior senator, Orrin Hatch, inflicted himself upon the Jazz in the locker room, where they couldn't get away. Probably loved the view.

Is anybody but me thinking Jazz owner Larry H. Miller is eyeing public office? Lately we've been getting tons of commercials touting his generosity and efficiency and good nature and all that. A paragon of virtue is Larry Miller, if these ads are to be believed. No, they're not commercials for his car dealerships, they're only about him. Taken together with his recent decision not to allow his Utah theater chain to screen the gay cowboy love story Brokeback Mountain--gotta appease the right-wingers here--this sudden emphasis on Miller individually (as opposed to his businesses) makes me think he wants to enter politics. I'm betting governor.

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12:10:37 AM EST
Feeling Ecstatic

Beating the Detroit Pistons this year is a rare and marvelous thing, an accomplishment few teams have achieved. The Utah Jazz have done it both times the teams met, owning the Pistons for this season. Feels good.

Sure, it took overtime to do it this go-'round, but still, a win's a win. Too have done it in the Palace in front of those arrogant Pistons fans makes this victory even sweeter.

This game didn't start out pretty at all. In fact, it looked like a classic disaster scenario where none of the good guys comes out alive. Ending the first quarter down by sixteen is never a good thing, and it's usually a sign of more ugliness to come.

Utah managed to pull to within two near the end of the second quarter before Detroit went on an 8-0 run. Down by ten at the half...so they'd made up six points in the period.

Third quarter, the Jazz started to heat up, like an old Ford that faithfully, if reluctantly, sputters to life in freezing temperatures. Ostertag scored (!!), and Deron Williams had his own mini-run of five points. The lead went back and forth several times throughout the rest of the quarter and throughout the fourth.

Final score: 94--90 (OT), Utah Jazz. Damn, this one makes me smile.

Odd that we'd have gotten it done; Memo scored only thirteen points, which usually signals a Jazz loss. Andrei had twenty-four points and eleven rebounds--nice, certainly, but nowhere near the monster games we've seen him have recently. (How quickly we become spoiled; a month ago the very idea of Andrei healthy enough to play seven games in a row would have been unthinkable.)

Odd indeed is this win, so much so that even the Jazz and Pistons themselves don't know how Utah did it, either this time or last. (Several teams would pay to find out, no doubt, but like spies working on a need-to-know basis, Utah players are as confused as anyone.) Says Chauncey Billups, "I can't put my finger on it.They're a tough team. They play extremely hard, mix it up and play some zone, some man and keep you off-balance. They're very well-coached and they're very disciplined."

Perhaps the only answer is the obvious one from Kirilenko: "I guess they have to lose to somebody, don't they?"  

Like most Jazz fans, I have nothing but contempt for 'Tag...but last night he made it worth our while to have him around. A couple of nice dunks and really good overtime play--who knew?--was a big reason for this win. Milt Palacio and Deron Williams also kicked hard in the OT, a source of bewilderment for Pistons coach Flip Saunders. As he not-so-kindly said, "Those aren't the guys you would normally expect." 

Sidelines: Next game is Monday in DC against the Washington Wizards. If they hadn't been bailed out by the refs on the last play versus Boston last night, the Wiz would be on something like an eight game losing streak. The Jazz should have no problem beating them, Gilbert Arenas' hot-dogging notwithstanding.

Thanks to Rasheed Wallace, whose technical foul got Memo a free throw and the Jazz the lead. Some things never really change, and 'Sheed being a nutcase is one of them.

Andrei Kirilenko put up twenty-four points, his season best.

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4:31:49 AM EST
Feeling Frustrated

After a five-game winning streak, I have to ask: What happened in Memphis tonight?! The Jazz didn't look like the team who beat the Grizzlies in overtime in Salt Lake a week ago; they looked like the team we moaned over before the streak started: tired, confused and off-balance, a group of mediocre individuals rather than a team of professional basketball players.

"I was definitely surprised," said Jerry Sloan. "I thought we would come in with a lot more energy." We all did, Coach. Even Andrei Kirilenko seemed sluggish (for him); the rest of the team played in a fog, especially Keith McLeod, who didn't dish out even one assist.

That lack of energy (and corresponding lack of focus) was obvious from the get-go. Utah began badly, with AK called for traveling, Memo called for his first foul, Jarron Collins tied up with Lorenzen Wright resulting in a jump ball, and the Jazz taking forever to set up their offense.

