The Chicago Bulls are a very bad defensive team, especially when they are playing the number one offense in the league with out their best big man (Noah). I really don’t think it would have mattered much if he was playing, the Jazz still would have Ripped the Bulls.

The Deron Williams and Derrick Rose Matchup lived up to the hype and both were fantastic; Deron getting the win and the better stat line at 28-17 compared to Rose’s 25-13.

I think Deron’s performance last night was better than the 35 point eruption last week against the Rockets because he added 17 dimes which accounts for at least 34 other points not counting three balls. I don’t want to Jinx anything or get all crazy on everyone, but Deron could make first team all NBA this year. Obviously he dunk on Rose was sick and as Boler said on the Broadcast finally Rose gets posterized after yakking on so many other people this year. Here is a pick of the YAK.

Deron William's YAK's on Derrick Rose

The Jazz finally got off to hot start which has been desperately needed over the past seven games. Wesley Matthews and Mehmet Okur along with Deron Williams made sure that the Utah Jazz got off to a good start.

C.J. Miles went MJ on the Bulls. .

C.J. had a great moment last night and maybe all the criticism he has been getting is being channeled into making him a better player.However, A wise man once said, “That will never happen again.” Miles shot just 41.1% from the field in February and is averaging 1.1 three-pointers per game this season. At best he’s a 3-point specialist while Andrei Kirilenko and Kyle Korver are healthy.

Jerry was a class act last night putting in Othyus Jeffers in for a few seconds before the half and at the end of the game. Jeffers is from Chi-town and it was reported that he had 150 friends and family attending the game last night. Some thoughts from the Daily Herald (Chicago) on Jerry Sloan

Paul Millsap nearly had  a double double of the bench last night and finished with 16-9 including 6 offensive boards. After last year’s run of DD’s when Boozer was out I thought that Millsap had reached his ceiling as a player. This year with a new role on offense and playing time with Boozer he has developed two things that I didn’t see last year. First, the well documented shot from 12-18 feet, Second the overlooked addition of the left hand and little push shot. Maybe he adds the three ball to his game next year.

Wesley Matthews had five steals and two early threes that is helping people forget the play of Ronnie Brewer very quickly.

The Utah Jazz did not turn the ball over in the first quarter last night, which is obviously one of the main reasons that they got of to such a great start.

Here are the NBA.com highlights from last night’s game. The Youtube highlights will be up before the Weekend.

I have mentioned this before but I think the both Deron Williams and Derrick Rose along with Chris Paul will be our Olympic point guards for  both 2012 and 2016. I enjoy watching Derrick Rose. I like the way he plays and the passion that he plays with. I like his game and hope that he succeeds in the NBA…just not tonight.

We all know that Deron Williams has had some trouble with smaller quicker guards and we should see some of those problems tonight, however with out Salmons and Noah it will be tough for the Bulls to beat us there are also some questions as to whether or not Luol Deng will play (swollen knee) and Kirk Heinrich will get the nod ( sprained right ankle). Deng played on Saturday but only shot 2-8 . So we shall see.

The Bulls are getting some help from rookie Taj Gibson who is looking anything like a rookie. However I don’t think he will be any match for Boozer on both ends of the floor.

Besides the obvious matchup of the night with Rose and Williams, I think where the game will be won is in the matchup at the Center position with Brad Miller and Mehmet Okur. Miller is coming of games with 14 and 17 while Memo is coming of his first back-to-back 20 point games this season. If Memo gets 20 we will dominate this game.

Jazz win this game by ten.

Here is a link about Deron @ Illinois

Thanks for stopping by. The Utah Jazz Blog crew is proud to announce the first  annual Utah Jazz Blog NCAA Bracket Contest.

Here is the link to sign-up  http://theutahjazzblog.mayhem.cbssports.com/brackets

If you want to jump in add me (Spencer Campbell) as a friend on facebook and we will send you an invite.

The Group Name is-”The Utah Jazz Blog Bracket Contest”

The Group Abbreviation is all lower case “theutahjazzblog”

Group Password is all lower case “thankyounewyork”

Anyone can join.

PRIZES

First place- will be two lower bowl tickets to a Utah Jazz playoff game this year.

Second place – will be two upper bowl tickets to a Utah Jazz playoff game this year.

Third place- will be two tickets to a regular season game this year.

Last place- will have the opportunity/punishment to join the fellas for a podcast.

IF one of the winners is out of state we will figure something out.

More coming next Sunday night after bracket selections are made.

Thanks, and good luck

The Utah Jazz Blog Crew.

It’s a tale of two halves.  The Jazz/Clippers series this year has been very up and down.  Pretty sure everyone expected the Jazz to go 4-0 against the Clips this year especially without their #1 draft pick, Blake Griffin.  Looking at the box score of this game, there are a few things that stick out.  First and foremost, why is Drew Gooden your leading scorer?  The Clippers in that trade weren’t even intending on keeping him, then he turns out to be your leading scorer for a few games.  Weird if you ask me.  Also, Memo has come out of any slump he was in.  He definitely hasn’t performed as well on the road this season as we would like, but nonetheless he gets it done at home.  In the first have it looked like the Jazz just wanted to get this game over with and win it in one half.  Too bad in the NBA it takes 2 halves to win a game.  In the second half there was a lot more ball sharing and working more of the offense.  The inside out game is truly what benefits the Jazz and lets them gain their confidence to win the game.  Not to mention, it’s watching basketball in its purest form.  Who likes it when a team dribbles down the court, makes one pass and a shot goes up?  It’s not very entertaining to watch.  The game on Monday night in LA, that’s how it was.  Last night the Jazz were looking for the open man and the extra pass.  They need to learn to play this way on the road ALL the time.  It’s not the best feeling going into an opposing teams place and not having full confidence you are going to win that game.  The Clippers will not make the playoffs this year, which means we should win in their place 9 times out of 10.  But with this Jazz team and the way they play on the road most of the time, it looks like they should beat them about 3 times out of 10.  They need to be more consistent and play the kind of game they are accustomed to playing.  This was a good win, however, especially after that good win in Phoenix this week.  Let’s hope the Jazz can continue to make the push for the 2nd spot in the West.

