Jazz Notes

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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