They shot only 27% from the field and didn't defend much at any point.

So what happened? Easy: Pau Gashol happened, and Andrei didn't step up to meet that challenge. Usually our most competitive guy (when he's well enough to be on the floor at all), AK did nothing to stop Gashol from putting up numbers reminiscent of Andrei's own spectacular performance against the Lakers a couple nights ago.

Secondarily, the Jazz failed utterly to play the Jerry Sloan game that's made the team successful for nigh on twenty years. Instead of going to the basket to fight it out and draw fouls, they stayed on the perimeter for the most part. That only works on a consistent basis for the Suns and Mavs; they have competent distance shooters who can kill with a rainstorm of three-pointers. It doesn't work for the Jazz, who take few of those shots and make almost none of them.

"We threw everything out the window that we'd been doing to help us win the last five games," Utah reserve Deron Williams said. "I don't know. It's very frustrating." 

Yeah, it really is, Deron.

Final score: 87-65, Memphis. That's a blowout, guys.

Sidelines: Devin Brown's cut all his hair off. Looks hideous.

Is anybody alive in the Grizzlies building? The crowd finally woke up sometime during the third quarter, but the building was eerily quiet for the first half--even though the home team was ahead by halfway through the first quarter.

I understand Jerry Sloan knows what he's doing...but still. It's hard to watch the Jazz down fourteen points at the end of the first quarter and not want to see AK on the floor to start the second to catch us up. I know, I know--no way Coach is going to play Andrei forty-eight minutes--as fragile as he is, he needs his rest in order to be productive and stay healthy. (I can't believe I just used "Andrei" and "healthy" in the same sentence!) But it's still, to quote Deron Williams, "frustrating."

Speaking of Deron Williams, he turned an ankle during the second quarter. No word yet on how bad that is. (Maybe sending CJ Miles to the D-League wasn't such a hot idea after all, was it?)

The Utah Jazz are now 0-6 in games in which they don't score at least eighty points.

 

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7:11:21 PM EST
Feeling Chillin'

Losing a potential longterm Jazzman. Hope CJ makes it back from the D-League.

CJ Miles, Utah's 34th pick in last year's draft, has been sent down to the Developmental League. He'll be playing in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with the Thunderbirds. Guess Coach Sloan and the other Powers That Be with the Jazz weren't impressed enough with his progress to keep him in Salt Lake.

“We feel that right now the best way to further C.J.’s development is to send him to Albuquerque where he can get more experience in an actual game setting,” said Kevin O’Connor, Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Utah Jazz.

Uh-huh.

According to another potential Jazz reject, criminal rookie Robert Whaley, Miles is "upset" with this decision. Understandably so, in my opinion. He could've played college ball, but with the excitement of any seventeen-year-old, when the Jazz called he joined up...and now they've shuttled him away to the friggin' Thunderbirds, far from the real NBA.

I kinda like CJ. Seems like a good kid and a talent--and I'd much rather see him molded and taught by Jerry Sloan than by some D-League coach far away from the Jazz.

Come on, guys, he's a kid straight out of high school; surely you knew he'd be raw and need work. Looks to me like the Jazz organization is dodging its responsibilities with Miles and losing the chance to create a real Jerry Sloan player from the ground up. And forget loyalty to the Jazz from here on out with this boy. You've not shown him you're willing to take the time and effort any kid his age needs, so why would he bother with Utah when he gets a chance to move on?

Bad decision. That's all, just stupid.

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4:45:37 PM EST
Feeling Ecstatic
Hearing "Broken Heart"--Lindsay Lohan

That was the last time the Utah Jazz won five games in a row. Thanks to the incredible play of Andrei Kirilenko and the absence of Kobe Bryant last night, we have a couple things to cheer about, and winning five in a row is the first of them.

Second, we're back on top of the Northwest Division, back in the Playoff standings!

Third, we're finally playing .500 ball again!

Finally, Andrei's played five games in a row now, and he doesn't look like he's hurt!

Sidelines: Next game is Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies in Memphis. They beat us on a couple of iffy calls the last time; let's make them regret it on their home court. Mike Fratello is a thug-with-a-rug (and a bad facelift); he deserves to suffer.

