Sam Mitchell beat out Jerry Sloan for coach of the year in the NBA. I’m not sure when the writers vote, but I don’t think the Jazz slide at the end of the season helped at all. He wasn’t as deserving this year as he was in 2003-2004 but still did a great job. And that may be enought to keep him around for a few more years. I’m torn on whether or not to keep him.

UPDATE (7:45 p.m.) 4/24/2007:

One one hand he knows how to win. On the other, his style doesn’t seem to match today’s NBA and I think sometimes it shows; most recently in the playoffs. I don’t know how he messed up the AK situation so much. He’s not the type to have a heart-to-heart with one of his players, but he should have handled it differently. Now you have AK who doesn’t know whether he sitting or playing. Here’s the quote from Sloan:

“I probably haven’t gotten him in a position where he’s as comfortable as he would like to be,” Sloan said. “Our job is still to win. . . . Nobody wants to see him play any better and play well than I do. I’m sure his teammates would feel the same way. We all want to try to solve people’s problems, but I’m not qualified to solve those problems.”

Isn’t that part of being the coach?  I know AK is now the fourth option or so on offense, but surely him rotting on the bench isn’t the best use of him?  You don’t have to call plays for him necessarily, but he should be cutting to the basket and getting touches that way.  And he’s still invaluable on defense.  I don’t think he’s lost anything, he’s just not being utilized correctly.  How should he be used?  I’m not the coach, but in the game would be good.

But I know one thing, Jerry doesn’t give a rat’s ass about COY awards, players crying, or what anyone thinks.  Hell, he may have even smirked a little to hear the AK was crying.  But if the Jazz go out in the first round, it may be the end of the road for Sloan, either by his own choice or public outcry.

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MISSING!
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Mehmet Okur’s Shot

Last seen February 16th, 2007.  Used to go by “Money.”  May have left it at the All-star game.  Maybe what comes to Vegas stays in Vegas?  Hasn’t been seen since.  If you find his shot, please return it to the ESA immediately or contact any concerned Jazz fan.  No questions asked.
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REWARD
His first-born
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So that was painful to watch.  The Jazz played a very good game.  On paper it looks like they should have won.  But the one glaring stat that stabs you in the eye is the free-throw discrepancy.  The Jazz didn’t shoot poorly from the free-throw line, they just didn’t get there.  The Rockets went to the free-throw line 38 times compared to just 17 for the Jazz.  Both teams played well on defense.  They’re both known for their physical style of play on the defensive end.  So how did so many fouls get called against the Jazz and not the Rockets?  Houston was taking jump shots most of the night.  They had 24 three-point attempts.  Take a look at the shot chart:

You’re telling me that with all those outside shots they still should have gone to the line 38 times and the Jazz only 17?  And I don’t know how Yao can go over the back for rebounds and not get called but when Boozer does the whistle comes out.  I couldn’t watch the game because when the Jazz would make a run, it would get killed by a whistle and the Rockets could hack all night long.  And if you don’t think that the refs play to the home team, you haven’t read up on Joey “You wanna make something out of it” Crawford.  Here’s Yao’s reaction to every foul call on him (he couldn’t possibly have made contact):

Enough complaining.  The Jazz are in serious trouble.  I would say that the Jazz couldn’t win the series now if I believed that reverse-jinxes work. (Was that last sentence a double-reverse jinx?  Did that just jinx them?  Does this sentence keep reversing the jinx?)  Anyway, I won’t say that the Jazz are done, but they’ve never come back from a 0-2 hole.  But there have been weirder things happen.

Next game:
Thursday @ the ESA.