I really can’t explain last night’s game, that is why I’m staying up late to get the video done tonight.

We had the podcast during halftime which was a pretty negative podcast because the Jazz were down by 12.

Here is the Play by Play

Here are some early thoughts from around the NBA

Basketball Prospectus

ESPN RECAP

KSL on BOOZER

My thoughts on Last Night’s Win. I truly Believe that Jerry Sloan used his evil super powers and the Help of the Dark Lord to win this game.

Utah Jazz head basketball coach Jerry Sloan calls on the Dark Lord to win the game during the second half of their NBA basketball game against the Portland Trail Blazers in Portland, Ore., Sunday, Feb. 21, 2010. Utah beat Portland 93-89 in overtime.(AP Photo/Don Ryan)

This is by far the biggest win of the year, yes, even bigger than the Sundiata Gaines buzzer beater over the Cavs. Despite No Memo and Ak going down nine minutes into the game the Utah Jazz come back from 25 down to win.

Paul Millsap- The Newly gained length of Camby combined with Aldridge caused a lot of problems for Millsap tonight. He shot 6-13 and only had 4 rebounds well below his average for the amount of minutes  he plays. Camby had 4 blocks and 18 boards although he is old he is still putting up ridiculous numbers. For all that effort though, he only had 2 points.

Carlos Boozer- Finished with a career high 23 rebounds with eight of those being on the offensive end including a clutch put back to send the game to overtime. Boozer didn’t have the best shooting night but seemed to hit shots when we needed them the most. He finished with 22 points on 9-19 shooting. Boozer is bringing the energy I think that he has come to the same point that AK has and that they are not the Face of the franchise. However, I think Boozer likes being the raw raw guy and not being held as the franchise dude.  For any rational human being to say that we are better with out Carlos Boozer than with him needs to be bitch slapped. Boozer also played 44 of the 53 minutes tonight.

Deron Williams- also played 44 minutes last night and hit a clutch 18 footer in over time to put us up five. Deron did not shoot the Ball particularly well lst night 4-15 but went 9-9 from the free throw line and had 12 assists. More important than his offense was his defense especially in the fourth quarter when Blazers coach Nate McMillian put Brandon Roy at the point. Deron shut him down. He played lock down d and during one stretch forced him to miss four or five straight shots.

Wesley Matthes played his usual hustly self and didn’t score a whole bunch but only had one turnover in 33 minutes.

THE BENC- Was huge tonight.

Kyle Korver had 8 points and 5 rebounds and only hit two shots but they were two huge three pointers coming down the stretch one barley beating the shot clock to bring the Utah Jazz to within threee points.

Ronnie Price- scored 7 points in nine minutes and gave Deron the rest that he needed to finish out the game.

C.J. Miles-had four point on 1-8 shooting but had 4 assists in 34 minutes obviously not his best game actually he had a pretty crappy game.

FEZ dispenser- in 25 minutes he had a + 20 on the +/-  stat. He also added 8 points 6 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. He clogged up the lane when the Jazz went to the zone and he probably altered another 4-5 shots. I don’t think Fez is the Second Coming of anybody but tonight he looked pretty good on both ends of the floor.

IF you are a Trailblazer fan wouldn’t you just want to slit your wrists already. Ouch.

More coming tomorrow I have to get the video recap finished.

Spencer

tribjazz: Andrei Kirilenko said he had a recurrence of back spasms and will probably need three or four days for his back to calm down.

We wanted to thank SLCDUNK for stopping by the podcast and sharing some thoughts and insights with us.

And what can be better than a Deron Williams Dunk at the All-star game.

Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer Will Return to the USA National Team along with 6 others from the 2008 Gold Medal Team.

7. Sharing The Rock

By Kevin Arnovitz
ESPN.com

Williams

For a good illustration of how well the basketball is moving in the Utah Jazz’s offense, take the first quarter of their 109-99 win over the Clippers at Staples Center Tuesday night:

Of the 13 field goals in the period, 10 were assisted on.

The other three?

A bucket in transition by Deron Williams, and a putback each from Mehmet Okur and Williams.

“The big key to our success is how well we pass the ball,” Williams said. “When we share the ball and play unselfish basketball, we’re a hard team to beat.”

