Jazz Steal a win against the Pacers, literally to take the streak to 12
The Jazz walked out of Indiana last night with a win, the kitchen sink, some diamonds from the lady in the front row and Larry Bird’s Breitling watch. In other words they had 16 steals which is amazing.
The Indiana Pacers have lost 18 games this year by 3 points or less which is crazy, considering their injuries and how young their team is. They will be a playoff team next year.
The Jazz are probably playing the best team basketball that I have seen in ten years. They are confident,poised and are handling 4th quarter situations much better than they have over the past few years. Deron has a lot to do with that, but the entire team is playing together on both ends of the floor.
Geek Stat- During the streak the Utah Jazz have outscored their opponents in the fourth quarter by an average of 7 points.
The Jazz played pretty much how I thought they would. I think that it is at the point that we as Utah Jazz fans can expect the Utah Jazz to do certain things every night. The players in the game may change but the end product should be the same.
Here are a few things that we can expect when all of our players are healthy.
First, at least Five players in double figures every night. We have 9 legitimate players that can do it on a regular basis. I realize that minutes are important but with nine guys who can score in double figures you have to play the player that is shooting hot.
Second, at least 33 points of the bench every night. Between AK, KK, Millsap, Knight and Harpring this should be no problem. Interestingly enough our best five man unit both offensively and defensively is Williams-Korver-Kirilenko-Millsap-Okur if you want to take a month to analyze all the stats at 82games.com go ahead it is amazing information.
Third, a minimum of 21 assists per game. Easy if D-will gets 11 every night.
Fourth, a shooting percentage of between 48-50%.
Highlights from last night.
NBA.COM
ESPN.COM
Other Recaps. SLTRIB SLTRIBLOG
DESNEWS
Jazz looking to make it a Dirty Dozen
Before we get into tonight’s game lets look at some of the shifting that happened last night in the West.
Hornets lost to Atlanta and drop to the 6th spot.
Denver lost to Houston keeping Houston in the 3rd spot and Denver drops to the 7th 213 they
I hate the Los Angeles Lakers #98-can’t win when we need them to, Portland wins 111-94 keeping pace with the Jazz but stays in the 5th spot because of tiebreakers.
| 1 | LA Lakers | 50 | 13 | .794 | - | 108.5 | 100.6 | +7.9 | ||||||
| 2 | San Antonio | 42 | 20 | .677 | 7 ½ | 97.5 | 93.5 | +4.0 | ||||||
| 3 | Houston | 42 | 23 | .646 | 9 | 98.8 | 94.9 | +3.9 | ||||||
| 4 | Utah | 40 | 23 | .635 | 10 | 103.1 | 99.1 | +4.0 | ||||||
| 5 | Portland | 40 | 23 | .635 | 10 | 99.1 | 95.1 | +4.0 | ||||||
| 6 | New Orleans | 39 | 23 | .629 | 10 ½ | 96.2 | 93.5 | +2.8 | ||||||
| 7 | Denver | 40 | 25 | .615 | 11 | 102.6 | 100.3 | +2.3 | ||||||
| 8 | Dallas | 38 | 25 | .603 | 12 | 101.1 | 99.5 | +1.6 |
In Case you missed Dwayne Wade list night this is one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen.
OK Back to the Game tonight
The last time these two teams played Memo scored a career high 43 points and led the Utah Jazz to victory. The Pacers will be without All-star Danny Granger and swing man Mike Dunleavy who is out for the season.
The Pacers will look to continue home dominance that has shown wins over Orlando, Cleveland and Denver in the past few weeks. The Jazz will look to show everyone that when they are healthy they can win on the road as well as at home.
Carlos Boozer who missed the Breakfast game on Sunday should be back for tonight but is listed as day to day.
As a Utah Jazz fan these are the types of games that we have lost in the past. It may be a trap game or whatever you want to call it, bu the Jazz need to come out with some fire and intensity in the first quarter. Their problem has not be finishing it has been starting games well.
