31 December, 2008

Boozer Needs Surgery

Boozer needs surgery, fine. But the fact that we only know it after he has missed 21 straight games? Totally not cool

Call me stubborn, but someone needs to be accountable on this.

i) the doctor(s) diagnosing the first two MRI,
ii) sports medicine / trainer team in Jazz, or
iii) Boozer has not taken care on himself well enough?

Now I lean on i) or ii).

Anyway, just keep everyone and let Boozer go at the end of the season, and I hope D Will won't be sad. They are good friends.

30 December, 2008

D Will feels good

Jazz game,

- Okur is back, everything seems easier, but he is not 100% yet.

- D Will said this is the first time he feels good, close to 100%. He showed it by a good scoring night. Hope he could keep his shooting touch from this game onwards.

- Jazz will play an Away game with Lakers. Could we see another unexpected win?

Others,

- Baron expressed interest to be a Warrior again – link.

He should not have gone, Warriors would be a very good team if he did not go away. Now everything seems too late even some kinds of trade can be made this season.

- Shaq had a great game today – 28 pts, 12 rebs. He said it loud that the team’s offense should be built around him after the game.

"I've been doing that my whole career and I think that's how this team should play, especially the way I'm shooting free throws now. It should be an inside-outside game," said O'Neal, who went 8-for-12 on free throws.

"I've been in the league 15 years and I've been in [the finals] six times, and that's the way you get there. I think once we do that and develop some consistency and stop turning the ball over, then we'll be all right."


- After getting consistent minutes from Coach Don Nelson, Marco Belinelli has been giving some good numbers lately. He becomes a big part of Warriors already. You have not let me down.

29 December, 2008

Joe Alexander does his own campaign for the Dunk Contest

Others,

- Joe Alexander seems to be a good dunker! and he (or his agent) knows the power of internet advertising. You can find a few YouTube videos about him asking for the Vote. Here's one of the video. And you can also find a few videos featuring his dunks in his college life.

My advice, play better basketball means more than participating / winning the All-Star Dunk Contest. If you can't get a place in Bucks, you can't be in NBA for long. Concentrate on your game, man.

By the way, just found out he was born in Koushung, Taiwan - link.

- Kings is being…humiliated today...the casualty of Celtic’s two losing streak.

28 December, 2008

Expected Loss, but Unexpected Fight by Jazz

Jazz Game,

- Again, we don't have Okur, Millsap and Boozer. We are landslided in rebounds. Yet we fight till 2OT, not bad.

- Fesenko is not playing particular well despite the nice statistics - 12 pts, 11 rebs, 3 blks, 2 asts, 1 stl in 34 mins. His extend minutes is purely because Koufos is in foul troubles for whole game, and he has a sizable body who can stop Yao a little bit plus the fact that Yao started to get tired starting from the end of Q4. For his 12 pts, just simply because the Jazz system creates some easy baskets for him. Nonetheless, we should praise his good effort.

- Knight does well in controlling the tempo of the game, and can give some nice passes. I like it. But when he is wide / relatively open, he needs to shoot better. He is 1-9 in last five games. Am I too harsh?

- By the way, even we are extremely short-handed, Coach Sloan did not play Price and Almond a single minute.

Others,

- Now Diaw is flirting with Triple-Double almost every game, what a versatile player. I wouldn't mind having him in the Jazz squad.

Unexpected Win

Jazz Game,

- Okur, Millsap, Boozer are out. And we get this win. Bravo.

- Koufos had a great game – 18 pts, 8 rebs

- Fesenko did better than we all expect – 8 pts, 4 rebs, 3 blks

Others,

- Celtics 2-game losing streak, after 19-game winning streak. Warriors is a team with surprises, partly because Captain Jack is back on the lineup.

26 December, 2008

Celtics Streak ends, Cavaliers almost lost to Wizards

- Celtics Streak ends; CP3 steal streak ends

- Cavliers almost lost to Wizards today

- Is Jason Kidd doing some revenge here? - link. He does not need to push that hard to the referee since the ball was not even in that direction...:P

25 December, 2008

Jazz Down to Nine.

- Jazz down to nine healthy players - link.

