Utah Jazz: Comeback Kids

The Utah Jazz have just completed one of the most remarkable weeks in the history of professional basketball! Beating 5 teams in a row after being down by 11+ points at some point in the game. I've already addressed the Clipper game, so let's flash forward to the Miami game. Being down by 22 points against the Miami Heat in Miami, the Jazz came back to win in OT. Paul Millsap had 46 points, hit three clutch 3 point shots, and hit the game tying shot to go to Overtime. Not only that, but Francisco Elson closed the deal at the foul line as they won 116-114. That game was heroic and epic. It had it all, Lebron couldn't finish, Dywane wade hit a 3 to tie it at 114, etc. That game was unbelievable. Everybody stepped up. Deron Williams stepped up, and the whole bench came through, especially in OT when D-Will had to come out because he fouled out. The next night, the Jazz beat the Orlando Magic in Orlando after being down 18, 104-94. The Jazz finished that game off better because they didn't have a dramatic finish. They blew out Orlando 39-20 in the 4th quarter. In the Orlando game, Millsap had 23 points, Jefferson had 21 points, and Williams had 30 in that one. The Atlanta Game was remarkable in A-Town as the Jazz trailed by 11 to comeback and win 90-86. Once again, in crunch time the Jazz pulled it out. The Amazing part of the the Atlanta game was the Jazz won despite a down night from Al Jefferson who had 15 points and Paul Millsap who had 11 points. Williams had 24 points and carried the load in that win. The difference really in that win was the foul shooting. Utah shot 73.7% from the line, and Atlanta shot 52.4%. Atlanta's abysmal foul shooting cost them the win against Utah. The Jazz tonight beat the Bobcats 96-95 after being down by 16 points at half time. The Jazz came back, and won off of Deron Williams buzzer beating shot with .8 seconds to go. They shot 75.9 percent from the foul line tonight, Charlotte shot 70.8%.
Now I've just given a run down of all four games that they won coming back on the ROAD. But there are two key stats or areas that stand out to me in these games/comebacks. #1 is Foul shots. In the Miami game, the Jazz shot 85.7% from the line while the Heat Shot 76.7% from the line. In the Orlando Game, the Jazz shot 89.3% from the line while Orlando shot 56%. In the Atlanta game, the Jazz shot 73.7 % from the line and the Hawks shot 52.4 %. Tonight in Charlotte, the Jazz shot 75.9 % from the line, while Charlotte shot 70.8%. In every win, the Jazz have shot a higher percentage of foul shots than their opponents. They Jazz collectively shot 81.4% from the foul line in the 4 game road trip. Their eastern conference opponents shot 66.7% from the line. The Jazz shot way better from the foul line than their opponents did. The only anomaly is the Clipper game where the Clipps shot 87.5% from the foul line and the Jazz shot 74.2%, but that wasn't apart of the eastern conference road trip obviously. As a whole, Utah has been shooting great from the foul line. If they want to keep up their success they need to shoot well from the line, and they need their opponents to not do as well from the line. The bottom in line is that the Jazz won those 4 games on the road in hostile environments because they shot well from the foul line.
The #2 stat is that the Jazz are killing their opponents in the 3rd and 4th quarter. Against the Clippers, the Jazz outscored them 31-18 in the 3rd quarter. Against Miami, the Jazz outscored the Heat 42-29 in the 4th quarter. Against Orlando, the Jazz outscored the Magic 39-20 in the 4th quarter. Against Atlanta, the Jazz outscored the Hawks 27-17 in the fourth quarter. Against Charlotte, the Jazz outscored the Bobcats 33-22 in the 4th quarter.
All in All, the key to these comebacks has been foul shots, and finishing off their opponents in the 4th quarter. They are finishing strong and are shooting well from the line. If the Jazz do those 2 things this year, they will win many games. Provided they don't always get down early. Go Jazz!