Doing it all in every category.

Damn, I wish Andrei were healthy enough to be around every night. He was an absolute monster in this game, ending with a line that justifies Hot Rod's old tag "5-by-5"--meaning at least five points, five rebounds, five assists, five steals and five blocked shots. He was The Man for Utah.

Craig Bolerjack irritates me more with every game. Tonight he pissed me off by referring to Smush (rhymes with Mush) as "Smooosh." God, it's not that tough to figure out how to pronounce somebody's name correctly.

Get a load of the Lakers double-teaming Mehmet Okur! Wow, he's coming up in the world if he's worth a double-team!

The Kings were stupid enough to take Greg Ostertag off our hands last year, but they wised up and gave him back. Who else can we dump him on? The lump was good for a few fouls and one blocked shot..and nothing else. Unload him again, for goodness sakes!

Enter the contest to win CJ Miles' one-game rookie salary. He doesn't make a fortune, but it's certainly a tidy bit of change. Note: The commercial with Miles and Sloan promoting this contest is adorable.

Since when do the Jazz use Lindsay Lohan music during the games? Suckers have me addicted to that silly bint now; I've been listening to her music--and I use that term lightly--since last night.

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7:20:01 PM EST
Feeling Happy

"I never like for anybody to miss a game," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "I think that if you're going to play, you play the best. I've never been one of those people who hopes a guy doesn't play, because I'd rather compete against him. And if you're not good enough, then you don't belong here, anyway."

Best Utah players for tonight.

OK, Coach, whatever you say. Me, I was thrilled to hear that Kobe Bryant (screwed yet again by NBA officials) wouldn't be accompanying his LA Lakers to Salt Lake for last night's game. We need the wins here in Utah, and every little bit that helps us get them is welcome.

In the case of Kobe Bryant's absence, that should be "every big bit helps"; with him on the floor of the Delta Center, we stood a very good chance of not getting our first four-game streak on our home floor. The basketball gods smiled upon Utah when Kobe threw that elbow at Mike Miller in retaliation for the cut Miller opened above Bryant's eye earlier in the Lakers/Grizzlies game. The next two games--those during which Kobe would serve his suspension--lined LA against Utah, one in Salt Lake and one is Los Angeles.

Also wonderful is that Andrei Kirilenko came to play. He's proven again this past three games that when he's well enough to play, the Jazz are a dramatically better team than when he's not. (It's just keeping him healthy enough to take the court that's sticky.) With Andrei and without Kobe, it would've been shocking if we hadn't won this.

...and we did, 98-94, Jazz.

Only question is this: Why was it so close? Given the appearance/absence of the two teams' superstars, why were the Lakers even in the game by the fourth quarter--much less within striking distance at the final buzzer?

Come on, guys, this shouldn't be tough.

Sidelines: Next game is against Los Angeles in Staples Center on Tuesday night. No word yet that Andrei's injured, so presumably he'll play...and Kobe still won't. This one has to be a win, too.

Memo didn't make his magic twenty, the number that generally signifies a Jazz win. The team shot 92% from the free-throw line, however, and they made 6/10 from three-point range. That may not be the Sloan game, but it worked.

 

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4:09:29 PM EST
Feeling Happy

Such is the power of a superstar--as opposed to team loyalty--that the Delta Center was sold out last night. Once filled to capacity every time the Jazz played, it took Allen Iverson's presence to sell all the tickets for the first time this season.

Superstar extraordinaire in town

Iverson and his Philadelphia 76rs were in town to crash our New Year's Eve party. There was some question whether or not he'd play--he's still nursing a sore right ankle--but the guy's tough and was on the court for opening tip.

Winning three in a row at home for the first time this season would be a fabulous gift from the Jazz to their fans and Larry Miller. It's been up and down for Utah this season, with all the injuries and confusion.

                        Memo quieter than he was last night

An unlikely leader has stepped up lately, though. Not Andrei Kirilenko--he's too hurt too often to fill the role that should be his by right of talent. No, it's Mehmet Okur, shooting 39% from three-point range, pulling in double-doubles regularly, blocking shots, and looking like a potential starter in the All-Star game.

When I saw Gordan Giricek was starting, I began to worry. When he's on the court, it's an indication the Jazz are going to play on the perimeter; the man's a decent distance shooter, but he has no inside game. No Jerry Sloan-led squad has ever been primarily a perimeter team, and I've always felt Giricek would make more sense with, say, the Suns or Mavs.