The Pacers allow 106 points a game which is in the last five in the league. Expect the Utah Jazz to score close to 120 points.
In My head I think that the Pacers can’t beat us without Granger and Dunleavey but they have been winning and so I don’t want to take them lightly. I think it will be close, but the Utah Jazz play lock down d in the fourth and win 110-102
Deron Williams the NBA’s player of the week last week, should start another double double streak, and look for Brewer to have a big game to make up for the no show on Sunday. Memo, will be Memo. Boozer is coming of an injury so who knows what we will get. Miles needs to get 12 points minimum.
The Campbell’s Soup Keys to the Game.
Turnovers-We need to have below 14
Bench- I don’t care who gets the points but we need to get 35 out of our bench in order to win this game. We should be automatic at getting 35 from the bench. Between Korver,AK,Millsap,Hapring and Knight it should be pretty easy, especially with the minutes that those guys are getting.
Strong Start- I would like to see at least 28 first quarter points. Our second halves have been pretty amazing during the streak, however getting in a hole on the road is not the best thing to do, especially with a game tomorrow against the Hawks.
If the Utah Jazz can pull this one out tonight, it will give them confidence on the back to back tomorrow. -S
Utah Jazz Podcast March 8th 2009
Kalun finally shows up, “Thank you, Kristi” and we discuss the Eleven game winning streak, the Toronto win, and the upcoming games with the Indiana Pacers, Atlanta Hawks and a weekend back to back with D-Wade and Dwight Howard.
Eleven In a Row LIVE POST JAZZ WIN
Utah Jazz vs. Toronto Rators Live Blog
Air Canada Center for Breakfast without Boozer-Sprained Ankle
Did You know that Matt Harpring played High School Football? KJZZ Does a Harpring Football Special.
Jerry Sloan Sporting the old school purple Jazz tie for the game tonight.
Millsap looks like he is ready to go.
Things are going to be up hill tonight with 15 rebounds sitting on the bench
Jazz get the tip
Bosh on Memo that is a tough matchup for Memo
Miles with the pic six
Millsap over Barn Yes
Jazz up 4-0
Millsap needs to stay in front of Barn
Matrix with an ugly hook short
Memo with the tip
Memo the bank going Duncan on us
Jazz up 8-4 after Barn shot.
Matrix with a layup
Deron Sick Cross on Calderon over Barn +1
Deron is going Creasy already in the first quarter
Barn with 6 of Toronto’s 8 points
I Like Calderon going to set the free throw record this year he is at 98%
Miles for three
Barn is schooling Millsap he can’t keep up with him just got two fouls he is out of the game
Time out 5:50 to play in the first Jazz up 16-12
Well’s Fargo commercial
Angels and Airwaves making bank on the song that is on the Ford Commercial and 50 other things
Wendover commercial man all of a sudden I got an itch.
Boozer give D-Will props.
Deron last 15 games 23.4 11.4 53%
Deron with the leaner from 10 feet
Bosh on the post 2 rebounds two points on the tips
Memo with the fingerole and does not get the foul
Millsap picks up his second foul who is coming?
Korver checks in for CJ AK for Millsap
Memo with the fall away ridiculous.
Bonsu has two fouls Raptors both bigs have two fouls
Tie game @ 22 2:30 left to play in the first.
Timeout
Jason Statham commercial for the A6 pretty funny I can’t believe they made three Transporters.
“Don’t look he has been staring at you for like 20 Minutes.”
“What that, that’s the money you could be saving with Gieco.”
Memo is Fourth in the league in three point shooting.
Brewer steal Korver Layup +1 and A Tech on Bosh +1
Jazz up four on the four point play. When was the last time the Jazz had a four point play?
Brewer no points thus far but has played solid D.
Korver from the Elbow Splash!
Marion used to be so good and to think that he wants 20 Million a year just ridiculous, no one is going to sign him for that much.
