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!

D Will is Back, Jazz Got a Win

D Will is back, and we have a good win.

Statistics-wise, almost everyone is doing a okay / good job! Better FT % could make us even more invincible. Look forward to the better performance of Brewer. He is not as "shiny" as last season, perhaps because more players contribute in the team.

Needless to say, Eric Maynor is still doing a good job.

Others,

Stephen Jackson played 45 mins in his debut with Bobcats. I said many times I kind of like Bobcats in last season, and even liked it more now. Stephen Jackson + Gerald Wallace + Boris Diaw, which is quite a combination.

Dirk and Jennings continues their hot trend lately in today game.

A Loss Not Like a Loss

While I was giving a thumbs up to Wes Matthews yesterday (and he also played well today), Eric Maynor may have already earned his All-Star Rookie Team spot today. His fearless floater in front of LBJ at the end of the game is so cool! He is a heck of the player, can create his opportunities easily after a screen. His every little floater or bank shot counts!

LBJ whispered to Maynor after the game. I guess this really tells how good he is playing.

Oh…yeah…by the way, we do have a problem now. Will Ronnie Price lose his place to Eric Maynor again, and retreat to No. 3 PG? I feel sorry for Ronnie but looks like Eric has earned his place today.

Brewer definitely can’t play PG. He can’t create anything other than bringing the ball to the front court. And, he disappeared whole night. He got to step up.

And oh yeah, we lost, but did not feel like a loss.

Others,

- Talking about rookie...Brandon Jennings, 55 pts....Blake Griffin has some contest in the ROY Award.

- Hawks is on a good form, 8-2 now after beating Celtics and Hornets. Well, David West can't really play well without CP3.

D Will is no Joke, yet Jazz Lost

Jazz Game,

- D Will did it all - 35pts, 4 rebs, 9 asts, 4 stls, 2 blks. I just hope he won't get too tired. Potentially we have four games to win in this series!!! Go Jazz!!!

- Kobe has a ridiculous shot in front of Brewer at the end of Q3. Brewer did good defense in that play, but somehow Kobe really made that one.

- Kobe said in post-game interview, "He (D Will) is an incredible basketball player". Rightfully so.

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.

Seven in a Row

Jazz Game,

- A win in an emotional night.

- Brewer is on fire. We need you to play with the same intensity throughout the rest of the regular season and playoff!

- Okur is red hot.

- Coach Sloan has spread the mins well. After all, we will face an energetic Warriors in a back-to-back Away game tomorrow!

We count on Brewer

Jazz game,

- We count on Brewer. He never got much appearance in press. He is seldom praised by fans outside Jazz environment (hey, to be honest, even within Jazz environment, the opinion is mixed). But I feel if we want a champion, he is a very significant factor both in defense and offense.

- I am willing to give Boozer 10 games to play back his normal standard. And I expect him to give more efforts in this year playoff considering he has taken enough rest in the regular season.

Others,

- Thanks Celtics.

Jazz Dedicated the Win to Larry H. Miller

Jazz Game,

- Okur, so under-rated in the NBA envrionment. I am not saying he is the Top 20 or even Top 30 in the league, but he has been under-estimated for all these years, especially to NBA fans who seldom watch Jazz games.

- Brewer's jump shots are unusually accurate in today game.

- I have to admit that CP3 could perform even better if he is in a better team. In Hornets, he needs to bear huge responsibilities in scoring as a PG. Not healthy to his development.

- Rasual Butler's perimeter shooting is quite deadly in the recent two games. In contrast, Peja Stojakovic has lost his touches. Look at his stats in the last five games and you will know why I have this comment - link.

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.

Jazz Lost in Staples Centre

Jazz Games,

- an expected loss. We are not in full team anyway, and the game is somewhat close in Q3 and first 7-8 mins of Q4. Same old problem, we opened the game in a bad shape.

- Millsap, indeed something. He was in a bit of foul trouble, playing only 31 mins but scored 16 pts and grabbed 17 rebs.

- I have seen about 20 mins of Jazz-Lakers game, and I saw a few times Jazz players (one of them is CJ) make similar mistakes when Lakers have some potential easy baskets.

In these situations, either you i) foul on them hard enough to not let them finish two points (and hopefully soft enough to not have flagrant foul), or ii) you give them two points.

We give them "And 1" almost every time.

I don't believe Jazz players are not tough enough to foul hard, but some of them just don't have the "blink" to make the right decision in the tenths of the second. In those moments, the player basically can't think but react with their instincts.

However, either you are born with it (the instinct, the basketball wisdom), or you need to nurture those instincts through lots of games (experience).

For the record, I think D Will does possess the wisdom, but I am not sure about CJ & Brewer.

