Sunday, March 1, 2009

Brewer Puts the Kings In Checkmate


I couldn't pass up a good chess pun. But seriously, Ronnie Brewer played a great game last night against the Kings. He finished with a career high 26 points and played the entire second half. Brewer has increased his scoring average this season by almost two points - from 12 to 14 points a game - but his increased offensive productivity is not the only way he is helping the Jazz. The last two seasons, the Jazz were routinely torched by high scoring shooting guards. Players like Micheal Redd, Ray Allen, Gilbert Arenas and, especially, Kobe Bryant regularly erupted for high scoring nights against the Jazz. This season, Brewer seems to have finally harnessed his impressive athletic ability and channeled it into becoming a top notch defender and the Jazz have largely kept opposing shooting guards in check. Brewer is playing better defense and forcing his man to work harder to defend him. Let's hope he can keep it up, as the Jazz are going to need strong play from Brewer on both sides of the court if we want a shot at knocking off Kobe and the Lakers or Manu and the Spurs in the playoffs.

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