Jazz up 5 at the end of the First 29-24.
Considering the Utah Jazz and their last few start I am pretty stoked at this point and to think that Boozer is out and Brewer hasn’t scored.
Sprite commercial yeah back flip in the cement court.
Nacho Drag Taco Bell commercial hilarious. Gives me some ideas about the next time my wife and I go to the movies.
Jerry Looking Very good today sharp suit nice purple tie, maybe he has am AK freebie living in Toronto.
Raptors 4-0 mini run.
Jazz have missed two straight layups.
Tie game at 29.
We are getting open looks and not hitting them.
AK misses another layup AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
Start the quarter 0-5
Raptors take their first lead.
Collins with the charge he goes out Millsap comes in.
Korver for three Yes.
AK with the tip
Jazz defense looks really active and getting tips.
D-Will should be coming in soon, there he is
Jazz have missed 6 gimmies this quarter. Shooting 5/16
Korver has 12
Barn has a three. Toronto 842 straight games with a three NBA record, last time they missed 1999.
Memo with 10.
DWill with the drive dish and Millsap dunk.
Jazz with three straight O Rebounds
Millsap hits two FT Jazz up one 42 41
Millsap wide open layup Deron is pushing the tempo causes problems for the Raptor bigs
Pace Mannion going eighties on us with the black shirt and white tie. Harpring please take his job when you retire
Jazz win they take over the 4 or 5 spot. I don’t have all the tiebreakers up to date yet.
Ty Corbin’s Son one state championship for west hit some big shots last night.
Korver on Fire hits another three.
DWill hits the shot at the end of the Half putting the Utah Jazz up one over the Toronto Raptors 49-48.
Over all the Jazz have played well on the defensive end and missed a bunch of easy shots. They should be up by ten.
SECOND HALF
Turnover Memo The Bosh Matchup is a difficult one for him.
Deron Misses a layup causes a fast break the other way, we should be up ten at least with all our missed shots.
Bosh will get hot this half we need to get ahead of them.
PNR Miles to Millsap
Brewer with his first 2 he needs to heat up
Barn with a three.
Memo +1 driving in slowmo Barn has 3 fouls
15 lead changes thus far.
PNR Memo to Brewer for the Dunk
Dwill from 17 good.
Jazz up 60-59 7:38 in the third
Bosh with 15 now he will end up with close to 30, he his playing hard but does not look like Olympics Bosh.
Jazz down 4, things could get out of hand
Dwill hits a three to cut it back to one.
WE HAVE TO WIN THIS GAME.
Bosh is taking over
Deron with the cross over on Bosh and splash from 17
Millsap with four fouls this is going to be a problem
AK and KK check in.
Korver to AK on the jump shot pass Utah Jazz down 72-70
AK with the and one on the left handed reverse nice.
Barn and Bosh are killing us.
Memo with 17 cuts the Raptors lead to two.
DWill Misses layup Bosh get +1 on the other end.
FSN having Network problems and the game is blacked out awesome.
And we are back.
START OF THE FOURTH JAZZ DOWN 6
87-81
Raptors have 15 more free throws than us oh how I miss the ESA
Collins,Knight,AK, Harpring ,Korver what a lineup to start the fourth.
Another missed Layup amazing.
Utah Jazz Down Eight, and AK misses the first free throw of the night.
Deron with the steal and the assist from the ground to AK + 1 YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.
Jazz down 4 nine minutes left in the game.
Millsap misses a gimmie again.
AK can cut the lead to one. Has missed three this quarter.
IM GOING TO SAY BUCKLE UP right now. With seven minutes left.
AK going to the line again for two hits the first, missed the second
DWILL FOR A DUNK AMAZING YOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWZZZZZZZZERRRRRRRRRSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
RUGBY SCRUM for 20 seconds
AK gets the tip for a break away dunk and the lead YESSS.
