Upper Bowl Jazz Fan

Deron Williams highlights of Game 2

// April 23rd, 2010 // No Comments » // Player Profile

Gotta love some Deron Williams after watching these highlights

Utah Jazz record after trading Ronnie Brewer

// April 22nd, 2010 // No Comments » // Trades

The Jazz traded Ronnie Brewer to the Memphis Grizzlies on February 28, 2010.  Many people felt that trading Brewer was a sign that the Jazz management was ceding defeat barely halfway through the season.  Or else why trade our starting shooting guard?

With wings such as CJ Miles and Wesley Matthews filling in the Jazz went 21 – 10 in the regular season since Brewer was traded…which is pretty respectable after trading a 3 year starter.

I think that record would have been more like 24-7 had Andrei Kirilenko not gone down with a calf injury with about 20 games left in the season.

Regardless, the Jazz didn’t become a worse team by trading Brewer as I’ve already outlined here.  The difference in the end of the season was losing Kirilenko who was posting his best regular season in a few years.

After 2 games the Jazz and Nuggets are tied at 1-1

// April 21st, 2010 // 1 Comment » // 2010 Playoffs

You know what?  I couldn’t be happier about that.  I would have been happy about it had Memo’s injury never happened.  Knowing now that he’s out and that the Jazz won a game in Denver, way to freaking go Jazz!

While Denver dominated the Jazz this year, I always felt like they weren’t necessarily better than us.  It seemed like they just knew how to exploit the matchup and the Jazz were slow to react.  I hope that stays the case and that the Jazz have learned a lasting lesson because Game 3 is only a couple days away.

The difference in the game wasn’t that the Jazz were missing Mehmet Okur or Fesenko as a starter, rather it was the defensive effort on Carmelo Anthony and Deron Williams doing what he does best….kicking ass and taking names.

Reportedly, Matt Harpring advised the Jazz on how to defend Melo better and it involved being a lot more physical with him.  In Game 1, Melo had his way with everyone tasked to guard him.  They gave him too much space when he caught the ball and he punished the Jazz for it.

In Game 2, he rarely saw those same looks.  He attempted 25 shots in each game, making 18 in the first game and only 9 in the second.  The more physical defense is nowhere more evident than at the foul line.  In Game 2, Melo went to the line 15 times, sinking 14 of them.  In Game 1, he was 4 for 4.

Interestingly, the box score for the Jazz in Game 1 and Game 2 was almost identical.

Game 1                                                               Game 2

• 55% FG                                                           53% FG
• 41% 3P                                                            46% 3P
• 75% FT                                                           77% FT
• 31 Rebounds                                                32 Rebounds
• 26 Assists                                                      26 Assists
• 10 Turnovers                                               18 Turnovers
• 4 Steals                                                            7 Steals
• 6 Blocks                                                           4 Blocks
• 25 Fouls                                                          30 Fouls
• 113 Points                                                       114 Points

The difference was defense (like the NBA commercial says) and getting outrebounded by 10 boards in Game 1.

Our boy, Wesley Matthews, is going through a hard stretch in his playoff debut.  Only shooting 25% from the field and looking noticeably nervous.  Hopefully getting back to Salt Lake City will make a difference for his confidence.  His defense on Carmelo Anthony needs recognition though because despite playing very well Matthews is doing a solid job against a superstar.

CJ Miles was having a playoff breakout in Game 1 but after a collision with Chauncey Billups towards the end of the 1st half, Miles was sort of a non-factor.  In both games he tallied 17 points but was a better contributor in Game 2.  Playing better defense on Melo made a difference as well as drawing Melo’s 6th foul 60 feet away from the basket with only :25 left in the game.

What needs to happen going forward is Boozer being more aggressive.  In the first 2 games he has been settling for a lot of outside jumpers and while they fell for him he needs to stop being a wussy.  Booze only went to the free throw line twice in each game which means he’s avoiding contact.  Nene and Birdman are great shot blockers but if the Jazz want a chance to win the series they can’t rely on Boozer’s outside jumpshots.