Well well well...Knicks can play with seven players for a few games. Jazz - Yes, We Can. But of course I hope Millsap can be back on the lineup.

- Suns signed Dee Brown.

Is Dee Brown that bad? ESPN commentator still thinks that Goran Dragic will get the playing time, as the 2nd backup of Nash.

From my vague impression Dee Brown is a speedy PG who may match Suns style while Dragic is somewhat not competent enough for the team (like our Jason Hart last year...).

24 December, 2008

Jazz, seriously short-handed, continues the slump.

Jazz Game,

- Okur is out with back spasm. Sloan tried Fesenko for 4 mins.

- Millsap's 15 streak on double-double ends, due to losing some time on ... injury treatment.

- When will we get healthy enough to win?

- Jazz would have lost more if their FTs are not falling. Luckily today they have above-par performance (23/27).

21 December, 2008

Lost to Bulls, 17-12

Jazz Game,

- No excuse, Bulls doesn’t have Gooden and Tyrus Thomas, and we lost. We can’t handle Gordon and Rose at all.

Others,

- Lakers lost back-to-back games. Western Conference will become more interesting.

- Utah F Carlos Boozer will have a third MRI on a quadriceps tendon injury that has kept him out of 17 straight games. "It may have gotten worst," Boozer said before the game. "They want to get another MRI done."

I am puzzled. He has rest himself for 17 games, and the injury "may have gotten worst". I can only think of three reasons. i) Boozer has not taken good care of himself. ii) The Sports Trainer / Medicine team in Jazz is doing a poor job. iii) you know what I mean.

20 December, 2008

Jazz Gives Pistons Another Loss, Improves to 17-11

Jazz Games,

- Millsap's 14th straight double-double

- D Will had some clutch jumpers in this game. I am cautiously optimistic that his form is coming back!

Others,

- Devin Harris destroyed Mavericks with 41pts, 13 dishes. And the Net Fans were chanting "Thank you Cuban!" when he was removed for good with 2:11 left.

- This blog reader would know I give high respect to the new Clippers and Bobcats. They are both doing well currently. Clippers and Bobcats both have great players to work around with. As long as they build a good system with some good coaching, they are indeed very difficult teams to beat.

18 December, 2008

Bittersweet Win, Jazz master comeback against 7-pt Q1

Jazz Game,

- Bittersweet. When I opened the ESPN page and saw the 27-7 Q1, I thought - "ESPN page had some errors again", and they did not.

- Coach Sloan is obvioulsy mad with CJ and Brewer today. You know he is famous for not hiding his comments.

"Not if we don't come and play," said Sloan, who benched starters C.J. Miles and Ronnie Brewer the entire second half. "You can talk about playing basketball all you want, but with that mess we put out there to start with, it's frustrating."

"To see us come out and not compete our butts off knowing that we're on the road for five games and it didn't look like that there was any concern about whether we won or not. Just try to get numbers and go home."

Well, perhaps there would have some shake-up in the formation for the coming Away games. We'll see.

- Well, Sloan likes AK.

Talking about the prospect of starting Kirilenko, Sloan said, "I've got to get somebody to come out there and compete and execute what we're doing rather than just try to take shots."

"He's not going to take a lot of shots," Sloan added. "If he does, he'll take the ball and put it on the floor a couple times, get on top of the basket. After that, then he'll take jump shots, which I don't (have) any problem with."

- In NBA.com highlight I saw one scene that D Will is yelling at AK and seems blaming him not coming out to challenge a Three (by Harris?), and AK opens both of his arms in an unsafisfactory look. Did I see it wrong? If not, I hope that's just winning passion but no hard feeling between them.

Others,

- Breaking news! - link

For the first time, Boozer said unequivocally Wednesday night that he will indeed opt out of his contract at the end of the season, foregoing a guaranteed $12.66 million to become an unrestricted free agent.

"I'm opting out. No matter what, I'm going to get a raise regardless," Boozer told ESPN.com. "I am going to opt out, I don't see why I wouldn't, I think it's a very good business decision for me and my family, but I'd also like to see what happens with the Jazz and stay here."