DERON WITH DRIVE AND THE JAZZ UP FOUR SICK
Millsap with the DD
KORVER FOR THREE no
Milsap gets his fifth foul covering Bosh.
Four minutes left Memo with the O foul Milsap and Memo have 5 fouls Jazz up two.
Korver with Block on bosh Milsap with the bucket on the other end awesome.
Memo draws an offensive foul.
KORVER FOR THREE no
Bosh with a huge bucket that give him 30
MEMO FOR THREE no
Korver with steal on Bosh again.
THERES the Buckle up time from Boler
Millsap puts the Jazz up four.
Bosh missed Jazz can go up six.
DERON BAM BITCHES from 19
1:16 left and up by six we need a bucket .
Deron wants the ball in crunch time Deron gets it.
He misses the first of two free throws. Makes the second.
Jazz in the midst of a 15-6 run.
40 seconds left.
PNR DWILL TO MEMO YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Dwill for two to seal it ugg misses the first. Hits the second Jazz up eight with 20 seconds left.
JAZZ WIN JAZZ WIN JAZZ WIN
Amazing, Listen up to the podcast for the follow up
10 IN A ROW!
The Utah Jazz overcame a 19 point deficit to win a HUGE game against the Denver Nuggets.
The First half was ugly as the Jazz shot 38% and only scored a total of 37 points. With 1:47 left in the first half and down 17 the Jazz proceeded to go on a 9-0 run to cut the lead to 10 at the half. With 35 seconds left Sloan put in Ronnie Price which was strange but Price got a steal and an assist to Brewer on a dunk that got the crowd back into the game.
The Jazz started the second half on a 8-0 run to cut the Nuggets lead to two. The charge was lead by Brewer and Miles who both had ten points in a 36 point third quarter that can be seen here.
The ESA was the loudest it has been since the Lakers win. I can’t really explain how different the two halves looked from the Fan perspective.
First Half Ugly, Second half Spectacular. Here is the Box Score.
| C.J. Miles, SF | 22 | 3-6 | 2-4 | 2-2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | +8 | 10 |
| Carlos Boozer, PF | 35 | 4-12 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | +5 | 9 |
| Mehmet Okur, C | 39 | 3-12 | 1-5 | 5-6 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | +8 | 12 |
| Ronnie Brewer, SG | 36 | 4-9 | 0-0 | 8-9 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | +6 | 16 |
| Deron Williams, PG | 43 | 8-14 | 0-3 | 9-11 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 2 | +6 | 25 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | +/- | PTS |
| Paul Millsap, PF | 16 | 4-8 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | +4 | 9 |
| Kyle Korver, SG | 14 | 3-4 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 7 |
| Brevin Knight, PG | 5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 0 |
| Andrei Kirilenko, SF | 25 | 3-8 | 1-1 | 2-3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 9 |
| Matt Harpring, SF | 6 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -5 | 0 |
| Ronnie Price, PG | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 0 |
My Thoughts from the ESA and then from the rerun.
Jerry Sloan is doing an amazing job coaching the Utah Jazz to wins. He has left players in when they are hot and pulled players when the energy is not there. Examples just from tonight.
Ronnie Price plays 35 seconds to bring some energy to the team.
Deron Plays 43 minutes including the entire second half.
Miles Plays the entire third quarter and finished it off with two straight threes.
Jerry is making the decisions right now to win.
I hope the guy who sat in front of us during the game finished the night off with some action. He bought ten beers and two tickets for 30-40 bucks a piece and had to bust out the I.D. to the ESA alcohol police.
This was the biggest home comeback in 10 years.
The Bear only came on the floor once tonight late in the fourth quarter and climbed a huge ladder with stilts on and the get loud sign.
Ronnie Brewer’s reverse layup at the seven minute mark in the third was ridiculous. He jumps from the left side of the paint all the way to the other side of the floor, ridiculously sick.
