Jazz, Sloan, and Lebron

For the first time I've decided to write about my thoughts going into a game. Game 5 is tonight and I am praying the Jazz aren't thinking they have this in the bag and can afford to lose a game. I hope they can pull it out, and get some rest before facing either the Lakers or Thunder.

Espn.com has a little headline that reads, "Nuggets turn to Billups to stop Utah's Williams." The article goes on to say how, now it is Chauncey's time to step up and guard Deron Williams. Um....I'm kind of confused. I realize that Dantley has put Aaron Afflalo on D-Will to start the game, and that is supposed to be the match up on defense for Denver, but anyone who has watched the series sees that Billups has been guarding Williams at least half the time already. I really have a hard time thinking this is going to make any difference. Chauncey is probably going to pick up a couple of quick fouls and we will see Lawson early. Before game 3 the Nuggets had supposedly come up with a master plan to stop Williams, by trapping him when he came into the half court. I was a bit worried because it was said to have been put in place by George Karl. He made an appearance at practice before Denver flew to SLC for game 3. We saw how that worked. The bottom line is Chauncey is a step slower, and Deron Williams is playing confident and aggressive. I don't think Billups on Williams is going to solve Denver's problem. The key is just going to be whether or not the Jazz play with urgency and energy like they have been, or if they play lackadaisical like we have seen at times.


Sloan has has many great quotes throughout his career. One regarding CJ miles was great. He said, "I don't care if he's 19 or 30. If he's going to be on the floor in the NBA, he's got to be able to step up and get after it. We can't put diapers on him one night, and a jockstrap the next night. It's just the way it is." Another classic was when he was asked about being more physical with Carmelo, he said that the Jazz "couldn't let Carmelo play in a tuxedo all night." Regarding the Coach of the Year award, maybe when Sloan retires without having won it, the league should name the trophy after him. That would be sweet. The Jerry Sloan award.

That brings me to Lebron James. Poor guy has a numb elbow. Did you watch that last night? Am I the only one that thinks he is trying to be dramatic, much like Paul Pierces fake knee injury that saw him leave in a wheelchair? Here is my thought. He shoots a free throw, perfectly, it goes in. That gives them a 4 point lead with seconds left and the game is basically over. He decides to milk his elbow injury, and exaggerate that he cannot shoot the ball right handed. He uses his right arm fine in his routine before the shot, then throws up a left-handed, wounded duck, that looked like one of Kyrylo Fesenko's free throws. My personal opinion (and I could be wrong) is that he decided if he could hit a left-handed free throw, he would get so much coverage, as being so amazing and gifted, and doing whatever it takes to win. Everyone would be talking about his heroic left handed free throw. Unfortunately, he botched it and missed it terribly, which led to him having to answer questions about how serious his injury was. Instead of looking stupid and letting anyone know that it really wasn't a big deal, he had to cover up. AGAIN, I could be way off, but that is just my feeling. After all, is there a guy in pro sports that is in the spotlight more, and knows it, than Lebron? We know he loves the attention. (Openly admitting wanting to be a billionaire, global icon, and business man. Not to mention all his annoying pre-game antics, the dancing, the posing, the singing, the chalk thing, etc.)
Sean

Trivia:
Name the 3 NBA players in history to have a triple-double with 0 turnovers.
Come on, if you read this, at least guess!
Hint: one Rockets, and two Jazz players.

Back to the Jazz

It has been awhile since my last post. A lot has happened since my last post. I took about a 10 day vacation back home to Utah, and just got back to the "Great White North."

While I was in Utah, I went to the last regular season game against Phoenix with my brother Todd. That was a depressing game. It had a playoff feel early, with so much at stake. However, the best part of that game was my ice cold coke and the pre-game introductions. After that, well, it's not even worth talking about. I actually wrote a huge post after that game, and expressed a lot of anger. I decided to sleep on it before I posted it, and that was a good decision. When I read it the next morning, it was so pessimistic and negative, I deleted it.


We started the playoffs on the road, in Denver, without Andrei Kirlenko. During the game Memo Okur tore his achilles. One of the funniest things I've heard, was as Kyrylo Fesenko and Kosta Koufas were helping Memo back to the locker room, Jake leans over to me and says, "They're going back to see which one of them is most eligible for a foot transplant." Ha ha. We almost pulled off a win too. JR Smith had other plans and Melo was unstoppable. Who shoots 18 for 25 from the field? Jeez.