S.MAC

The Jazz play the Clippers for the last time this season tonight at the ESA. They have to play better than earlier in the week when they got annihilated and then almost made a great comeback only to miss free throws at the end of the game.

Deron’s wrist is coming off a great game where he scored 27 points and had 9 assists, so I would have to guess that it will probably be hurting tonight. I think that Boozer and Millsap are due for a great game and Memo has been looking “better” lately.

I don’t care about the team, but I want revenge here. There is no way the Jazz should drop more than two games to the Clippers in one season, especially the way they have been playing as of late.

I am going to say that this game will be over early. I predict a Jazz blowout. We will be up by at least 10 at halftime and push it to twenty by the end of the third quarter. This means that the Koof will get some minutes! I expect no less than a good solid outing by our starters and our bench coming in and making shots. JB

Just in Case you haven’t seen this yet, Deron makes a Cameo.
Jazz 114 Clippers 89

Jazz Sign Othyus Jeffers to a 10-Day Contract

Sorry I didn’t mean to make the Font that large or that important but what is done is done. I got roped into watching The Time Traveler’s Wife with Mrs. UtahJazzBlog  after school last night.

So the new player news had to wait until Thursday. If you go to the link you can find out anything you have ever wanted to know about Mr. Jeffers. Here is some film
If you would like to watch more movies or highlights on this kid here is a link to all his videos on the world wide web.

So until a few weeks ago when the Phoenix Suns beat the Dallas Mavericks, the Suns had lost lost 18 straight TNT games, which I’m sure includes the playoffs. The Jazz are really good on TNT unless they are  playing the Lakers. The Utah Jazz are 4-0 this year on TNT including a blowout in S.A., a Thanksgiving feast against the Bulls, a 17 point comeback against the Magic, and the unforgettable and now legendary Sundiata Gaines shot to beat the Cavs. This will be our last TNT appearance of the Season and Deron Williams should come back with a vengance after his poor perfomance against the Clippers on Monday night.

Here are some stat comparisons.

Jazz	Key Team Stats	Suns
102.4	Points scored	109.2
97.6	Points allowed	106.0
.490	FG% own	.487
.448	FG% opposition	.456
.350	3PT% own	.405
.354	3PT% opposition	.357
616	Offensive Rebounds	690
1856	Defensive Rebounds	1946
2472	Total Rebounds	2636
1.8	Assist/Turnover Ratio	1.6
22.1	Fouls Per Game	20.7

All week I have been super confident that we would win this game tonight without any problems. I woke up this morning and had that sudden gut wrenching feeling that maybe the anual April meltdown was coming early this year. You know the won where we lose 6 of 8 and drop to sixth in the playoffs. In case you have forgotten here is a link to the feeling I had last year after a crappy loss.

Deron Williams has to shoot better than 40% tonight and Carlos Boozer has to out rebound Amare in order for us to win. I’m not asking for much and not asking for a miracle, just a win.

Hurray the Heat and Lakers are on prior to Jazz/Suns meaning we will probably miss part of the first quarter due to tons of commercials and timeouts.

Predictions- Jazz 104 Suns 103 in  a buckle up game.

Paul Millsap, Utah
OK, somebody want to tell me where this midrange jumper came from? Millsap got off to a bit of a sluggish start this season, but shot 60.5 percent in February — mostly because he never misses from 15 feet anymore. Millsap is hitting 50.5 percent of his long 2s this season, a wholesale improvement on last season’s 38.5 percent, and he’s also taking the shot more frequently. Unlike a season ago, Millsap has come off the bench for all but five games this season and, after a slow start, has quietly moved into the Sixth Man race.

I feel like I just watched the Sacramento game all over again. The Jazz came out of the gate looking like they thought they could play half-*** and win easy. When it came down to crunch time, they started playing like they wanted to win. However, it was too little too late and Deron Williams had a mental meltdown in the last minute of the game.

The Jazz didn’t deserve to win this game. Even if they had come back and pulled it off I would still be very upset about the way they played.

Deron looked horrible for most of the game. Then he comes out and talks about how his wrist hurts. You know what, if your writst hurts, stop shooting so much. The problem is, he just scored 35 points against the Rockets…and his wrist looked fine then. Sometimes the wrist excuses make me want to slit my own. This is a game we should have won…and I can’t bring myself to write about it anymore. ß Pretty much the same effort to a blog post as the Jazz had on defense tonight.

In other Draft Pick News if the Warriors, Pacers, Kings, and Pistons win tonight the Knicks Would fall to the fourth worst team in the NBA- on a side note if you bet on all four of those teams to win you would be around +1700 money line and if they just covered you are looking at 12/1 odds.