Dante Jones is a punk and D-Will would have punked him. I will try and get some video from ESPN of the headbutt incident. If you watched the game you may have seen it, it happened at the end of the third quarter just before Miles hit his two threes.
George Carl, gave up trying to win with two and half minutes left in the game down seven. Thank You.
Jerry Sloan quote of the night, “They stroked us a few times and we started standing”, in his pre fourth quarter interview.
ESPN.COM
Jazz have played solid Defense in four straight games late in the game is this a sign of things to come. We will see. -S
Utah Jazz Will Make it Ten in A Row.
We will win this game tonight, 113-102 or thereabouts.
Denver is coming off b2b with Portland that looked closer than the final score. This game provides us with some great match ups at all five positions depending on how they play the match ups.
Nene Vs. Okur.
Nene is coming back off an an injury and has looked decent with game of 16,20,12, and eight since. Nene is leading the league in shooting percentage 61.02 % and we should all remember his perfect game against a few months ago. Things are different now, the Jazz have their full roster back and this creates more open shots for Memo because of the double team on Boozer. Okur will pull Nene out of the paint so he should not get as many rebounds as he regularly does. The Nuggets may switch a quicker player on Memo to get out on him (Martin, Birdman) like the Rockets did with Scola, but that left Boozer to get all the rebounds (17) last game. Okur is coming of the greatest statistically three point shooting month in the history of the NBA. He hit over 60% from three and had more than 20 attempts which is the cut off point for the record. He also has been taken the ball to the whole stronger and more often during the winning streak. He has been very selective on the three ball intermixing it with pump fakes and drives to the basket making is game very hard to defend if you are another big in the NBA.
Memo will have 20 and 8 tonight and Nene should have around 16 and . I give the edge to the Utah Jazz in this match up by a little bit.
Carlos Boozer Vs. Kenyon Martin.
I have always hated Kenyon Martin. I think he has a bad attitude and is a thug. He was physically gifted coming out of the NBA but has never lived up to the hype because of his attitude and reoccurring Injuries. This matchup will be physical and fun to watch. Even more fun if Hapring comes of the bench to body up Martin. (Side Note- Matt Harpring will piss someone off tonight and the will get a tech). Boozer is coming of his best game in months and we should see another one tonight. Interestingly enough the Nuggets allow the fourth most offensive rebounds in the league, so Boozer should have a ton of rebounds tonight. I don’t know if he will have 17 but he should get 13 or so. On the offensive side of this Matchup Boozer will dominate Martin and will have a little bit more problems if Birdman take that assignment.
Boozer should finish with 24-13 and Martin should finish with 16 -6 I think that Boozer dominates tonight.
Carmello Anthony Vs. Cj Miles.
I personally think that the Jazz should throw Brewer on Melo but I think this is the mathcup that we will see when CJ is in the game and then when Korver comes in Brewer will jump over on Melo. Melo will get his points no matter who is guarding him. I expect the Nuggets to post up Melo probably 8-9 times tonight getting it started early with Miles. Melo is a great post man and usually has a smaller guy on and commands a double team. When Klieza and Smtih come of the bench and they are hitting their shots this could cause some major problems for us, our rotations of the double team have been lackluster as of late especially on the weak side. Cj has not played well the past three games hopefully he can get out of his funk. Harpring will also see a few minutes on Melo tonight because of his sheer power and effort on the block however this leaves us at a disadvantage on Melo when he takes it to the hole, Matt can’t keep up. Brewer is an overall better cover on Melo but Jerry probably won’t play it this way.
Melo 26-7 tonight. Cj Miles 8-4, Korver 14-7, Hapring 8-3. It will probably take three of our players to equal the stats that Melo gets tonight. Denver has the advantage in this match up.
Ronnie Brewer Vs. Jr Smith.
