Rich Revenge

After getting blasted on Wednesday night in LA 101-77, the Jazz came back and showed a little revenge on the Lakers. The Jazz played a phenomenal game, outlasting the Lakers 102-94 at home in the ESA. Being in attendence, I'll share some highlights from the night...

Deron Williams was on his game. He took the LA PGs to the play-ground and absolutely abused them. He had a couple of sweet razzle-dazzle, end-to-end moves that put his defender on their backside while finishing strong at the rim over Laker bigs. The crowd erupted everytime he embarrassed his defender. He was brilliant last night. And it showed in his line of 21 points & 11 assists.

Brewer and Matthews were absolutely fabulous last night! Each player scored 19 points a piece. Considering the fact that each player outplayed Kobe Bryant, we can officially say that last night was definitely "our night" in the ESA. About Matthews... "Please... lets' get this guy on a long-term contract!" The guy is absolutely tough as nails on the floor and won't back down from anybody.

According to ESPN.com... "Utah's six points in the fourth quarter of Wednesday's road loss to the Lakers accounted for the worst fourth quarter in franchise history and the team's second worst quarter ever." The Jazz had a tremendous bounce back game against the Lakers, after performing so miserably the last time we played them. Kudos!

Korver, Kirilenko, Price & Fesenko didn't play last night. Kirilenko has back problems and Korver is still rehabbing from his knee ailment (though he did suite up). Our line-up was limited to Memo, Boozer, Millsap, Brewer, Matthews, CJ, Maynor & DWill. They got the job done! Korver may have lost his position for good due to the play of Matthews and CJ (22 against Orlando).

Carlos Boozer played a solid game last night. He recently was criticized by the Chuckster, Charles Barkley, for being the problem to the Jazz's lackluster play this year. While I tend to agree with Chuck, I have to give credit to Booz for raising his intensity and effort over the last few weeks. Boozer has played awesome for us. Chuck was right though. What are we going to do with the future of Carlos Boozer playing for the Jazz? It looks like he'll play the season out with us, and then leave...

The upper deck at the ESA was littered with Laker fans everywhere. Kobe jerseys were scattered throughout the crowd. Infact... Ronnie Brewer thought the crowd was "60-40" Jazz fans. In the upper deck, he was probably right. Interesting enough, I went to the game with friends (Laker fans) from So. California. It was great to put the beat down on the Lakers in front of so many of their fans! We definitely got the last laugh.

Wes Matthews is no Deshawn Stevenson

Deshawn Stevenson prepares for tough defensive matchups by calling out the opposing player. For instance, when facing Lebron, he calls him overrated.

The Jazz' lone rookie in the starting lineup and lone defensive player, Wes Matthews, charts a different course. As Young Wes prepares to face the Lakers and their all-star shooting guard, he may just have referred to Kobe as "the greatest to ever play this game."

Wes might as well have spat in Booner's face.

Almost Bonner-ed

Meet the new Jazz killer... Matt Bonner. Bonner very nearly beat the Jazz single-handedly last night, taking the winning shot down the stretch, yet coming up short. Bonner beware.

Here We Go Again

The second game loss of a back-to-back, to a poor team, has become common place for the Jazz. It's the reason why I don't take the Jazz very seriously. It has happened alot in past seasons and continues to be a problem for us today. I enjoy being a Jazz fan... And will always cheer for the Jazz... However, I fully understand that we're not a contender (even when we're playing well for certain stretches). I suppose acceptance of this fact can be a good thing. It does beg the question of where this franchise needs to go in the future. Let's just hope for an opportunity to make the playoffs again this year. Unfortunately, my reality "bites" post after an exciting streak of winning ballgames came quicker than I expected.

On A Roll

Look who's returned to dominant form with a vengence... Carlos Boozer. Roaring like a bear... The Booz has been on an absolute tear recently, scoring over 20 points in his last 6 games and racking up 35 points and 13 rebounds last night against the Pacers. Coach Sloan even commented that Boozer is playing the best basketball of his career... "the best he's ever seen" from him. That's high praise from the coach! It's great to see Boozer pull out of his early season slump and get back into a basketball-seasoned groove.

Check out which player has made a huge difference for the Jazz in a starting role... Wesley Matthews. My new favorite player to watch on the Jazz has developed his role as a slasher, defensive presence, and even a scorer from the wing position. You'd think that Ronnie Brewer would be providing that role (unfortunately, Ronnie had a tough night last night... 2 points). Also, with CJ Miles back in the lineup (which is nice to see), you'd expect CJ to pick up the slack. But, no, it's not CJ, Ronnie, AK or Kyle Korver getting the job done, it's Wes Matthews. Give the guy some credit... He's playing his tail off and providing the Jazz with some serious production. Matthews scored 18 points and grabbed 5 rebounds last night. He was also given the quote of the night...

"If you're not making baskets, you gotta make sure they don't... Your offense might not come to you every night, but you can definitely pack your D and your heart."
When has a Jazzman ever produced such a profound and succinct quote?

