The Utah Jazz | as seen by Basketball John

Carlos Boozer has become so good, that some in the Jazz organization have already changed Karl Malone’s name to Carl, as evidenced by the poll on the right from utahjazz.com (shouldn’t there be a Malone/Stockon option?) So maybe we shouldn’t go that far, but barring injury and if Boozer continues his current play, we could have another power forward bronze statue in front of the ESA. That would look good with a Deron Williams monument, which should have a statue of either Vaughn or Hinrich falling down.

I even saw Booze take a charge tonight. Carlos is shooting greater than 70% the last few games, including 12-17 for tonight. And after a tweaked ankle scare, Booze taped it back up and came back and helped close out the 76ers with 12 in the fourth.

And a lot of those points came from part of Deron Williams’ 15 assists. Is there a more un-guardable shot than Deron’s cross-over, step back jumper? He left Andre Miller planted to the floor as he could only watch Williams take the easy J. Brewer had another great game with 19.

And although 5-12 doesn’t look good, Okur actually looked better in this game. Most of his shots came withing the flow of the offense. He did leave early with back spasms. I don’t know how long he had them. I didn’t hear any updates. Let’s hope that this isn’t a setback in what looked like a rebound game for Memo.

Complete Box Score

This was a good game to get a win in after having a similar situation last week in which they got blown out by Indy. A lot of the Jazz wins have come against sub-.500 teams, but isn’t that how it’s suppose to be? They have quality wins over NO, Cleveland, and Toronto. But their upcoming schedule is brutal. After two home games against the Kobes and Heat, they play9 of their next 11 on the road. Those include games at PHX, Dallas, SA, Orlando, and Miami, the start of last year’s 6 game slide. Merry Christmas Jazz!

Kyle Korver was off tonight thank goodness. This coming after his big game against the Bucks. AI2 led Philly with 20. And the Sixers outrebounded the Jazz, 39-36, including 16 O boards. That’s not good. And Andre Miller could be the best PG you never hear from. Think Cleveland would like to have him back? Him and Kutcher could be on their way out.

Other notes:

• Game 3 of no Giricek. Just end this. If we’re not going to play him, trade him or package him with someone for a center. Regardless of your thoughts on Giri, seeing him slapped with a DNP makes no sense. Either play him or ship him out.
• Sixers blog recap (if the link doesn’t work, just go to the main blog. I guessed on the URL)
• Youtube Recap