Game 2 was easily the best game of the playoffs so far (besides maybe Pierces game-winner tonight). Without Memo and AK the Jazz played great D and stole a barn-burner to tie it up at 1-1. The best part was that it finally seemed like the ref's weren't afraid to call fouls on the "stars". I heard some Denver fans on an espn article complaining that CJ Miles stepped out of bounds (and he did, I saw a picture). The ref's missed it. However, Carmelo stepped out of bounds in the 3rd quarter driving baseline and it ended in an and 1. Things even out. Denver fans should be mad that Carmelo got a reaching foul 70 feet from the hoop, when he had 5 fouls. (PS-D-Will had 33 and 14, the most ever for a player on the road in the playoffs in 43 years. Last person to do that was Oscar Robertson.)

Game 3 was actually boring due to the Jazz D making the Nuggets look like the Washington Wizards. It seems like the Nuggets thought they were going to win the series by default once Memo went down. They played awful. They ended with more turnovers than assists. Deron Williams had more assists than the entire Nuggets team. It feels pretty good to be up 2-1. I'm sticking to my prediction of Jazz in 6.

Deron Williams was 1 point shy in game 3 of becoming the 2nd player EVER in the history of the NBA, to start the first 3 games of a series with 25 points and 10 assists. The other player?...Michael Jordan. That would have been pretty sweet.

In other news, a lot of Jazz fans are upset that Sloan did not win the Coach of the Year award. My feeling now is that this award has become the "overachieving team award" so Sloan really has no chance. He's too consistent and he's a Hall of Fame coach. That is much better than COY. Look at the last several winners of the award and you'll see that they are not the same names you would consider the best coaches in the league. Oh well, we all know Jerry Sloan could care less, so why do we?

Random Trivia for you:
-Name the 3 players in the history of the NBA that have had a triple double with 0 turnovers. No Googling it. (Is Googling a word?) Here is a hint: 2 Jazz players, and 1 Rockets player.
Sean

Random Thoughts

First of all, I watched both games on TNT last night. Cleveland-Chicago, and Denver-L.A. I have to say right away something that I noticed. Both games ended with final shots that arguably could have been called a foul. Anderson Varejao tried to lean into the defender and though contact was minimal, there was contact. Then, Derek Fisher was blocked by Carmelo Anthony, but the replay shows that their hand also connected. It wasn't an obvious foul, but the same foul was called 3 possessions earlier when Lamar Odom hit Carmelo Anthony's hand on his follow through. I know that none of them were as obvious as the one on Tuesday against Durant, but the point is that it happens all the time. I am still pretty confused as to why the league would feel it was necessary to make an official statement. I have not once disagreed that it could easily have been called in foul. In fact, I will honestly say, that as upset as I would have been, I would have no argument had they called it. But they didn't, and what is the point of the league's statement? Whatever, like Jerry Sloan said, the page has already been turned.

Tonight, watching Mike Brown on "wired" gave me this hunch that Mike Brown is secretly one of the worst coaches in the entire NBA. I acknowledge that this is just a hunch. I have no data, or statistics or even reason for thinking this. Just listening to the things he said to his team seemed so stupid. The whole time, he would say things like, "Get back on defense" and "don't turn the ball over". I even heard him say, "We gotta knock down our shots". Really? That is the great advice your giving these professional athletes? I just compare that to hearing Stan Van Gundy, Greg Poppovich, Jerry Sloan, and other coaches on there. They all say very specific, detailed instructions. Maybe Mike Brown is the reason the Cavs haven't been able to win a championship. I'm pretty sure any coach in the NBA could get the Cavs to have a great regular season record with Lebron James.

The Lakers and Nuggets game really bothered me. Finally, a game that had me rooting for the Lakers, and they choke. Why was Kobe Bryant not playing? I realize that the Lakers have the 1 seed in the west wrapped up, but they are still fighting for homecourt in the finals should they face Orlando (both 55-23). This makes no sense to me, especially because I remember last year the Jazz needed to win their last game against the Lakers to take the 7th seed. The Lakers had the overall 1 seed wrapped up, and me and my friends spent the hours leading up to the game talking about wether or not the Lakers would rest Kobe. They had nothing to gain by winning, but played Kobe full minutes, along with Pau, Odom and everyone else. Maybe I'm way ahead of myself here, but I wondered if maybe the Lakers were looking at the bigger picture. Am I crazy to think that the Lakers thought, if they win great, but if they lose, then it will increase the chances of Denver winning the division, and therefore increase the chances of Utah taking a 4-5 seed, which faces them against the Lakers in the 2nd round. In case you've been living under a rock, LA dominates the Jazz and I would guess the Lakers would probably like to play Utah more than any other team in the west. What do you think? Am I over-thinking it?

I am not sure how things will turn out but they are not looking good. Denver is now 1 full game ahead of the Jazz, with 3 games left. We cannot end in a tie with them, because they own the tiebreaker. This means that for us to win the division, and have a shot at the 2-3 seed, we have to win all 3 games we have left, and Denver has to go 1-2. It could happen, but I was counting on the Lakers to win that one. Either way it will be a great ending to a great season.
Sean

Worst Game of the Year

WOW! Its funny how my reaction last night was also WOW! The difference? Last night was the most entertaining game of the year. Tonight? Let me just say my friend Candice put it best when she said "How can the Jazz ruin my whole night?"