Those might seem like standard issue quotes from a point guard whose team has won nine consecutive games and 14 out of 15. But in the case of Williams, the words are more than platitudes — they’re backed up by the numbers. The Jazz are the NBA’s top-ranked team in assist rate, and the only team in the league that records assists on greater than two-thirds of its field goals.

“Sometimes we have shots that are good, but we can get a better one.” Williams said, “That’s what makes us have confidence in each other — you pass up a good shot to get a better one.”

Utah scored its 109 points on only 93 possessions, an incredibly efficient effort during which they racked up 32 assists. One of the defining features of Utah’s offense is the willingness of players with acceptable shots to defer to those with better ones.

“Our teams over the years have been pretty good about passing the ball,” Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan said. “We got to share the ball and get it to where it’s supposed to go.”

One of those destinations is Carlos Boozer, who finished with 34 points, 14 rebounds and four assists. After the game, Boozer credited much of that production to the ability of his teammates to deliver him the basketball with solid passing.

“The deeper you get [the ball], the more successful you’re going to be,” Boozer said. In addition to his words for Williams (”He’s dope. He’s got a lot of stuff.”), Boozer also threw some praise C.J. Miles’ way. The Jazz’ swingman finished with five assists of his own in 20 minutes off the bench.

“[Miles] made some great plays,” Boozer said. “He was a playmaker out there coming off that pick-and-roll. He hit me a couple of times.”

Some of Utah’s 32 assists came on simple entry passes into Boozer, but many of their baskets were the result of phenomenal playmaking in the half court. Even when a possession seemed hopeless, the Jazz would rescue it from the edge. Late in the first quarter, a grenade ended up in Andrei Kirilenko’s hands after Paul Millsap fumbled a pass. As the Clippers tightened the vise with a double-team, Kirilenko patiently guided Millsap to the hoop with a gentle lob pass, and Millsap flushed it home.

“When you play that way and pass the basketball, it’s a lot more fun for everybody,” Sloan said.

“Fun” has never been a high usage phrase in Sloan’s lexicon, but if the Jazz win their 10th straight Wednesday night over the Lakers, the Jazz might etch the word into the players entrance of EnergySolutions Arena.

ESPN TrueHoop editor Kevin Arnovitz is a regular contributor to the Daily Dime.

Carlos Boozer is Tuesday's Best

Some Rowdy fans at the Gateway Last Night.

Boozer will not be stretching out is All-star legs, but showed Kaman and Stern who should be on the All-star team.

Boozer played a freaking amazing game last night putting up the numbers below.

Carlos Boozer, PF 38 13-17 0-0 8-9 6 8 14 4 4 0 2 2 +1 34

Boozer getting ready for Kaman

You can chalk this win to Ronnie Price, Carlos Boozer, and the fourth quarter Defense.

First half of last nights game was very strange , the Jazz led most of the way, but the Clippers stormed back to take the lead at halftime on an 11-2 run to close the half. Rasual Butler led the way with a bunch of three pointers. If you know that that is all he can shoot wouldn’t you just force him off the line. He finished the Game with

Clippers get out to an eleven point lead in the third quarter but the Jazz fight back to cut the lead to 4 going into the fourth quarter and win for the first time on the road wen trailing going into the fourth.

Deron had this put-back dunk for one of the highlights of the night. Which is below in the video section.  His all-star uniform is available here as well.

Deron's put back dunk

Fourth Quarter belongs to Ronnie Price, Wesley Matthews, Carlos Boozer and CJ Miles.

Miles ties a career high with five assists and Ronnie Price hits three big buckets to get the Jazz started on a 18-5 run.

Play of the night- Baron Davis Misses a wide open layup that would have put the deficit down to four. Deron comes back on the other end with an assist to Boozer for a Dunk and the nail in the coffin.

Ak with the Monster Dunk

Okur Dunking over the Clipper Team

Utah Jazz win over the Dallas Mavericks Highlights from last week

This has been quite the eight game winning streak. There have been several contributors for the Jazz as they have been rolling these last few weeks. Carlos Boozer started the streak well and has just returned to the team. Millsap was tremendous in Boozer’s absence and hopefully can continue the trend even with Boozer back. Kirilenko looks like the energizer bunny out on the court with his constant hustle. Finally, DWill is being DWill.