This should be an even match up throughout the night. Brewer will own the baseline and Smith will be dropping three’s. Both players are extremely athletic and we should see some highlights from both of them. I will say two or three dunks from Brewer and one dunk and 3 threes from Smith. Both of these guys are high energy guys that have their specialties and should exploit the other tonight.
Ronnie Brewer 18-6-4 Smith 18-4-5 this match up is the closest of all the match ups tonight.
Last but not least. D-will Vs. Billups.
Billups is coming of one the worst shooting games of his career 3-13 and will want to play well to make up for it. Billups isn’t as fast as he used to be but is still very effective as a point guard and has lead the Nuggets to the top of the Division, for now. We all know what D-will can do and he will do it tonight on National Television and at home.
(Side note: Our date the other night was fantastic we went and saw He’s Just Not That Into You and had some Coldstone Ice Cream. It may have been a sign but his wife made me sit in the back seat.)
D-Will 29-12 Billups 18-9 Utah Jazz have the upper hand in this match up but it will also be fun to watch.
Campbell’s Soup Key’s to the Game.
ESA vs. the Nuggets Mental Psyche
The Utah Jazz are doing everything they can t make this a loud “obnoxious”(Will get to the later ) crowd tonight.
ESA wins by becoming a Monster Arena and eating all the Nuggets players except for Jason Hart. The ESA doesn’t want to have to get its stomach pumped from eating crap.
Benches-
The Jazz should at the least get 35 points 15 rebounds and 9 assist from their bench tonight which means AK, Milsap,Korver, Knight, I don’t think that is to much to ask. Add that with our starters 72 or so we should be right on target for 113 or so.
We can’t let their bench get more than 20 points let alone let Kleiza going off like last year.
National Television
“Creasy” will show up tonight.
Ric Bucher at his old back handed compliments towards the Utah Jazz. It is in Bill Simmons Podcast starting at Minute 37 or so its here.
Tim Leger had this to say “
1. Utah threatens the Lakers — and the Spurs, too. When the Jazz are healthy, they compete consistently on defense, which is something you have to do against the Lakers, especially. You can’t play lackadaisical defense against them because they are going to score 115-120 points on you. You have to come at them with more focus at that end of the floor.
Coach Jerry Sloan has tons of experience and, with all that he’s been through in Utah, he will have the Jazz ready. I actually think Utah will catch Denver for first place in the Northwest Division and end up with the 3-seed in the West, thereby avoiding a potential rematch with the Lakers until the West finals.” Espn.com Daily Dime.
We will get a recap as soon as we get home from the game. -S
Jazz beat Houston for Nine Straight
Carlos Boozer had his best game since coming back from surgery and the Utah Jazz closed out another game late in the fourth quarter for their 9th straight win.
Over the past few games it seems as though Boozer has not been able to move laterally very well. Tonight I felt that he was moving much better. There is no way to simulate defending Yao Ming and Boozer did a B+ on him when they were matched up. It was good to see him muscle Yao up and put pressure on the leg.
Coming out of a time out with score tied at 85 the Jazz went back to old faithful, that’s right the pic and roll. As Boozer hit the 17 footer to give the Utah Jazz the lead, I almost forgot about the comments he made a few months ago about getting a raise, almost.
The Jazz ran the pic and roll for almost four and half minutes to end the game results are as follows.
85-87Carlos Boozer makes 17-foot jumper (Deron Williams assists)
85-89Ronnie Brewer makes two point shot (Deron Williams assists)
87-91Ronnie Brewer makes layup (Andrei Kirilenko assists)
87-93Carlos Boozer makes jumper (Deron Williams assists)
89-95Deron Williams makes 13-foot jumper
92-97Deron Williams makes 20-foot jumper
It may be safe to say that the timing is almost back on our bread and butter play.
Deron Williams hit to huge buckets late in the game to make up for two late turnovers (his only two of the game) to seal the deal.
