Upper Bowl Jazz Fan

Jazz 3rd Quarter fuels victory against visiting Boston Celtics

// March 23rd, 2010 // 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.