The Los Angeles Clippers can be a dangerous team. In fact, I believe that the Clippers have the most talent of all the underachieving teams in the league. For some reason, they can never gain any ground on the rest of the western conference from season to season.

Like I have said before, there is no way that I can bet against the Jazz right now. As much as every road game makes me nervous, the Jazz have been playing better than I can remember and should easily handle the Clippers.

I am going to say the Jazz win 98 to 79, with DWill and AK having good games…again. However, I can also see Boozer beating Kaman like a grandma would her grandchild in the middle of Wal Mart. They both know who the real All Star is and I have a feeling Boozer will show Kaman and the rest of the league who it is on the court.

Go Jazz! Let’s get nine in a row and bring it on home!

Jimmy Bragg

My DVR, for the first time this season did the old screw you, you are not watching the game ever. Luckily I should still be able to put some highlights up next week from someone Else’s DVR. These will have to do for now.

Assist of the night goes to Deron Williams.

With the Jazz playing incredible basketball, there are stories all over the place being written about them, here they are.

Henry Abbott True Hoop

There are a few things I try not to do. Among them:

• I try not to wake up my wife and kids when they’re sleeping.
• I try not to call people who have little children late at night.
• Realizing I’m a journalist, not a coach, I try not to make statements that rely strictly on my own cobbled-together basketball judgment.
• I try not to curse.

Last night I came this close to breaking all those rules to dial David Thorpe (father of young twins) at midnight, screaming: “The Utah Jazz are f—ing amazing!”

For the second time in a couple of weeks, they were dispatching my Blazers in style. The game started out close. Players on both teams were making tough plays with gritty passion. It had the energy of a playoff game, but with more scoring (in the playoffs, extensive preparations help defenses more than offenses). A viewer’s delight.

Through one quarter, both teams were making amazing plays. The story of the game was, in essence, that the Jazz simply never stopped, and won by 13.

Their attack was a pleasure to watch.

Of course, last night was no aberration for the Jazz, who have recently dispatched the Mavericks, Cavaliers, Spurs, Suns and Blazers twice, in winning 11 of 12. They are quickly climbing through the thicket of teams on the playoff bubble in the West, and are now just behind the Cavaliers, second overall, in John Hollinger’s power rankings. (They’re just ahead of the Lakers, who have already beaten the Jazz once this season, and are due in Salt Lake next Wednesday.)

What’s remarkable about the Jazz last night was how the ball moved so quickly and delightfully to the open player, wherever he may be. High school coaches everywhere rejoice.

For instance, the Blazers have been playing without a center since before Christmas. That shortcoming has been evident now and again, but, amazingly, hardly devastating. Until last night.

The conventional recipe to beat a team without a center would be to force a smaller player to guard your best post player. But Portland’s fill-in old-guy center, Juwan Howard, knows the secrets of post defense and has done a decent job spackling over that hole in the defense. The Jazz showed the better way to attack: With passing and layups. Move fast, ping the ball around, and find the dunks that a big help defender would usually frustrate. Exploiting the lack of size in the post is not nearly as effective as exploiting Portland’s lack of shotblocking from the weak side.

Rumbling through the lane for dunks, layups and runners, Mehmet Okur made 11 of his 13 shots, to finish with 28 points. Andrei Kirilenko made eight of his nine shots, some of which were — thanks to the pass-happy offense, wide open dunks. Kirilenko also finished with eight assists, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks. Filling in for Boozer, Millsap had nine rebounds, two blocks, twelve points and … five assists. Meanwhile, had I reached Thorpe, the first player I would have mentioned would have been rookie Wesley Matthews, who didn’t miss any of his six shots and was the Jazz’s designated athlete on the night. If something athletic needed to be done — a footrace, a jump, a squabble for position — he was the man on the scene every time.

Notice the Jazz player I didn’t single out for his stats in the paragraph above. Their one All-Star: Deron Williams.