Jazz Slither Past The Clippers in Double OT

Following a depressing loss to their Bay Area Foes in Golden State, the Jazz flew back to Salt Lake City to play the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday Night at home in Energy Solutions Arena. The Clippers had a tough loss of their own in Denver on Friday Night as well, by the score of 111-104. Both teams were eager to get a win. The Clippers got off to a big lead and were up 35-22 at the end of the first quarter and had a 55-39 lead at half time. Things were not going Utah's way. In the second half, the Jazz started making a comeback. Deron Williams started taking charge and got things going in the right direction. Even AK-47 hit a 3. The bench was virtually non-existent for the Jazz, having only 9 points. But The Starting 5 stepped up. Deron Williams had 30 points, AK-47 had 18 points, Al Jefferson had 18 points, Paul Millsap had 25 points, and Raja Bell had 9 points. The Jazz won because they had their starters step up. Key plays in OT and double OT like Al Jefferson hitting an off-balance jump shot, Paul Millsap getting a clutch put back dunk, and Andrei Kirilenko getting mugged underneath the basket for a flagrant one all but had the game put away. Eric Bledsoe, who mugged AK-47 hit two clutch threes for the Clippers to keep the game tied with 16 seconds left in double OT. Deron Williams made a heady play by racing down the court on the inbound to hit a clutch layup with 6 seconds left before the Clipps could get their defense set up. The Clippers failed to design a play at the end to force a 3rd OT or a victory. The Jazz clung to the most dramatic win of this young NBA season by the final score of 109-107. The reason the Jazz won this game was because they had every starter step up. Every starting player had a big moment for them in some way. It was a real team effort. It was a game that was good send off into their east coast road trip coming up this week where they will get the Heat on Tuesday, the Magic on Wednesday, the Hawks on Friday, and the Bobcats on Saturday. Overall, the Jazz really needed this win on Saturday night because they have such a tough schedule coming up. This week will give us a good feel for how tough of a team this Jazz squad really is. I think if the Jazz want to get 2 or more games out of these next 4, they'll need Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap to control the Paint, Deron Williams to play big, and get Andrei Kirilenko to play well. Not only that but CJ Miles needs to be productive, and Raja Bell needs to start playing better, because he's been really quiet so far this year. Good luck to the Jazz this week, they're gonna need all the luck they can get! Go Jazz!

Jazz Fall Short in the East Bay

On Friday November 5, the Jazz squared off against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, CA. The Jazz got off to a hot 6-0 start and all things pointed to another Utah win in the Bay Area. However, things didn't go according to plan. Little things like Monta Ellis hitting a runner at the buzzer to end the Half and Ronnie Price Botching a wide open dunk in the 2nd half indicated that this was not going to be Utah's Night. Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson combined for 28 points, which is half of what they usually combine for. Deron Williams had 23 points and 6 Assists, so he showed up to play. CJ Miles went down early in the first half, and that hurt the efforts of the bench. Gordon Hayward came in and didn't do much to replace him. Hayward went scoreless. Miles had 12 points, Bell had 7 points, and Kirilenko had 4, all coming off of free throws. The key that I saw was that neither team could shoot. The Jazz shot 39.5% from the field. The Warriors shot 37.6 %. The only reason the Warriors won was because they made more shots, and took more shots. Raja Bell was off, Andrei Kirilenko was non-existent, and Millsap and Jefferson both were struggling to find their groove. Perhaps the only good thing to take away from their loss was that they didn't give up lot of points. They struggled from the line (70%), and couldn't find a rhythm.
The Jazz played like they had just gotten their behinds kicked the night before out east. However, they didn't. They were coming off a win 2 nights previous at home against the Toronto Raptors. The source of their struggles is unexplainable. It's something that can't be explained. But a couple of things stood out to me as I watched the game from the upper bowl of the arena. First off, the Jazz need their role players like Ronnie Price, Earl Watson, Gordon Hayward, and especially Raja Bell to step up when things aren't going well for the stars. The other thing I learned was that they need Jefferson and Millsap to have good nights. If they struggle the team struggles. Finally, the Jazz will greatly like having Mehmet Okur back in the line up. His shooting abilities will help them out a lot and be needed when other guys are struggling. I pray that the Jazz won't have many games like this. The final score was 85-78.

Jazz Get 2nd Straight Win After Mauling The Raptors

Wednesday night in Salt Lake City, the Utah Jazz got their 2nd win of the season and improved to .500 (2-2) on the young season by beating the Toronto Raptors 125-108. They did it primarily by offense, and they had everybody clicking. Deron Williams had 22 points and 14 Assits, CJ Miles had 19 points, Al Jefferson had 27 points and Paul Millsap had 21 points. The first half was a joke as they were up 66-45 at the half. 44-21 at the end of the first quarter. Things looked like the Jazz were gonna be in cruise control by the end of the third. But with some timely three pointers by Andrea Bargnani, the Raptors got to within 4 points of the Jazz with less than 3 seconds to go in the third quarter. On the last play of the quarter CJ Miles inbounded the ball to Deron Williams, who gave the ball right back to CJ Miles, from which CJ Miles hit a clutch 3 pointer at the buzzer off the glass. That shot seemed to suck the soul out the Toronto Raptors because after that shot was hit, the Raptors started to fade and ended up losing by 17 points in total. I know it's early, but it's encouraging so far that the Jazz are playing so well right now with Millsap and Jefferson in the post. Williams is of course the leader of this team, running the offense very fluidly. However, CJ Miles has been stepping up in their last 2 wins with 21 and 19 points respectively averaging 20 points in their 2 wins. The rest of the bench hasn't been all that productive, but if the offense is scoring 120+ points, they really don't need much more offense. The only thing I'd like to see from the Jazz at this point, is better defense. They are giving up too many points. 108 points to the Raptors is not acceptable. They'll have to fix that. But as for the offense, heck, they are looking really good on that end of the floor. Expect another high scoring victory from the Jazz on Friday night as they travel to Oakland,CA to take on the Golden State Warriors. I'll be going to that Game and I expect it to be very high scoring on both ends of the floor. The following day, they'll play the Clippers. So, they should be 4-2 by the end of the week. Go Jazz!