Here is how everyone else looked stat wise
| C.J. Miles, SF | 18 | 1-6 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | +3 | 2 |
| Carlos Boozer, PF | 34 | 8-17 | 0-0 | 4-4 | 5 | 12 | 17 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | +15 | 20 |
| Mehmet Okur, C | 36 | 5-10 | 2-4 | 4-4 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | -2 | 16 |
| Ronnie Brewer, SG | 36 | 8-15 | 0-1 | 3-3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +10 | 19 |
| Deron Williams, PG | 41 | 11-19 | 2-5 | 2-2 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +8 | 26 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | +/- | PTS |
| Paul Millsap, PF | 15 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | -5 | 4 |
| Kyle Korver, SG | 18 | 1-3 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | -5 | 2 |
| Brevin Knight, PG | 7 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | -1 | 2 |
| Matt Harpring, SF | 10 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | +6 | 4 |
| Andrei Kirilenko, SF | 25 | 1-3 | 0-1 | 4-4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | +6 | 6 |
Ronnie- I love you. Keep doing what you are doing.
CJ- Where are you?
Memo- Solid performance including the d on Yao
Booze- Welcome Back,Welcome Back,Welcome Back (Mase voice).
Deron-Do you want to go out? The man crush may be getting out hand.
Bench eh not so good tonight. 13 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 10 turnovers, in 75 combined minutes. Not good at all.
My Thoughts
Jazz shoot 100% from the free throw line which was very much needed.
AK has a pass of the year candidate (look at the video).
For the first time that I can remember the ESA was rocking the wave for a good 2-3 minutes. Crowd was pretty wild tonight and should be just as crazy on Friday against the Nuggets.
The Western Conference Standings are even more ridiculous this year than last.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
13 GOING ON 20
The Utah Jazz have been enjoying a rare gift from the schedule gods that will slowly come to an end this Sunday the 8th. The Jazz had their best February ever at 11-1 where Deron Williams was nominated and took second in the player of the month votes and Jerry Sloan was voted coach of the month, great job guys! The Jazz should be preparing for one of the toughest stretch’s on their schedule. After Friday’s home game they will have 20 games left where they will face 13 of those 20 on the road. As many know, the Jazz have not had the best road record in the NBA. In fact, it is one of the poorest at 11-17 for projected playoff teams. They must take this opportunity they have been given by the NBA scheduling committee and prove they deserve not only to be in the playoffs, but one of the west’s elite. If the Jazz can go 13-9 for their last 22 games, they will most likely make the playoffs with 50 wins. If they go 16-6, which is very conceivable based on their balanced play of late, they will end the season with 53 wins and most likely go into the playoffs with home court advantage for at least the first round of the playoffs. So, cross your fingers, put on your Jazz gear, and buckle up for these last 22 games!
To get us going on our final stretch we have the Houston Rockets. The Jazz have been able to get reacquainted with their full team over the past 6 games and it will need to pay off tonight against the Rockets who are coming off a win last night at home against the Toronto Raptors. They are getting major contributions from Luis Scola and of course, Yao Ming. They are 8-1 since losing Tracy McGrady for the season and are playing some of the best defense in the league with contributions from Ron Artest and Shane Battier. The Rockets match up with the Jazz fairly well which should give us a great game tonight. The player to watch is D – Will! Deron will be going against second year guard Aaron Brooks who has been playing well since receiving the starting position after the Rafer Alston trade, but will be no match for Deron because of his size and strength. Look for Deron to have a great game tonight with a 30 point 12 assist night. Also, the Jazz are 8-1 when teams come to Utah on the back end of a back to back. The only loss came from the Cleveland Cavaliers and Lebron James. The spread is 7 points in favor of the Jazz so all things considered, we are calling this a Jazz win, 101 to 92. -BB
Jazz in the Community Specifically Andrei Kirilenko
Every year the Utah Jazz and Russell’s ice cream have a contest among local elementary schools to see who can read the most combined minutes. There were some schools in U.C. that won some prizes and my little sister teaches at one of them. The school combined to read almost 800,000 minutes which is about 450 hours per day for the school as a whole. All of the reading was done away from school.