Early in the game, he used his speed and strength to breeze into the paint again and again, but missed several layup attempts — several were altered or blocked. He also threw an easy pass out of bounds on a miscommunication with Kirilenko, and missed a 3 near the end of the half. There were just 11 or so minutes left in the fourth quarter before he made his first field goal.

But Williams was brilliant.

He’s an all-star point guard, with a track record of scoring in the lane and from long-range. None of the Blazer defenders could stay with him. Last night was an opportunity for him to prove that he’s playing the best of any NBA point guard right now.

But he didn’t make it about him. Williams had a team working nicely on offense, and he alternated between letting the machine run on its own (look how many assists his teammates had) and nudging it along when it needed help, finishing with 13 assists. At times he retreated almost to half-court, without the ball, to keep his defender from mucking with his teammates’ offense. He managed the clock smartly at the end of quarters. And when the Blazers snuck within ten in the closing minutes, he calmly got to his spots and hit shots that are easy for him — a free-throw line jumper off a screen, a catch-and-shoot 3, and … when Portland was hanging around within nine with a minute-and-a-half left, he burned up the shot clock down to six seconds before beating Jerryd Bayless (and a helping LaMarcus Aldridge) with the layup that ended things.

A lot of point guards can score. Several can get 13 assists. A few can be All-Stars. But it takes a very special one to know it’s OK sometimes to fade into the background and let your teammates do their thing. And it’s something of a trend. Before New Year’s, this season, Williams was taking a shot every 2.58 minutes he played. In 2010, he’s going 3.13 minutes between shots, and the team is rolling.

If I had reached Thorpe, I would have told him that Williams was to the Jazz like Bill Clinton was to the economy. People will always argue about whether or not he was responsible for all that success. But one thing’s certain: He could have screwed it up, and didn’t.

Just like I could have done to the Thorpe and Abbott families’ sleep patterns last night.

A Dallas paper talking about Deron making the All-star team.

An article about AK returning to all-star form.

Audio Recap from David Locke

I don’t mean to take the SOTUA lightly, but I will be in class tomorrow night and would be watching the Utah Jazz play the Portland Trailblazers if I was not.

The game is on NBATV and hopefully we have Cheryl Miller as our analyst, she is so good on the eyes, especially when she is pissed.

If you have ever wanted to see Greg Oden naked, now is your chance. Link to story, not pictures, sorry guys. Can it get any lower than this for Greg Oden, well it could be if he were Paul Shirley.

Paul Shirley will probably get fired from ESPN for his open letter to the nation of Haiti that is getting a ton of criticism. Hey maybe I can get a job at ESPN and write some ridiculous article about 200,ooo people dying. What an idiot. Not only that he doesn’t play in the NBA.

Anyway the guys over at SOTUA have created a drinking game that I think would be fun to play during a Jazz game. I don’t drink alcohol but could mix up some Sunny D, Purple Stuff, Soda, and Vitamin water to join the fun.

So here is your drinking game list for tomorrow night’s Jazz Blazers Game. All mentions deserve one Drink.

Booner- Ohhh Baby!

Boler- Buckle Up!

A Free Throw by C.J. Miles.

The slowly running one footed jumper/floater by Mehmet Okur.

Millsap getting fouled with no Call.

Les Olsen Commercial

Ronnie Brewer Dunks

Oden Pics

Deron Williams for All-star

Boler- Money

Rookie by any announcer.

That should be good for tonight.

CBA NEWS which is not looking good for the NBA players right now. “There’s going to be a lockout,’’ the owner said. “There’s not even a doubt in my mind about that. Billy’s not going to make a deal like that. Teams are already saving up money for a strike.’’

The Blazers will be without Brandon Roy and should win this game which will get us one step closer to Deron shaving, but more importantly keep the the pressure on the rest of the west.  Here is the current stat breakdown of the teams.