The Jazz are not going to be able to rely on being at home for these next 2 games.  Denver proved how little that mattered by beating us at home without Billups and Melo this season.  They also proved it again by losing the the Jazz in the hostile Pepsi Center.  Energy Solutions can be a difficult place for opponents but the Jazz seem to sometimes be lulled into a false sense of security there after posting our 37-4 home record there 2 seasons ago.

The Jazz have to expect that Melo will adapt to the new defense he saw in Game 2 and adapt accordingly.  That seems to be one of the Achilles’ heel of the Jazz: adaptation.  It feels like too little too late when the Jazz do make adjustments.

Melo is too good to not be adjusting always and he’ll be certain to try and draw even more fouls against the Jazz knowing that they are going to be physical with him.

If the Jazz can win the the next 2 games at home, they’ll have a good chance at being able to upset the Nuggets and steal the series.  Come on baby

Jazz fall to Suns in the last game of the season – 4/14/10

// April 17th, 2010 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

I’ve put off writing this post because I was so frustrated at how the Jazz played in this game.  Carlos Boozer missed the game due to a strained oblique muscle in his rib cage.  Andrei Kirilenko missed it as well due to an ongoing strain in his calf.  Mehmet Okur was questionable (but ultimately played) for the game due to a sprained Achilles Tendon.  Needless to say, there was a lot working against the Jazz for this game.

I wasn’t terribly optimistic coming in to this game w/ all of the injuries the Jazz had suffered.  But, I hoped that, since it was the last game of the season and a loss would push the Jazz all the way down to 5th, the Jazz would pull together for an amazing home victory, snag the 3rd seed and enter the playoffs on a huge high.

Man, I was really off there.  The Jazz couldn’t have looked more disorganized and unfit to go to the playoffs as a division winner.

The game started reasonably well with Memo being on fire for the 1st quarter and part of the 2nd.  In that time, he tallied up 20 quick points.  His glory was short lived as he finished with 21 points and was virtually invisible for the rest of the game.

None of the other starters shot over 50% from the field.  Millsap: 3 for 11; Miles: 6 for 14; Williams: 5 of 17; Matthews: 2 for 8.

Everyone had an off game.  In any give game, if a player or two has an off game, the team can usually prevail but not when every player couldn’t buy a bucket.

Time after time the Jazz would drive into the lane and either get blocked or turn the ball over.  The Jazz committed 19 turnovers and were blocked 10 times by Phoenix.  This coming from a team that is barely committed to any defense and was missing one of their best defensive big men (Robin Lopez).

The Suns actually had a good reason to lose this game.  Losing meant that they would have been the 4 seed and played Denver in the 1st round.  They have matched up very well against Denver this year and would have still retained home court for that series.

Since the Suns won, they will play the #6 Portland, who the Suns have NOT matched up well against.  You really would think that if the Jazz had found some heart for this game that they could have come out and beaten a team they have played very well against over the past few years.

The crowd at the game couldn’t have been more upset with what they felt like was bad officiating.  Through one entire timeout the crowd booed at the refs.  In my years of having season tickets, I have never seen that…ever.

Matthews was particularly bad racking up 6 turnovers and only 7 points.  DWill had 5 turnovers and only 6 assists.  The Jazz, as a team, had only 17 assists when their season average is a league-leading 26.

As a result, the Jazz start the playoffs on the road against the Denver Nuggets.  The Jazz played quite poorly against the Nuggets this year losing 3 of the 4 games.  One of the losses included a Nuggets team without Carmelo Anthony AND Chauncey Billups.  The only plus for the Jazz is that the Nuggets have not played well over the past month or two and Kenyon Martin is still not at full strength.

However, it will take a lot more heart to win against the Nuggets in a 7 game series than the Jazz demonstrated in a must-have game against this Phoenix Suns team.