My sister knowing how huge of a Utah Jazz fan I am asked to come and take some pictures and help with her class. I got to go take some pics and listen to A.K. answer some questions about all sorts of stuff. Here is a recap of the Q and A session A.K. had with 600 or so kids followed by some pics.
Q- Are your parents tall?
A.K. No not really, actually I don’t know how tall they are.
Q- Who is your favorite Utah Jazz Player.
A.K. Well I love Stockton and Malone but my all time favorite is Jeff Hornacek (and all the kids screamed). He is my personal coach, he helps me with my shot.
Q- Can you dunk the basketball?
A.K. I think so as he proceeds to flat footed jump and hang on the rim(all the kids scream).
At this point I almost raised my hand and asked how his “one extracurricular activity” went this year but decided it was not the time or place.
Q- What is your favorite part about basketball?
A.K. Blocking shots, especially when you knock the ball into the stands(more screams).
Q-Can I have a hug?
A.K. Proceeds to give a teacher(huge Jazz fan from what I could gather) a hug.
Q- What is Russia like?
A.K. Like Salt Lake sometimes cold sometimes hot, Russia is very large so you get all types of weather there.
Q-What team do you not like to play the most (6th grader).
A.K. San Antonio Spurs, they match up really well with us and the Lakers they are good(reason #12 that I hate the Los Angeles Lakers).
Q-When is your next game?
A.K. Tomorrow night against the Houston Rockets, they have a player that is 7′6″(holding his hand a foot or so above his head) he is very tall and very good.
Q-How did you get so tall?
A.K. By reading books, listening to my parents, and eating healthy. Sometimes you don’t have to be tall to play basketball, you just have to work hard.
Q-Do you like playing for the Utah Jazz?
A.K. Yes. Yes I do. I have been here for 8 years and have been able to play with some of the best players ever to play basketball.
As a Utah Jazz fan it is always fun to see the players give back to the community and support the locals here. I realize that they make millions a year and would probably rather not do some of things that they do, but do it anyway and I’m sure they have fun, once they get into it. It was cool to see how AK interacted with the kids and got them whooping and hollering in the Gym.
Love for the Utah Jazz Bear
Jazz Bear is the mascot for the NBA team, the Utah Jazz. Jazz Bear was introduced to the league in 1993. Jazz Bear has received over 50 awards for charity service including the RC Willey community service award. Born in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, Jazz Bear was destined to be a star. After graduating Bear Point Academy and performing as a member of the Bearnum and Bailey Circus (where Bear learned most of his tricks), Bear was finally discovered by a Jazz scout and was able to bring his high-flying, crowd-pumping skills to Jazz fans young and old. Jazz Bear separates himself from the rest with his combination of pyrotechnics and acrobatics. Jazz fans have the pleasure of watching Bear repel from the arena ceiling, as well as sledding, surfing and biking down the arena stairs. Some Bears hibernate when it gets cold; Jazz Bear prefers dunking through hoops of fire for warmth. The Jazz Bear is known to locals simply as Bear. Bear is a huge part of the Jazz’s success. wiki
My personal feeling is that the Jazz Bear is somewhere in the 100-150k range. I have no proof of this but I figure he has 46 or so home games a year plus playoffs which keep him busy from Sept until May/ June. He has numerous charity events, dinners, and public appearances as well. I imagine with home games, playoff games, all-star events, Jazz events, charity events, Christmas projects, and everything else he does that we don’t see I figure him for 100 appearances a year or so, maybe more.
He is by far one of the most celebrated mascots in the history of sports. He has the ability to do things that no one else has done. He lifts weights with team on a daily basis and is considered a member of the Utah Jazz Team. The state of Utah has even named a day after him. Let the Utah Jazz Bear videos commence.