Jazz	Key Team Stats	Trail Blazers
101.8	Points scored	97.6
97.4	Points allowed	94.3
.488	FG% own	.462
.452	FG% opposition	.458
.359	3PT% own	.359
.357	3PT% opposition	.349
435	Offensive Rebounds	497
1361	Defensive Rebounds	1366
1796	Total Rebounds	1863
1.8	Assist/Turnover Ratio	1.7
22.0	Fouls Per Game

Remember a few weeks ago when we played Denver without Melo and Billups, this game has that whole vibe to it. I think are going to win but just have that feeling that the Blazers will get up for this game. The Blazers are coming of a horrific loss in which NO finished the game on a 10-1 run to win in the last few seconds.Meanwhile the Jazz are coming of a rousing victory over the Suns in which they trailed by 17 late in the third. I really have no idea how to predict this game the books have the Jazz by two which is basically a pick’em game.

We win if we get 25 or more assists.

We win if Boozer gets 20 plus points.

We win if Deron Williams is on the floor.

Jazz win 106-93 in a close game that the Jazz pull away from in the beginning of the fourth quarter.

For those of you still looking for Greg Oden pics search “Greg Oden Pics” or  “The Huffington Post”, rumor is they have some. I haven’t seen them, I just heard about them. Really I heard they have them over there.

With 2:38 left in the third quarter Channing Frye hit a three pointer to put the Suns up by 17 points. Yes I said 17 Points.

Then the Jazz rattled of 12 straight points to bring the game to within five going into the fourth quarter.

I have been a Jazz fans my entire life and can’t remember a time when rookies contributed so much to our success. Gaines and Matthews have been unbelievable and we have to give KOC and his team credit for picking up some guys that seemed like they may never make it in the NBA.

Matthews had a series of back to back plays when he stole the ball and went the length of the court for an almost one, following that up by a clutch three.

Andrei Kirilenko is playing out of his mind. If he gets the minutes he is circa 2004 easy. Its the first time since 2004 that he has had 2 25+ point games in a three game span. He has been phenomenal and well worth the money he is getting paid.

Carlos Boozer had 20 rebounds and 21 points shooting 7/10 from the field and a perfect 7/7 from the free throw line.

Amare Stoudemire only had 5 rebounds, obviously the effort wasn’t there from him tonight. Is he really worth 20 million a year, uhhhhhhh nope.

Leftovers-

The Utah Jazz moved to the 4th spot last night after their win and the Portland loss. I know we are still three months away but think of all the games in the first half that we should have won. Where would we be, probably the two spot.

ESPN’s  mock draft Calculator is up in all its glory and the Jazz are consistently getting the 9th spot. I have clicked it more than 50 times and only three times did we move out of the 9th spot. We need some help from New York who have lost two in a row and got pooped on by Dallas the other night, like Bill Simmons said I’m glad I covered my Dallas by 49.5 bet.

Jazz are ranked number one in Hollingers Per Diem rankings.

Where to begin? With the home loss to a Billups/Anthony-less Denver Nuggets, the Jazz have a lot to make up for tonight at the ESA. Hopefully the best medicine will come in the form of a struggling New Orleans squad that is not living up to their considerable potential either. New Orleans comes in to Salt Lake City having lost their last 6 games in the ESA.

Reasons to watch:

Deron Williams Vs. Chris Paul. Two of the great point guards in the NBA today. This rivalry has been decidedly one sided as Deron has put up his best stats against the Hornets but with how he has been playing lately that trend could be in serious danger.

3000 assists- Deron should pass the 3000 assist mark tonight. He only needs eight to do it.

Trade Watch 2010. This Jazz squad may not be together for much longer (hopefully) so catch them now in all their over paid splendor.

The C.J. Miles Drinking Game (TM). Every time you or someone you are watching the game with yells FREAKING CJ MILES!!!! Everyone must take a drink.

I predict the Jazz will win this game. They are simply the better underachieving team. D-Will and Boozer will both get 20 points with a good contribution from Mathews. Jazz 101 Hornets 90. Go Jazz.

Hornets	Key Team Stats	Jazz
98.0	Points scored	99.7
100.7	Points allowed	97.6
.445	FG% own	.484
.474	FG% opposition	.459
.360	3PT% own	.330
.370	3PT% opposition	.345
341	Offensive Rebounds	340
938	Defensive Rebounds	1001
1279	Total Rebounds	1341
1.7	Assist/Turnover Ratio	1.7
20.0	Fouls Per Game	21.8

Brendan Kenney