I was wrong to worry. Giricek quickly made 3/4, including two threes. Memo added a three as well, and the Jazz took an early lead. Jarron Collins, once as useless a player as anyone not named Ostertag, chipped in a couple too. (Collins has been steadily improving; it'll take a while to get used to that.)

The quick tempo early on favored Philly, though. The Sixers like to get up and down the court, while the Jazz would rather fight it out every possession. Utah would have to keep AI and Company out on the perimeter, not let them get inside for an easy shot.

Memo picked up two fouls in the first quarter against Iverson. That's AI's best trick: drawing fouls and setting up shop at the free-throw line; he's already shot 1000 free-throws this season. (He would, in fact, go through two of our three point guards last night. Keith McLeod and Deron Williams both fouled out trying to guard him.) With Memo forced to sit, we got Ostertag.

God, why didn't the Kings keep OsterSlug? At least he doesn't start anymore. That's something.

I want to shake the hand of whomever has finally come to understand a very basic truth: Greg Ostertag sucks. Thank God he's not starting anymore. He came into the game and immediately lost the ball out of bounds and then blew a dunk. He did get a strong block in the last few seconds, one of two contributions for the night.

Score at the end of one: 29-23, Jazz.

Utah's lead disappeared; the game was a battle of runs from the second quarter on. 'Tag started the period, as did Matt Harpring. 'Tag made his second and final contribution: He took a helluva charge that sent him to the floor so hard the floor shook; it sounded like a Sequoia crashing down.

Most character-revealing play of the night: Iverson was called for traveling, an uncommon call for a superstar. His response was to pout and slowly carry the ball up the court. The officials weren't having any of that, thanks; they hit Philly with a delay of game warning.

Score at half-time: 55-48, Jazz. Notes: That 55 points is the highest score we've had in a half all season. Utah's bench outscored Philly's, 18-5. The Jazz executed well and shot 55% on field goals, with seventeen assists.

This was clearly too good to be true. I waited for Utah's now-typical collapse in the second half.

Keith McLeod started the third period and quickly found Iverson hadn't slowed down or gotten any less tricky since he shut Keith down completely in the first quarter and forced him out of the game in foul trouble. Inside a minute, McLeod picked up another foul, pushing off against AI--and away went Keith. Deron Williams came back in, and Iverson whipped him without breaking a sweat. (Neither is or will ever be a player good enough to take on a guy of Iverson's caliber.) Gone was Deron, replaced by the savvy veteran third-stringer, Milt Palacio, who couldn't answer the Answer--but at least managed to stay in the game against him.

The Jazz began the third period by doing what they generally do: fall apart. Within five minutes we saw a thirteen point swing--Philly up by six. Utah's offense stalled, AK was on the court but pretending not to be, and it was Jazz business as usual.

Jerry Sloan's been uncommonly well-behaved this year. Seldom do we see the shouting wild man of seasons past, when Sloan was ejected with a fair degree of regularity. He doesn't get the technical fouls he used to; perhaps he knows this crew won't be invigorated like the old guys used to be--and these kids need him on the bench much more.

Tonight, however, Coach Sloan got fired up behind a couple of AI's superstar calls and began snarling some choice words at the officials. Their answer to that sort of thing never changes; He picked up two quick technicals and was gone for the first time this season, leaving Phil Johnson to makes sense of Utah's third-quarter slide.

But then something unusual happened: Utah fought back in the third! That never happens; when the Jazz fade in the third, it's the beginning of the collapse they'll do in the fourth...but not this time. They figured out how to cut off Iverson's penetration, keeping him from his slick-as-shit drive inside. Score tied at 70. It looked as though they'd take a two point lead into the final period. Kevin Ollie made one of those impossible midcourt Hail Mary shots at the buzzer, though, and the Virgin responded with three points.

Score after three: 82-81, Sixers.

Philadelphia's head coach, Maurice Cheeks, made an odd decision to start the fourth quarter, one that may have cost his team the win: Allen Iverson began the period on the bench. Granted, AI had played all but two minutes so far and could undoubtedly use some rest, but that buzzer-beater gave the 76rs some momentum; having him on the court to provide energy might well have put his team over the top.

