I'm Back!

I lost passion on NBA after Coach Sloan left Jazz and the move of Deron Williams to the Nets. However, I still like watching NBA and now I think what the heck, let me restart the blog. 

A few things, 

- As a matter of fact, I am not a loyal Jazz fans anymore after Coach Sloan is gone. However, I still like following their games. (Ouch! They almost end Clippers winning streak today)

- Well, I like the possibility of Timberwolves this year. Andrei Kirilenko, Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio, Nikola Pekovic (honestly a nice surprise. He is not the most handsome guy in NBA for sure, but he is another very solid Eastern European Center!), Alexey Shved, JJ Barea and I almost want to count Brandon Roy. 

- I respect Steve Nash a lot (a small Big guard, just like our beloved John Stockton). Although I think Dwight Howard is so far not impressive and the bench of Lakers is once again a tragedy, I hope Nash could get a Ring. 

Jazz Solidifed No.3 Spot!

Winning Melo- & Mr. Big Shot-less Nuggets? I will take that! It's not like we have not lost games without our key players :P

After this win, we "solidified" our No.3 spot, and have a "good look" at No.2 now! Go Jazz!

AK is playing really well and getting more minutes (40 mins today). It's quite a thing because remember the days he was kept under 30 mins for a looooong time?

Sixth Win in a Row!

Sixth Win in a Row!

Just saw the highlights. I very much enjoy the play of Millsap's block, AK held the ball, passed to D Will and slowly ran to the front court and ambushed the whole Mavericks defense with a in-your-face dunk on Dirk.

No.4 in West

After beating Suns, we are No. 4 in West, for now. Fantastic achievement.

We should be happy because we get the win from behind (at one point we trailed by 17 pts).

AK had 25 pts, led Jazz scoreboard. He recently took all the minutes from CJ.

Boozer, 21 pts, 20 rebs. wow.

Jazz Beat Spurs! X 2

Jazz Beat the Spurs, more importantly, at San Antonio. We never won there since 1999.

eh...actually I think it is more appropriate to say we beat the curse because beating a short-handed Spurs (without Parker and Ginobili) does not mean much.

Nonetheless, wtih this win, we are back to .500!

Maynor cooled off a bit but D Will and AK continue to have a nice game. Boozer is limited by TD but good to see Brewer finally showed up!

Rasheed Stayed in the East

- Rasheeeeeeeeeeeed to Celtics! wow! I think it is a bigger news than VC to Magic.

I don't know those good and (relatively) elder players just love the Celtics franchise, KG(?) or the high possibility of getting a Ring in the less competitive Eastern Conference, they just join them one by one. From PJ Brown, Sam Cassell, Stephon Marbury (I don't want to show any disrespect by not listing him) to Rasheed Wallace.

Any players fit the above profile would like to join Jazz? : ) Well, to be fair, we once had Derek Fisher.

- The rumour of AK trade with T-Mac, I guess it is probably, rumour. I don't see why Rockets need AK when they have got Ariza. Their styles are alike and (probably) Ariza has better 3-pt shooting...

Wow...Jazz Lost 3 Straight

Jazz Games,

- no comments. But I insist AK is an important player while CJ is someone that we should use less.

Others,

- Gerald Wallace's rejection on D Wade is strong, clean, and nice. You got to see the Top 10 Video on Friday from NBA.com.

What a Night

Jazz Game,

- What a night...We squandered a 21-pt lead, Okur gave us hope by a clutch three, D Will two consecutive jumpers forced the OT, AK 4-pt play lifted us to Win.

- However, we should not be too happy since we waste such a big lead, but the fact that we stay focus at the end deserves some compliments.

Back-to-Back, Win and Lose

Jazz Game(s),


- Brewer did well in both games. As said earlier, he is the X factor in playoff.

- After losing to Suns, I guess we need to be realistic and be mentally prepared we would play the whole playoff wihout homecourt advantage.

- With current rotation system, AK does not have enough time to warm up and play well. Look at his stats in last 5 games, awful. I don't blame him, but we need to figure out how to use him better.

Others,

- With some expecations from the public, Marbury looks to be a non-factor to the Celtics at the moment.

Jazz Took Down Thunder

Jazz Game,

- Let's hope Okur is okay with his eyes!