He is all about money, no doubt on that. He comes to Jazz purely because of money. And he will leave Jazz because of money. A Championship Ring? Probably never in his mind.

He said he won't talk about this until the season ends. Now he decides to talk about it, probably because 1) he is too bored to sit on the bench and no one cares about him, he needs to make some talking points, and 2) he sees how good Millsap plays and he knows his time in Jazz is almost over, so he tries to play some mind games.

So Coach Sloan, what will you do? To continue give 35 mins to a player that explicity said he will leave or not? To me, trade him already.

- I guess I talked about Marcus Camby here before, and I feel the need to extend praise on him once again - he is still a monster despite his age. In today OT loss, he contributed 19 pts, 27 rebs, 2 asts, 1 stl, 4 blks. And I still feel that Clippers is becoming a team that would give trouble for every contender.

16 December, 2008

Millsap Career Night, but Jazz lost to the Champ

Jazz Game,

- Millsap, 32 pts, 10 rebounds. 12th straight game with a double-double. Earlier I thought we still need to keep Boozer until the end of this year because he still could help us get the Championship. I have a second thought now. Millsap has been playing great and Boozer is taking his rest (for far too long). Why don't we just send him back to his home - Miami right away, and we get something in return...

- Seriously, we should prepare for the worst - D Will may not be able to play his best in a short- to medium-term...

Others,

- Jason Richardson, 3 pts, indeed not bad...

- Marco Belinelli is finally getting more consistent mins from Coach Don Nelson. He should be a good shooter.

14 December, 2008

Jazz Lost to D Howard-less Magic, 15-10

Jazz Game,

- Without Brewer and Boozer, we lost to Magic without D Howard

- The Q3 collapse is embarassing at Home.

- We have already lost 4 Home games in the regular season, matching the number of loss in last year.

Others,

- Cavaliers’ streak finally ends; Hawks always makes troubles to strong team.

- Bobcats almost upset Pistons. Diaw and Bell need at least 5 games to learn the Larry Brown system.

- Al Harrington has been pouring in some crazy numbers consistently.

- Clippers beat Rockets. Not a surprise to me at all.

13 December, 2008

Baron Davis forced OT, Clippers sealed win in 2OT

- Dwight Howard left the game today. Perhaps he won't show up / be 100% tomorrow vs Jazz? kind of good news.

- Clippers showed their potential (as I expected), a money shot from Baron Davis to force OT and sealed the win in 2OT. Thanks for beating Trail Blazers.

12 December, 2008

Memo is HOT, Jazz improves to 15-9

Jazz Game,

- Memo had hot hands recently.

- D Will's shots are still not falling. But his passes are indeed marvelous.

- Koufos had two good games before but he got 0 mins in recent two games. Same as Price.

Others,

- Sorry guys, one more time - Okafor 27pts 17 rebs. Let's see how good (or disappointing) Bobcats will become.

11 December, 2008

Suns-Bobcats Trade

Quote from an article by ESPN Hollinger, “it immediately restores the Suns' flagging hopes of breaking back into the West's upper crust”. I am skeptical about it. I am a partial Suns fans, and I am a fans of both Bell (ex-Jazz also) and Boris Diaw (very versatile player, and looks even physically stronger this season). From what I feel the postive impact won’t be huge (and there is every chance that could be negative).

On the other hand, I think the trade could benefit Bobcats. They have no stars but a bunch of capable players – Okafor (who I have been complimenting in this blog for his recent consistency, perhaps a late-mature player), Felton, D.J. Augustin, Gerald Wallace, + Diaw and Bell. Already a respectable group. I won’t be surprised if we see them in playoff.

Some articles featuring Sloan's 20th Anniversary with Jazz

Sloan's secret: 'Put the best effort in', source: ESPN

The extracts,

And did the bottom drop out the first season (2003-04) without Stockton and Malone? No, the Jazz still won 42 games.

For that, Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor says, 'He should have been named coach of the century.'

Which brings up the strangest Sloan anomaly of them all. Not only is he the longest-tenured coach, but he also is the least decorated. He has never won the NBA's coach of the year award -- "That's the biggest injustice in sports," Love says. He has yet to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, an honor that doesn't wait for retirement in the case of coaches -- in large part because he wouldn't allow the Jazz to nominate him until this year. (If selected, Sloan could enter the Hall alongside Stockton.)