Lastly, look at which team is on a serious role... the mighty Utah Jazz! Four-in-a-row... clap, clap clap. Four-in-a-row... clap, clap,clap! Let's keep this thing going strong.

Hello Jerry - Goodbye Little Jerry

Two and a half Jazz notes on this Thursday evening:

First, Jerry has signed on for one more year of steering the Good Ship Jazz. I, for one, am glad he's still here. I know that some of my blogeagues have been hoping for his retirement, but when I survey the coaches out there I realize the Jazz have one of the best in the business. And he can tell the players stories about the Great Depression.


Second, as has long been expected, Matt Harpring has called it quits for the year and may be done for good. Insurance will likely pay for his salary this year. I have been a vocal critic of Harpring the past few years, but I have to admit that the Jazz miss his toughness. Harpring has always been a warrior, if a mediocre basketball player. You'll be missed, Sr. Harpring.

Lastly, luckily, our team may not miss Harpring's toughness and strength. We're about to get CJ Miles back!

Genesis

Tomorrow will be a grand day in Jazz fashion history. Not only are the mighty Pacers in town (who doesn't love Troy Murphy!), but the Jazz will be sporting their green throwbacks for the first of ten times this year. I can't wait. The green jerseys were the Jazz' road uniforms from 1981-1984. The next year they drafted the Basketball Holy Ghost and ditched the green in favor of the familiar purple. Dreamers like me can dream that this is the first step towards reuniting the team with their original color-scheme. Blue is blasphemy.

Regardless of the lasting impact of the change, I am sure that the old timers are loving the hat tip. Somewhere in this great land Rickey "Don't Lose that Number" Green and Danny Schayes are sharing a drink, a laugh, and a hug.

Rare Michael Jordan Photo

Does this strike anyone as bizarre? Fruity? Please discuss . . .

Championship City

So… at work, I looked outside to notice a procession-line of cars rolling down State Street with a police escort, and for the life-of-me, I couldn’t tell what the purpose of it was. My co-workers mentioned… “Maybe it’s a Federal dignitary (they were rolling in Suburbans)… maybe it’s an important National figure… perhaps it’s a funeral procession of an important State official”. Nope. None of the above. It was the celebration parade for Real Salt Lake, winning the MLS Cup.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t on the street to celebrate. I wish I was, because nobody was out there. Truthfully, I didn’t know about it. I remember when the University of Utah won the Sugar Bowl… and it was a huge event to participate in the parade celebration downtown. There were thousands of people on the street wearing their red that day. This time, it was a quick venture down the road, without much fanfare. Hopefully, fans were awaiting the team’s arrival at Rio Tinto Stadium.

I’m happy for RSL. They’ve brought a championship to Salt Lake City. Not since the Utah Stars of 1971 have we ever won a championship (I’m not sure you can count those of the mighty Bees, Trappers, Grizzlies… Infact, I don’t even know if those & other Utah teams have even won championships in their respective professional leagues). That being said, nothing can compare to winning an NBA championship. There’s just no comparison between MLS & the NBA, in terms of the grandeur, prestige, importance & fanfare that a championship would bring to this city. SLC would be going absolutely crazy… bonkers… nuts… if we had won an NBA championship and were masquerading down State. I can’t even imagine what that experience would feel like! Anyway… I’m happy for RSL. I just wish it were the Utah Jazz.

The Pick and Roll

As loyal Jazz fans, we all know that the pick and roll has been and always will be the staple of our offense.

Except for now it turns out that it's not and that the Jazz and Lakers run the fewest number of pick and rolls in the league. Shocking, but according to Synergy Sports Technology, true. Now, during my years in the business world I have come to radically distrust anyone who uses the word "synergy," let alone in the name of their company. However, these guys may be right. Deron Williams for one agrees: "Everybody just associates pick-and rolls with us because of John and Karl," Williams said. They ran it out a lot, but similar to us. We run it toward the end of the game when we need baskets, but we try to execute our offense first."

Maybe this isn't a huge deal, but there are three interesting points worth considering. First, our offense has been pretty stagnant this year. You can see why the Lakers don't need to run the pick and roll: Kobe is a great creator and if he can't get anything it's not hard to dump the ball off to their huge front line. We're not exactly blessed with that kind of talent. Second, it turns out the rest of the NBA is using the pick and roll a lot more than they used to. Some teams use it 25% of the time; we do 11%. The game is more up-tempo than it was ten years ago when defense and a good post game ruled the day. Third, the players who get the most points out of the pick and roll are Steve Nash, Chris Paul, and Tony Parker. Wait a second. . . we have a guy just like them named Deron Williams!

Should the Jazz use the pick and roll more often than they do? Is this another sign that Jerry is just a tad out of his element these days? When we score three points during the first eight minutes of a quarter again might it make some sense to clear everyone out and have Williams and Boozer/Millsap run the bread and butter? Discuss.