- I never saw a no-look to be so "complete". You will know what I mean when you see the one by AK in the game recap - link.

Others,

- oh...just found out Jason Hart is in Nuggets...

Pleasant Surprises for Rockets, Bucks

Others,

- Nice win by Raptors, but Chris Bosh just had a lackluster performance. On the other hand, Marion seems to be enjoying his time in Toronto (at least for now). Playing 44 mins with 16 pts, 15 rebs, 5 asts, and 1 stl. Can't complain, right?

- I said earlier in this blog that missing T Mac at worst a neutral news for Rockets. I guess we can be almost sure that Rockets plays better ball without an half-injured T Mac. He is great when he is healthy, no doubts about that. Just not when he is hobbling.

- By the way, Yao is playing more minutes that usual in recent two games - link. Let's keep watching. It could be a short-term push for results, but may not be ideal for the play-off.

- Without Redd made Charlie Villanueva, and Ramon Sessions have more minutes. Villanueva proved that he could be a scoring machine in earlier seasons if he played enough time, but Sessions is definitely a surprise for the Bucks. They recently really beat some good teams, including Nuggets today. (A Big Thank You)

- "Lamar has been asked more than anybody to make sacrifices that guys of his caliber normally aren't asked to make," Fisher said, referring to Odom coming off the bench for 45 of the team's first 46 games. "Now that he's back in the starting lineup, he's letting the game come to him and his talent speaks for itself." - I am nodding my head, can't agree more. I said in pre-season that Odom and AK have a lot of similarities in their games. They are both very talented and versatile player.

Jazz takes down Celtics at Home

Jazz Game,

- Very exciting game. Sloan said it rightfully - nasty game. Every rebound is a bloody battle throughout the game.

- I enjoyed some great moves by AK in this game. Of course we need to count the dagger by D Will at the end of the game. Harpring and Brewer did some good jobs.

- KG did not play in 2nd half. That's one of the reasons we can win this game. Their backups can't defend our athleticism.

Lost to Cavs

Jazz Game,

- I do want to see Brevin Knight hitting wide-open shots. If he doesn't, it will be more difficult for him finding open teammates.

- I feel that Kyle Korver shooting touches and confidences are back, and Harpring is becoming as effective as he could be at the moment.

- Last, I think we all miss AK.

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.

Jazz Improves to 9-5 by beating Grizzlies

Jazz Game,

- still 3 men down (D Will, Boozer, Korver)

- Okur and Price get back their shooting touches

- AK is still doing everything

- not an exciting game anyway, even we suck in Away Game and we have three men down, we should have won this one

AK Show, Jazz improved to 8-4

A bit of a roller-coaster game, built up a great lead, trailed by 2 points after first half, and it expanded to 10 points until the team did a great execution from the later part of Q3 onwards.

Highlights,

- AK, 16 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, five steals and four blocks. Salute! He has made a strong statement in the Wins against Suns vs Bucks - even he is the Sixth Man, he is indispensable in the team. He is basically everywhere, both on the defensive and offensive end. As of now, he is definitely the MVP of the team.

Quote from Price - "His (AK) capabilities to get in passing lanes and make plays happen on defense is incredible. That's why he's a key player on our team, and you can tell the difference when he's on the court and when he's not on the court."

I hope we can see him in All-Star (by coach voting of course...) this year, I hope he could win the Sixth Man Award, and perhaps he can also be in the Defensive First Team.

- CJ, 25 points. Got a feeling that in the offensive end CJ and Brewer are quite similar, perhaps CJ shooting range is even better. In defensive play Brewer should have an edge.

Other Highlights in the day,

- Hornets lost to Kings at Home. I have to say Hornets is one of overrated teams in the league. No offense to CP3, great player, but the whole team is not as formidable as the press has been bragging about. (P.S. Kings won without Kevin Martin, Mikki Moore)

- Wade, 40-pt night. As said many times, his form has been crazy from Day 1 (actually you can see his craziness in Beijing this summer). In the East, I am more inclined to support Pistons, Raptors and the Heat.

- Pistons won Lakers, and today won Cavaliers. They will play Celtics tomorrow. Again, Win-Win trade for Pistons and Nuggets.

A Nice Win, and We are 7-4

I watched quite a bit of the game, very enjoyable!

