Upper Bowl Jazz Fan

Jazz blow big 3rd quarter lead to lose to Indiana Pacers

// March 27th, 2010 // No Comments » // Game Summary

What a wasted opportunity.  For one of the worst teams in the league to come back after being down 12 points with about 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter just represents a colossal meltdown.

The Jazz gave up 122 points to the Pacers which was the highest total they had allowed all season.  Is this more than just a loss to a bad team?  At this point I’m not sure which Jazz team to expect these days.

Will we see the team from 2 years ago that won all the big games but lost to the horrible teams?  Or the team from last year that couldn’t beat any good teams on the road?  It seems like a combination of both which is too bad.

I realize the Jazz are one of the youngest teams in the league but how long can we realistically blame these losses on that?  It shouldn’t be an excuse at all really.

Since CJ Miles’ Twitter disaster his offensive play has stepped up which has been nice since before that it had been embarrassing…to say the least.  Many people have been praising him defensively as well citing his increase in steals over the same time period.

Steals are the most overrated defensive statistic. Getting steals doesn’t mean you’re a great defender but a great defender will get steals.  They are NOT one in the same.  Often times the defender gambles to get the steal and if it works out then great!  If it doesn’t work out, often if leaves their man an easy basket or a blown rotation.

I’m not remotely sold on CJ’s defense right now as his foul rate is still unacceptable and his man often enjoys quite the night as Danny Granger experienced last night by his career high 44 points.

Gotta do better Jazz.  Before this game, looking at the remaining schedule only losing 2 games of the last 11 seemed very feasible…but that was counting games like this one against the Pacers a guaranteed win.  I guess nothing is guaranteed.

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.