Jazz Win Big in Oklahoma City: Why it is possible to have a statement win in October

The Utah Jazz got their first win of the 2010-2011 NBA season on October 31 2010 against the Oklahoma City Thunder by the score of 120-99. While most of the sporting world was rightfully eye-balling the World Series, the Jazz soundly stomped the Oklahoma City Thunder on the Road to get their first win of the season. Paul Millsap put up 30 points and 16 Rebounds, Al Jefferson had 23 points and 10 rebounds, Andrei Kirilenko scored 19 points, Deron Williams had 16 points and 15 assists, and as if that isn't enough, CJ Miles put in 21 points of his own. What makes this significant is that the Jazz had all the right things going, and pressed all the right buttons and did all the right things to get this win. They passed the ball effectively, they scored from the inside out, Millsap and Jefferson seemed to have no problem co-existing on the floor, and Kirilenko played some of his best basketball that we'd seen him play in quite a while. Not only that, but they did that on the road against a team that is supposed to be the best team not only in the Northwest Division, but also the Western Conference (except for the Lakers).
The Jazz have had a lot of new faces join the team this year. Al Jefferson from Minnesota, Earl Watson from Indiana, and Raja Bell from Phoenix (who used to be a member of the Jazz a few years back). Despite these new faces, the Jazz gelled like they had been teammates for 5 years not 5 weeks. I know it's October, and everybody is more interested in the World Series, Trick or Treating, and even NFL football. Everybody figures that the NBA isn't worth tuning into until March at the earliest. Why should anybody care about the NBA in October? And more specifically, why is a win in October so important? The reason is because the Jazz answered several key questions and concerns not even a week into the season!
First off, everybody has been wondering about Utah "How can they play without Carlos Boozer?" Utah answered that question tonight. Millsap and Jefferson both matched Boozer's production and combined for better numbers than Boozer and Okur combined. They showed tonight that they don't need Boozer to beat quality Western Conference opponents on the road. Millsap showed that he is ready to take his game up a notch and cary more weight on his shoulders. Al Jefferson showed why bringing him to the team in exchange for Boozer was a plus. He gets boards, scores in the paint, and plays defense as well as Boozer if not better. The Numbers don't lie, Jefferson and Millsap both had a night that matched Boozer's production.
The second key question that they answered was "How can the Jazz play well without Wes Matthews starting and Kyle Korver coming off the bench?" the Jazz answered that question by having CJ Miles score 21 off the bench and Raja Bell put in 7 points as the starting 2 guard. While Raja was quiet tonight, he showed tonight that his ability to shoot will come in handy. He shot 3 of 3 from the field hitting every shot he took including a 3 pointer. As for CJ Miles, he had a banner night, hitting 3 three pointers and shooting 8 of 13 from the field. Losing Korver and Matthews was a bummer, but CJ Miles, Raja Bell, and in time Gordon Hayward should match the production of those two guys. All 3 of those guys have shown that they are more than capable of doing that.

The Third key question that the Jazz answered was "Can the Jazz win on the road?" The answer is yes they can, and even more importantly they can win on the road in hostile environments. None will come more hostile than OKC for Utah this season. The Thunder have one of the best home courts in the NBA and one of the youngest/talented teams in the league. The Thunder are picked by many to have a breakthrough year and challenge the Lakers for the Western Conference title. The Jazz, are at best picked to be a playoff team that escapes the first round before getting swallowed up by the Lakers. Neither prediction is irrational, but the Jazz showed that perhaps they are the better than we think they are, and that maybe the Thunder aren't as good as we think they are. Remember, the Thunder only have one playoff series under their belts, and that was in a series that they got ousted in by the Lakers. The Jazz have years of playoff experience including several wins in the playoffs. Don't forget that the Jazz were in the Western Conference Finals in 2007. The Jazz are a very experienced cast of guys, being lead by Deron Williams, Andrei Kirilenko, Paul Millsap, and Mehmet Okur who have all been together for a few years now and were all present in Utah's run to the conference Finals. For some reason, everybody is more exited about a team with one first round exit under its belt than a team in Utah that has multiple key post-season victories and playoff runs.
Finally, the Jazz showed that they can bounce back from tough losses. They looked dreadful @ Denver on Wednesday the 27th and against Phoenix at home on Thursday the 28th. The fact that they bounced back after those games in a hostile road environment is huge. The Jazz showed toughness and grit tonight. They also showed that the new players are starting to get a grip on the system.

All in All, Jazz fans should feel good right now. This new cast of characters that has been built around D-Will, AK-47, and Millsap stepped up tonight and got a huge win on the road against one of the elite NBA teams. The Jazz should feel really good about how they played and should continue to get better. Their next game is Wednesday, where they will face a struggling Toronto team in Salt Lake City. The Jazz should have no problem there, and cruise to an easy win.