One night after scoring 140, the Jazz cannot manage to hit 100. 1 night after having guys energized, and diving on the floor, and hitting any open shot, they cant catch a pass, grab a rebound, or find the energy to even close out on a wide open shooter. One night after the best game of the year, the Jazz manage to play to worst one of the year.

PATHETIC!

That is the only word I have for it. It is so frustrating how unable the Jazz have been to capitalize this season. Every time the Jazz have stood alone in 2nd place in the west (3 times), we have lost our very next game, twice to non-playoff teams.

I know what some of you are thinking. "It was a back to back, and on the road, and they got in at 4am."

Excuses. Guess what, the Rockets played on the road last night. I don't care what the situation is, even if they pulled an all-nighter, you would expect professional athletes to at least make a crucial, important game like that one competitive. That's not too much to ask. Leave it all out there.

I couldn't stand watching Memo make lazy fouls, not even try to play defense, and jack up jump shots. I couldn't stand watching a 6'6 Chuck Hayes (smallest center in the NBA) out-rebound Boozer and Millsap. Mostly I couldn't stand how I knew the game was over in the 1st quarter. I'll tell you what, I think Ronnie Price is a below average player. He can't shoot, and is not very smart with the ball. The reason I love him? He gives it 100 percent all the time. He is not afraid on anyone, including the Lakers, and I wish all the players had that attitude. It's just so frustrating watching guys like Chase Budinger, Luis Scola, Kyle Lowry, and Jared Jeffries, outplay Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams, and Memo Okur.

Oklahoma City was delayed leaving Salt Lake last night as well, due to the weather, but managed to play a very close game with Denver.

I don't know what the problem is. It could be coaching, or focus, or leadership, or guys just not wanting it bad enough. Whatever the case,they owe the fans at least some effort. I understand these games happen in such a long season, but in such a tight race, with so much on the line, in the final week of the season? Inexcusable. I will only forgive them for this one if we win out, and still take the 2nd seed.
Sean

Game of the Year

What a game! That game felt like a playoff game. For me, that was the best game of the year. Not just the Jazz, but of all the NBA games I've seen. It had it all. Tons of energy and intensity, overtime, controversy, big dunks, last second shots, and it just went back and forth with big play after big play for each team. Not a ton of defense though.

Deron Williams was pretty near flawless, minus the turnover with 30 seconds and the missed last second jumper in regulation. What is funny, is that turnover he had with 30 seconds left was his ONLY turnover of the game. That is incredible. He more than made up for it with that huge 3 in overtime, and the game winner. CLUTCH! I was glad to see that, because I was starting to think to myself, that Deron seemed a little less clutch than in the last few years. That was a big, big, BIG shot.

Let's not forget Boozer tonight. Some huge dunks, 28 points, and 15 boards.

That game was starting to remind me of the Cleveland game in February. We had a nice comfortable lead with 2 minutes to go. It was starting to look like we were about to pull away and win it, then Durant, much like Lebron, hit a couple 3's, and had a few and 1's, and a few Jazz turnovers later the game was close again. Durant scored 15 points in the last 4 minutes of regulation.

Oklahoma City continues to be the team I would least like to face in the 1st round. They're so athletic. Durant gets a lot of pretty weak calls for such a young player. You definitely notice how the stars get a little bit of that extra attention, but its only Durant's 3rd year. I am shocked that he didn't get that last call, but I don't feel bad since he had about 7 ghost fouls that sent him to the line. Not to mention that 1st game in OKC that I am still bitter about, where they called a mystery foul on Paul Millsap, sending Nick Collinson to the line for the win. Maybe I am bias, but it still doesn't seem like D-Will gets those calls. I have also noticed that Wes Matthews and Paul Millsap never get calls. Booze said it best though, "That is playoff basketball and your not gonna get that call."

I am just glad we won. My heart sank when Jeff Green hit that runner with 5 seconds left. I feel pretty confident about the Jazz ability to close out close games though. They have been pretty solid in close ones the 2nd half of the year.

Last thing I noticed, was that despite Durant scoring 45, I thought CJ and Wes did an incredible job making him work tonight. I have never liked Durant much but he's actually growing on me. I think how he handled things after the game was pretty mature for a 21 year old. All he said was, "It's not a foul if they don't call it." Maybe he just didn't want to get hit with a 25,000 dollar fine.

Just have to hope now that the Jazz can have that same energy tomorrow in Houston. That game makes me nervous, back to back, on the road, against a pretty decent team.
Sean