It looked as though Philly would pull this one out anyway. Utah had slowed down offensively, and the Sixers defense kept them from penetrating for easy baskets. Furthermore, Chris Webber finally woke up after three quarters during which he was so quiet I'd forgotten he was even on the floor. (Iverson and Webber are the highest-scoring duo in the NBA.) He awakened with a vengeance, too, looking like the Sac King Webber of old....if you didn't look too close.

Suddenly it wasn't even that close anymore: 91-91, Philly, with 3:35 left in the game.

Then two blessings came down: The first was that Samuel Dalembert fouled out for Philadelphia. He'd been rocking solid, serving as Iverson's second until Webber decided to join the party. Losing him was a blow to the Sixers and a corresponding relief for the Jazz.

Second, but just as important, Andrei Kirilenko woke up about the same time Webber did. He had a decent third quarter--and a kick-ass final period. He kept the Jazz in it and brought them back to down by one with a minute-five left. With only nineteen seconds on the clock, Andrei made a three-point play--made the free-throw!-- to put Utah up by two.

Mo Cheeks called a time out. AI missed the shot coming out of the time out, thanks to great defense by AK...and then Memo did what has to be done for us to get a win: He made his twentieth point. (That's our magic this season, so consistent it's not even superstition anymore: Memo Okur must score twenty for Utah to win. Yes, there have been a couple in which that hasn't happened, but blessed few.)

Final score: 106-102, Utah.

Sidelines: With this victory, the Jazz have now won fifteen of seventeen against the 76rs in Salt Lake.

Matt Harpring is our most dependable guy. He's the toughest and most hard-nosed Jazzman, hearkening back to those players who built our glory days. I've got nothing but good to say about him...but last night he couldn't buy a basket to save his soul. He missed easy lay-ups, even with no defenders around, and his growing frustration made things even worse. God, I hope it was just a rare rotten night for him, and there's no injury that brought this on.

Andrei Kirilenko's hair is normal! No pink and purple stripes, no mohawk. This 'do looks like any 50's style right out of "Happy Days."

Nice to see Jazz fans haven't forgotten how much we hate Chris Webber. After what he did to Stockton years ago, he's always lucky to escape the Delta Center with his body parts intact.

A short interview with Carlos Booooooooooooo-zer revealed his New Year's resolution: To be back on the court with the Jazz, probably in the next couple of weeks. First, I think we'll see the Second Coming before we see that and, second, why the hell would we want him? This team has finally begun to gel; the addition of Boozer will only throw them off-balance again. Trade him off to anybody who'll take him. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Tomorrow night's game is at the Delta Center vs. the Kobe-less LA Lakers. That should be a fairly easy win. Four in a row at home sure sounds wonderful.

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7:16:14 PM EST
Feeling Happy
Hearing Spanish Ladies --Lesley Nelson-Burns

 

Kobe's unfair punishment will be our stroke of luck if......

Wow, Kobe Bryant's just been suspended two games for his Flagrant 2 on Mike Miller. He doesn't deserve so severe a punishment--Kobe gets hammered regularly, and nobody gets disciplined this harshly--but the Lakers' bad luck may be good fortune for the Jazz.

Seems the two games he'll serve his suspension are both Jazz/Lakers games. Minus Kobe, LA is a decent team, but not one Utah needs to fear. Whether or not we can capitalize on his absence will depend on one thing: Will Andrei Kirilenko play?

....that if again...If Andrei parties with us on Sunday and Tuesday, the Jazz stomp the Lakers.

If Andrei graces us with his presence on Sunday and Tuesday, the Jazz should win these two games without too much difficulty. Without Kobe, the Lakers are leaderless and without direction; I'm betting they'll prove confused and incompetent, like marionettes without their puppetmaster. Andrei should make short work of them, no matter how off the program the rest of the Jazz are. Jerry Sloan's got to be thrilled right now.

If, however, Andrei chooses not to attend on Sunday and Tuesday, we'll struggle to win those games, even with Kobe out. Such is the power of Kirilenko, both as an individual player and as a facilitator for his teammates.

For God's sake, keep him healthy! Baby him, pamper him, encase him in a plastic bubble if you have to, but make sure he can play these two games--without Kobe playing and with Andrei, beating LA is two of the easiest wins we'll get all year!

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