Sloan's 20th anniversary punctuated by win, source: ESPN

The extracts,

He has a style that's very different than most coaches are allowed to have now," Jazz shooting guard Kyle Korver said.

"I just think today, with how much money the players are making, you know, a lot of times the players have more say than the coach does. But because he's been here so long, he gets so much more respect," Korver added. "You know, what he says goes. And if you don't do what he says, you're not gonna play. And you just can't argue with that. You can't go to the [management] in Utah and say, 'Hey, blah, blah,' and get in some fight. It just doesn't happen here, and that's rare. Not just in basketball, but all sports, really."

10 December, 2008

Jazz Celebrated Coach Sloan's 20th Anniversary with a W

Jazz Game,

- Congratulations, Coach Sloan

- Like how Okur plays the game recently, he understood he needs to get a very good balance of attack between long-range jumpers and penetrating for easy shots

- When will our Man - D Will, fully recover from his ankle? He is playing not like he used to play.

- Zero minute for Price today.

- Anyway, we need to thank Kevin Love for his four consecutive misses on FTs. However, he is a very hardworking player that Coach Sloan likes. Look at his offensive boards.

Others,

- Magic had three consecutive three 3-pointers to win the game vs Portaland, thanks.

- Kings upset Lakers, another thanks.

- Shaq got his first 30+pt game since 1.5 year ago.

07 December, 2008

Tough Loss to Suns, Drops to 13-9

Jazz Game,

- We missed too many FTs in Q4, and A. Stoudamire is a monster in offensive boards.

- Koufos is getting better and better! I change my mind, we can indeed trade Boozer middle of the season.

- Don’t be surprised if A. Stoudamire left Suns this season. His monster performance today is basically by his own effort - grabbing offensive boards and creating chances for himself. The ball seldom runs through him in the offense system.

Others,

- Will Clippers climb from today victory? Let’s see. And I gave great respect to Camby, still a monster despite of his age.

06 December, 2008

Jazz is BACK, 13-8

Jazz Game,

- Millsap got AK-like Stat


- I like how Okur played in this game, not just relying on his hot hands from 3-pt shooting but also willing to dribble in and look for easy shots

- Koufos proved he is capable

- Knight has well replaced our part-time PG Price

- D Will’s penetration looks better

- Jazz Fans got to like Harpring, 14 pts 7 rebs. His no-nonsense playing style is awesome. Catch-and-shoot, first-touch layup.

- Love this interview - link, Harpring and Sloan talked to the press after the game.

Others,

- NYK last shot, bad execution, watch this - link. What are the hesitations about? They could have forced OT.

- Emeka Okafor, another solid game. He became so stable…


- Oden, so far still disappointing

04 December, 2008

Another Loss at Home, Jazz drops to 12-8

Jazz Game,

- D Will needs more rest, he is not the D Will we used to see.

- Another solid game by Paul Millsap. Seriously, we don't need Boozer next season.

- Mario Chalmers had two steals from D Will, I did say he is a good rookie in the very beginning of the season, and I stressed that being a rookie PG is even more difficult.

- Wade is playing at his best, I don’t need to repeat anymore. I would vote him over LBJ for MVP up till now.

Others,

- Emeka Okafor has a few consecutive good games, a lately mature player? or Larry Brown?

- Rajon Rondo has a monster game, still think he is slightly overrated…call me stubborn.

- Zach Randolph are meshing well with Clippers. Give them 2-3 more games, they will be quite a team to beat.

03 December, 2008

D Will Clucth Plays, Jazz Improved to 12-7

Jazz Game,

- D Will has a silent 1st Half, but his two clutch plays in final mins are crucial to this win.

- 25 Turnovers in the game

Others,

- Nuggets has been crazy recently, but I am convinced their bench is not deep enough

- Pistons beat Spurs; we are baffled, now Tony Parker and Ginobili are back, their records are not as good as they are not here

- Lakers finally lost their second games this season, thanks to the tip-in of Troy Murphy

02 December, 2008

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