Upper Bowl Jazz Fan

Jazz crush the Toronto Raptors on 1st game of road trip – 3/24/10

// March 25th, 2010 // No Comments » // Game Summary

Probably the most impressive part of this game was that the Jazz outscored the Raptors in every quarter. So…just so we’re clear, the Jazz won, in case you didn’t figure out the whole outscoring thing.

Deron Williams had another near triple double with 18 points, 16 rebounds, 8 rebounds (and 4 steals).  It was nice that Jose Calderon can never be bothered with defense so Williams was able to do pretty much everything he wanted in the game.

In front of a gigantic section of Turkish fans, Mehmet Okur had a decent night as well gettting 16 points and 8 rebounds (on only 38% shooting though).  Memo played uncharacteristically good defense against Bosh and managed 3 blocks throughout the game.  Bosh recently missed a handfull of games with a knee (or hamstring?) injury.  I have to wonder if it was still bothering him considering he looked a little slow against Memo.  It helped that when the Jazz doubled teamed him the rest of the Raptors couldn’t make shots to keep the game close.

Andrei Kirilenko sat the game out still w/ a sore calf even though he said he thought he could play.  I’m glad he sat the game out though considering the Jazz faired quite well without him.  The Jazz could need him to guard Danny Granger on Friday.

Jazz 3rd Quarter fuels victory against visiting Boston Celtics

// March 23rd, 2010 // 5 Comments » // Game Summary

For the first half of this game I wondered what was going on with the officiating.  I’m never one to say that officiating wins or loses a game.  Very rarely can that be said with any validity.

However, after Jerry Sloan pushed an official during the final second of the Hornets game he was ejected as per league rules.  Generally, NBA rules are to suspend the coach/player for the subsequent game.

In 2003, Sloan was suspended for 7 whole games after such an incident.  I think Sloan went “Semi-Pro” on referee Courtney Kirkland and declared he was going to murder Kirkland’s family to get such a long suspension.

However, he was spared by the NBA and not suspended for the Boston Celtics game.  After about 514 whistle blows in the first half alone, I wondered if the refs were trying to send a message to Sloan: Don’t Mess With Us.  At one point, I even wondered if Tim Donaghy was reffing this game.

In the first half the Jazz, unfortunately, let it get to their heads a little.  There was a lot of frustration from the players which lead to turnovers, poor shots, and frustration.  The Jazz managed to close the 1st half on a 7-0 run to make it only a 5 point game.

The second half was another story altogether.  The Jazz bigs (Boozer, Memo, Millsap, and Koufos) were all plagued with foul trouble and Boozer only played 9 minutes the first half.  The fact that Koufos got extended minutes shows the situation the Jazz were in.

Mehmet Okur was reborn and hit 4 3-pointers in the 2nd half and pulled down a season-high of 15 boards.  The Celtics couldn’t stop him.

CJ Miles had a respectable game by attacking the basket and tallying up 23 points.

In fact, Deron Williams was the only Jazz player to not shoot above 50% from the field going a disapointing 36% from the floor.  He somewhat made up for it attacking the basket relentlessly and getting fouled in the process.  He sank 11 of his 11 free throws.

This was a much needed win.  After this game, the Jazz have 11 games left and only 3 of their opponents have a winning record and 2 of those opponents the Jazz play at home.  In contrast, the Nuggets and Mavericks have 8 and 6 (respectively) games versus opponents w/ winning records in their final 12 games.  The Jazz can make up huge ground before the playoffs start.

Jazz wipe the floor w/ the New Orleans Hornets

// March 22nd, 2010 // No Comments » // Game Summary

This wasn’t much of a game.  Stojakovic sat out w/ injuries, Chris Paul has been out for about 6 weeks now and David West got thrown out of the game w/ a Flagrant 2 foul.

Realistically that foul on West was was flagrant but not enough for a Grade 2 and an ejection.

David West was not the deciding factor in the Hornets’ loss in this game.

It was funny to watch Mo Peterson brick one shot after another.  Looking back aren’t we all SO glad that the offer sheet we made to Mo Pete did not come back with him as a player?

Paul Millsap stepped up with a nice game posting 22 points and 15 rebounds.  Getting his playing time shafted behind Boozer has made us forget what kind of games he can put together when he gets the minutes.

Denver and Dallas both lost tonight to Easter Conference teams so this game helped the Jazz make up valuable ground atop the Western Conference standings.

Jazz lose to Phoenix Suns on the road – 3/19/10

// March 20th, 2010 // No Comments » // Game Summary

Lack of heart was a big factor in why the Jazz lost this game.  Yeah, the Jazz are a bit banged up right now.  Deron Williams has a bruised shoulder, an aggravated wrist injury, and a mildly sprained ankle and still played.  Granted, he did not play all that well going 4 for 14 from the floor and tallying only 6 assists.  He broke his streak of like 21 games with 9 or more assists which was pretty impressive.  I think he had the 4th longest such streak until this game.

Boozer and Memo were tasked with protecting the paint and they protected it about as well as a sleeping security guard protects his post.  Robin Lopez posted a ridiculous 19 and 10.

I guess before the game Boozer approached Amar’e Stoudemire about this game and told him that he’d let him do whatever he wanted for the game.  Amar’e took him up on it and missed only 2 of his 16 shots and was sent to the free throw line 18 times missing only 2 of the freebies.  Geez if you’re going to let those big men have that kinds of games it doesn’t matter what else you do, you’ll lose no matter what.

Deron Williams sat out most of the 4th quarter and it remains to be seen what shape he’ll be in for the Hornets game.  Andrei Kirilenko missed the game as well and we could sure use him against Peja Stojakovic for the Hornets game.