Highlights of Jazz Game,

- Not a surprise that we win, (somehow) we always have an edge over Suns and we are back to Home Court

- AK is amazing. He hit all his FTs in the first half, while other Jazz players are struggling on the FT line. He kept us in the game (we were donw 23-32 in Q1). He is all over the place in the NBA highlights, not to mention the two consecutive blocks on Shaq! The only thing to pick on is he has two very careless passes in the game.

- Brevin outshined Price in this game, and he only took good shots.

- Paul Millsap, hustle, hustle and hustle.

- CJ had hot hands today, but he needs to improve his consistency.

- Anyway, I feel that under the current system, D Will, Boozer, Okur and AK are the four players who could consistently play ~30-35 mins in the game. The rest of the mins is allocated to those who are hot in that particular day. In this game, we have no problem of giving 20 mins to Brewer only even though he has been good in the past 10 games. He was just not as hot as others in the game.

- I still love watching Matt Harpring, again, hustle, hustle and hustle.

- I am convinced that we have a chance to be the Champion this year, simply because we have a very deep bench, and we are a very well-coached team.

The Second Thought of CJ as a starter

Starting CJ Miles seems to be so natural if we follow the development since the first preseason game. Coach Sloan wants AK to add some sparks in the second team and (gratefully) AK does not have any problem with this arrangement (so far). But let me do a second thought here.

Foremost, transforming AK into a Sixth Man is a good choice, and worth trying. I don’t’ have any problem with that, and so as most of the Jazz fans.

A newspaper in Utah has raised an interesting question – why don’t we start Korver? Without doubts Korver has the caliber as the starter of Jazz (and perhaps even more convincing than CJ). However, putting him in the second team will fit him more, and also could add the ranges that our second team needs badly. Therefore, not starting him is the right choice.

Wait…, if Harpring is healthy, actually I may prefer him. He could set the right tone at the start of the game, and he is always a reliable player that Sloan trusts a lot. Perhaps the only worry is that he may not be athletic enough to defend some of the awful weapons in opponent’s starting lineup.

Thoughts after the 6th Preseason Game

Jazz is going back to 3-3, and will try to fight for a winning preseason record before the season opens. After looking at the Boxscore, I have a few thoughts.

Well, not a Boozer fans, but do like his Offensive Rebounds and FT % in this game. Wait…can you commit less turnovers, and do a better job in FG %? To be fair, a good game for him.

Typical AK’s game, which shows clearly his versatility. He did a bit of everything (probably also due to D Will’s injury) and will love seeing him to keep his aggressiveness on Blocks. Let’s set a target for him, how about Top 10 in Avg. Blocks per game?

Brewer, 10 Rebounds, and four of them are offensive boards, bravo. Still can keep his good performance on Steals. Let’s aim for Top 10 in Avg. Steals per game.

We are almost sure that Koufos and Almond will at least spend some time in D-League. Fesenko still needs to work harder considering that he only got six…wait for it….six seconds on the floor even Collins is not in the lineup. I guess Sloan is more comfortable to put Millsap on the Centre position in short-term.

By the way, let’s not be too worry about D Will injury. Anyway, it is a long season.

The Northwest Crown Fight? Not quite, at least for this game.

Jazz 93-80 Trail Blazers

Highlights:

AK looks very comfortable to come out of bench, and actually I always like his versatile talent, despite of his lackluster performance in 06/07 Season.

Fesenko’s 10 point, 10 rebound would give him an edge on Koufos (who get shouted about shooting too much, 0/5 from the field). But be aware that it is not a competitive game.

Sloan summarized the game concisely – “You can't get excited about this game. Their best team was sitting on the bench."

Indeed...Boxscore of the Game

One thing for sure, the surge of Portland Trail Blazers will intensify the West Coast / Northwest division competition. Let's do a stock count on its roster - Brandon Roy, Aldridge, Travis Outlaw, Oden + a bunch of supporting cast - Webster, Blake, Przybilla, LaFrentz, Frye, and more importantly - Rudy Fernandez.

You watched him in Beijing this summer, and probably you were impressed by him in the Gold Medal match with the Dream / Re-deem Team – huge shots one by one, and big dunk despite of Dwight Howard's challenge from behind.

At this point, I believe they could be in Playoff.