The Utah Jazz | as seen by Basketball John

The Jazz haven’t won at San Antonio since the last century.  Giricek returned from his rib injury and only went 1-6, including 0-2 on his three-point attempts.  The Jazz also shot a remarkable 92% from the free throw line going 24-26.  Of those, Boozer only went to the line two times.  I don’t know if he wasn’t driving to the basket enough or he wasn’t getting calls.  I guess Jerry didn’t trust his bench as the starters all logged at least 37 minutes.  That was the reason for the bench only scoring 10 points.  If he’s not using them now, how’s he going to trust them come crunch time in the playoffs?  Granted Gordan was coming back after a substantial layoff and Harpring was out.   But outside of those two, the only one he trusts is Millsap.  I hope those three are healthy come playoff time or we’re in trouble.

Complete box score

Next Game:
Sunday, Apr. 1, 4:00pm at Rockets

To say that this is a huge game would be like saying the Rosie Odonnell is annoying.  Losing this game could be mean going home in the first round of the playoffs.  Hard to remember when we were chasing San Antonio for the 3rd seed.  I don’t know what’s happened since then, but this is not how you want to go into the playoffs.

Maybe it’s early to proclaim this, but it sure looks like Okur is back. On Jerry Sloan’s 65th birthday, the big three of Okur, Deron Williams, and Boozer accounted for 70 of the 108 points scored by the Jazz in a 108-102. Okur was 2/4 from downtown and 9/10 from the line. Carlos has his standard 25 & 11 and Williams upped his assist average with 14 dimes. Even AK was back in form with 5 blocks, 3 steals, and 13 points. The Jazz were able to seal the win with good free throw shooting down the stretch.

Complete Box Score
YouTube Recap

And on back to-back nights, Boozer has a huge dunk, this time over Garnett. Love those left-handed facials.

Of course the next game is huge, at San Antonio. They’re playing as well as anyone in the league now. A few weeks ago the Jazz had a chance to overtake them for the three seed, but with the Spurs’ twelve-game win streak and the stretch the Jazz went 0-4, pretty much squashed that.

And a bit of bad news, the Clippers blow it to the Rockets. They had a chance to tie at the end of regulation, but Cattino Mobely was fouled on an obvious three-pointer, but it was only called a two-point shot. He missed the first anyway, but you don’t know what the outcome would have been had it been called right.

With two games left against the Rockets, the Jazz are pretty much going to have to win out to ensure the Rockets don’t pass them in the standings.

Next game:
Friday, Mar. 30, 6:00pm at Spurs

After building a 7 point lead, the Jazz let the TWolves back into the game, getting outscored by 11 in the second quarter. Boozer is on a tear again and Okur looks like he’s keeping his promise of shooting better. Let’s hope the Jazz pull away in the third and put it away in the fourth.

Update: 11:13 EST
Other good news… Houston is down to the Clippers at the half, 49-42.

After 1 for 5 shooting in the first half for only 5 points, Carlos Boozer went 14-16 in the second stanza and finished the game with a career-high 41 points. Perhaps the biggest of those came down the stretch as the last 3 minutes of the game was a free throw battle. Combined, the Jazz & Wizards went to the line 90 times. Both teams ended up shooting 33-45 with Okur missing 6 by himself; some of them pretty badly. Can we stop calling Okur “Money” for a bit? He hasn’t been money for a while. I know he almost single-handedly saved the first part of the Jazz season, but he hasn’t been there lately. I’m not sure what’s happened to him.

I think we need to make sure that the players’ wives stop having kids during the season. Neither Okur nor AK have played  well on  consistent basis.  Coincidence? As long as we don’t have Williams or Boozer going Tom Brady on us, we should be able to break out of this.

But tonight was Boozer’s night. And he showed why he’s still worth the money. Those turn around jump shots take longer than Snoop Dog to come down, but they’re true. And to go along with that, he had 16 boards, all while playing the last 5 minutes or so with 5 fouls.

Not surprisingly, two players fouled out of the game; one being Arenas. Guards must salivate when playing the Jazz. Even though he’s playing a bit of point, guards seem to light us up. But Arenas fouled out in the closing seconds of the game when he pushed off of Williams while attempting a late three. The ref actually called the push off. Bryon Russell is sitting at home wondering where that ref was 8 years ago.

A win is a win. It’s a good revenge victory after Arenas put a dagger in their heart last time. And most importantly, it keeps the Rockets 1 1/2 games back for the fourth spot in the west.

Complete Box Score
YouTube Recap

Next Game:
Wednesday, Mar. 28, 7:00pm vs. Timberwolves

At least it wasn’t a seven-year drought. But after a three-year absence, the Jazz clinched a playoff spot with the Warriors losing to the Lakers & Kobe’s 43. Here’s hoping to another run of 20+ consecutive playoff appearances. Only this time with a different result. Here’s the roster on the last squad that made the playoffs:

No Player Pos
00 Greg Ostertag ……… C
2 DeShawn Stevenson ….. G
12 John Stockton ……… G
13 Mark Jackson ………. G
15 Matt Harpring ……… G-F
22 Curtis Borchardt …… C
24 Raul Lopez ………… G
26 John Amaechi ………. F-C
30 Carlos Arroyo ……… G
31 Jarron Collins …….. F
32 Karl Malone ……….. F
34 Scott Padgett ……… F
40 Calbert Cheaney ……. G
44 Tony Massenburg ……. F
47 Andrei Kirilenko …… F

What a group that was. ‘Tag was making almost $9 million. Thanks Scott Layden! Well, only AK & Harpring are left over from the bunch.

9-9 & 24-30. The Jazz went 9-9 in the fourth quarter and 24-30 overall for the game from the line. This was the biggest factor in the win. Also, it seemed like AK was back to his normal defensive self. This helped offset the unbelievable 14-28 3-point shots from the Warriors. Ironically, the clincher was a trey from Millsap in the waning seconds, the first of his career.

The man of the game was Boozer with 25&21 and was the beneficiary of many of Williams’ 17 assists.

Next game:
Friday, March 23rd @ LAC, 6:30 MDT.

These two have split the season series so far, with both visiting teams taking the loss. I expect that to stay the same tonight. I think the Jazz shake off the four-game skid and beat the Warriors convincingly. This team seems to have the ability to bounce back.

The latest Power Rankings are out from Stein, and despite the last 0-4, the Jazz only slipped to #6. I thought they might drop a bit further. Preview for tonight’s game later today.

It’s a good thing I didn’t have an internet connection over the weekend. I wouldn’t have even known what to write. I thought the last road trip would be rough, but not like that. They were all so ugly. I haven’t seen the offense that horrible for a long time and certainly not with Deron Williams leading them. They played some teams that have been playing really well of late, but it’s no excuse.

One note about the Cavs game, if the Jazz could have got a defensive rebound, they could have won. Get Millsap in there if no one else is going to pull them down.

Well, the next three games against the Warriors, Clippers, and Grizzlies should help. And forget about overtaking the Spurs. The Jazz are in full fend-off mode. They have the Rockets breathing down their necks for the fourth spot and home court during the first round.

These are great. Anyone know when these were taken? They have to be Illinois days, right?