The Utah Jazz | as seen by Basketball John

Let’s see how much I can live blog this tonight. It’ll be a little more raw than usual as I try to get as much in as I can.

1st Quarter

• Good to see AK back in effect.
• A lot of green in the seats. But we have CeCe here

• Magic are the anti-Jazz. They’re 16-7 on the road.
• No Bolerjack. There goes the Money and Double-double calls
• 5:50 - Another three from Memo.
• 5:13 - Have to admit that AK taking jump shots hasn’t been scaring me as much lately. He’s looked pretty good.
• 5:16 - First TO. The Jazz are shooting 75% already and holding Orlando to 36%. And it’s no coincidence that we’re doing well because Memo is on.
• 4:19 - The pick and roll defense tonight for the Jazz has been the best I’ve seen it this year. They’re getting a lot of strips and Williams is fighting through screens a lot better.
• 3:38 - Another amazing alley-oop from Williams to AK.
• 3:12 - Hart and Harpring in. The KJZZ guys were uncharacteristically tough on Hart in the pre-game. They think that the Jazz are going to go get another PG before the trading deadline. They haven’t been impressed either with him. And you have to remember, the only reason he has a contract is because of his last 23 or so games last season with the Clippers. Why that happens in the NBA, I don’t know.
• Random side note, wouldn’t a live blog be more live in a chat type window? Then you could really see what I was thinking. No editing.
• 2:12 - Howard is 0-3 so far. How about them apples? Great D so far.
• 1:18 - Who has a higher arcing shot, Boozer or Darryl Griffith?
• 33.3 - “Get that sh* out of there.” Heard after a Jazz block. Fan or player?
• Harp showing no sign of the new baby curse.

The second team did pretty good in maintaining the lead after Williams and AK came out. Great first quarter. They’ve played great D and the offense has been solid as usual.

2nd quarter

• 9:42 - The Turk(oglu) from Turkey becomes unglued and gets a T
• 9:39 - Four fouls on the Magic in about three seconds.
• 7:30 - The Jazz have no chance of getting starters in the All-star game as long as we have the likes of Kobe, T-Mac, etc. And the fact that we don’t have the fan base.
• 7:15 - Another oop. Did we see this many in the whole Stockton to Malone era that we’ve seen in the past few games? And is AK the best passing non-PG in the league?
• Holy crap. How is Orlando going to afford bringing in any more players in a couple years? They have 35-42 million committed to Lewis and Howard alone.
• 2:41 - The Jazz can’t pull away despite shooting 61% to 39 for the Magic. 51-47 Jazz
• 1:47 - Great help D on Howard. He’s getting the ball a long ways away from the basket.
• 1:32 - Man, a great block by Howard. The man is a freak. How can you be that tall and be able to have a vertical where he could probably high jump the backboard?
• :27 - Maybe that’s why Deron doesn’t drive more. He hasn’t gotten a call tonight going inside.

Halftime Update

The Jazz Bear replaces Thurl at halftime and the ratings go up. I would have preferred Pace to go, but I guess it’s a start.

This isn’t a game against the hapless Pacers or depleted Suns. The Magic are a very good team, even on the road. So this is probably a better measuring stick of where the Jazz are now. And you have to like what you’re seeing. The offense hasn’t been in doubt, but the defense lately has really picked up and it shows.

Memo of course has been the biggest reason for the good play in the last five games. So should he keep it up in the second half, we should see the Jazz put this one away.

3rd Quarter

• 11:32 - No getting back again.
• 9:24 - Orlando within 3. Please take a TO Sloan. Nope.
• 8:35 - Offense is off right now. The Magic are disrupting their cuts and passing lanes.
• 6:45 - Two Ts from the Turks. This one on Memo after he gets called for pushing off.
• 6:27 - Boozer just took Lewis out. I love it! Where has this been from Boozer all year? I’d love to see him develop a mean streak like this. You can bet Lewis will think twice next time he comes into the lane.
• 6:00 - Flop doesn’t get the call from his namesake.
• 5:10 - Great block from AK and Boozer can’t finish on the other end. Misses the dunk and almost falls on his can.

• 3:00 - Get out of the way Collins! Brewer made a couple nice moves but ran into the tree and had to bring it back out.
• Great local commercial for Bailey’s moving. Deron is trying to call someone from the team to help him move. Even Sloan gets in on the act at the end. I can’t remember the last commercial Sloan was in. I’d like to hear what Sloan would really say in that situation. Probably something to do with Deron getting paid millions of dollars.

• 1:30 - Howard is holding on to the ball looking for the pass. All the while he’s doing the Hammer dance and shuffling his feet. He’s probably moved a good foot in about 3 seconds.
• :28 - 12-13 from the line for Howard. He’s a career 60% shooter. How does that always happen against the Jazz?
• .04 - Hart finally gets one of his patented three point, end of quarter heaves to go. It still doesn’t make up for the dozens of terrible ones before.

But that Hart three does give the Jazz a bit of a cushion going into the fourth. That was a pretty poor third quarter. The fourth hasn’t been kind to the Jazz, but they’ve been playing well as of late. They’ll need to pick up the D again though like they had in the first half. The Jazz are shooting 55% compared to the Magic’s 43 and are still only up five. With it being this close, we could see a lot more Korver in the fourth.

Fourth quarter

• 11:20 - You can start making those threes any time now KK. Your honeymoon is almost up.
• 9:28 - Howard with a nasty dunk over Millsap. Ouch.
• 8:26 - Boozer just gets called for the offensive foul for using his shoulder a bit. Something everyone else in the league gets away with, including Howard’s dunk just a minute ago.
• 7:50 - Another basket for the Magic because the Jazz can’t get back.
• 7:18 - BS! Boozer just gets called for the defensive foul on the exact play he just got the offensive call for. Consistency has got to be the worst part of officiating.

• 6:44 - Memo! Three! Money! (There you go Boler. I got your back) Oh, and Boozer and Deron with the DD.
• 5:38 - Another turnover by the Jazz. They’re looking like the 6 game slide Jazz right now. A three from the other Turk has tied it up.
• 5:25 - Howard starting to miss the free throws finally.
• 5:01 - Nice move from AK and dish to Boozer. The dunk and the foul!

• 4:49 - Great D from AK leads to a turnover.
• 4:35 - Memo! Three! - It’s the Memo of fall 2006!

• 3:59 - Memo with the tip
• 2:44 - Bad - Memo’s fourth fifth foul. Good - Howard misses fourth straight FT
• 2:33 - Great D by Memo on Lewis. He didn’t let him get off a good luck at a three.
• 1:59 - Turkoglu clears KK out with a forearm and gets the basket.
• 1:10 - Two free throws from Okur puts the Jazz up 109-100. That should about do it.
• 1:04 - Memo fouls out. But he’s the story of the night and the reason for the Jazz win.
• 1:01 - The longest minute in sports. It’s a free throw game for the Jazz as the Magic will hack now and go for threes.
• :46 - Only a five point lead and AK at the line. Sorry for the curse with the 1:10 comment. No prob, AK makes both.
• Crap. KK fouls Redick on the three attempt.
• :37 - 112-108. KK will have to redeem himself from the line.
• :20 - It’s been eight minutes to play the last 40 seconds.
• :15 - Boozer’s fouled out. Magic back at the line.

And that will do it. The last minute takes 13 actual minutes to play. Korver made all his free throws as well as AK and Deron. Memo the hero this game. Recap coming later.