Others,

- Marbury may go to Celtics. A reunion with KG? - link.

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.

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.

"Shorter-handed", Jazz drops to 6-4

Jazz game,

- Harpring is out for this game, that makes us four men down

- Did not watch the game, but read some online comments about Brewer getting intimidated when facing LBJ. I hope the Coaching Team can do something about it if that's true

- The only thing we should be happy about is that Price and Korver are getting back their shooting touches in the game. They combined for 7 three pointers with 9 attempts. And two buzzer beaters by Ronnie (which he did quite often at the end of last regular season) in the Q1 and Q2

Jazz Knocked Down 76ers, 6-1

D Will is back! He admited that he won't come back so early if Jazz did not lose at New York and Okur is not back to Turkey.

Statistically he did not contribute much but I am sure he has controlled the rhythm of the game well. He can still feel pain so he basically can't do anything explosive at all to pursue for his lay-ups / dunks!

Brewer's heart and maturity seems to become better and better, and he played 38mins today, which shows Coach Sloan trusts him more and more (even he had 0 pts in the first three quarters).

Koufos is doing on par with my expectation.

By the way, just feel pity that Baron Davis and Captain Jackson can’t play at the same team again, they are both very exciting players who just draw the audience so deeply into the game.

Jazz Lost in Madison Square, 5-1 now

Highlights of the game,

- Statistically Brewer had a great game, high shooting accuracy with 7 assists and … 7 steals! 1.67 steals per game now, keep it up! Still a front-runner of Most Improved Player Award. As of now, Danny Granger also looks like a promising candidate.

- Sloan said beforehand he wished he could bring his team into New York the day of the game to avoid distractions. His tone wasn't much different after the latest loss in New York. "Maybe they saw too much of it. I don't have any idea," Sloan said. "But I was disappointed that our energy level was not higher than what it was coming into this game."

Other highlights,

- Piston was limited to 10 points in Q2 by Celtics. Prince seems to be more involved in the new offense system in Detroit, he took considerably more shots this season.

- Iverson is now 0-2 with Pistons while Billups is 2-0 with Nuggets.

4-0, and counting

Thoughts on Jazz Game,

- as mentioned, deep bench, this time is some clutch plays by Okur and Brewer

- looks like the 19-pound gain by Brewer helped him a lot, makes him have an edge physically over ordinary SGs. With his better and more confident outside shooting, he is (once again) set to be a front-runner in the Most Improved Player Award this season

- Price seems not to be used to the starting PG role, at least his shooting accuracy so far is sub-par.

- If we win the next game vs Thunders, we can celebrate Coach Sloan 1000th Win with Jazz at Home.

- D Will does not need to rush for return in Thunders game (they are Thunders man, we should be able to take them down without D Will), but for this potential memorable game he may consider to play some 20 mins as a warm-up for the road trip?

Other Thoughts of Today,

- ESPN's column writer David Thorpe seconds my support on Rudy Fernandez. He is more than a rookie, and he seems to payback my support by cooling down a bit vs Jazz. Thanks!

- Heats got lucky, Mario Chalmers, very solid rookie, looks like a unsung hero. 9 steals today... Did I mention Heats also have a so-far-alright rookie Beasley?

- Derrick Rose is still keeping his good performance, no matter Bulls win or lose. Another front-runner of Rookie of the Year.

- Last but not least, did the 2OT win by Spurs over Timberwolves convince you that their dynasty is over? You won't believe Spurs needs 2OT (and actually could have lost in 1OT) to beat Timberwolves if I told you in the past few seasons. As of now it is just a 2+1 team (Duncan, Parker, Mason)? You are in doubts? look at the Boxscore and you will know. 78 out of 97 attempts are by them. But credit to Parker, his 55 pts is amazing and his shooting is indeed getting better and more stable year after year.

Jazz Rolled Over Trail Blazers in the Preseason Finale

In the first half, still the old defense problem – can’t stop the perimeter shooting from the opponents. This kills us when the other team has hot hands, and they do in first half.

But the intensity we put on defense in second half is something Coach Sloan would like to see, and hopefully we can carry this momentum in the regular season.

Kyle Korver has another sharp shooting night, hitting 4 out of 6 three point attempts. When we are in full team, are there anyone wouldn’t be jealous on our 2nd Team? Ronnie, Korver, AK, Millsap + Harpring / Fesenko / Kosfos.

One thing I am glad to see is the mutual respect from Price and Knight.

Let’s see what they told the press after the game,

Knight – “Like I told you when I got here, it wasn't going to be a me vs. him (Price)".

Price – "He hasn't been around just to be around. He's been around for a reason and that's because he can play. He provides a presence on the floor that shows that he's a leader and he knows what he's doing."

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.