Precap - Utah Jazz @ NJ Nets & Toronto Raptors @ Utah Jazz
March 17th, 2008 by 
Basketball John
Not that anyone was surprised that the Jazz dropped the last game of the roady to NJ, but didn’t you think that down the stretch they might pull it off? I couldn’t comment earlier as I was on the road and sans any net connection. And while I never really put the blame on any one player, doesn’t AK’s play in the final minutes have to account for the loss? Here’s the basic sequence of events,
- 1:10 - The Jazz are up 115-113. AK jacks up a three with about 10 seconds left on the shot clock. Miss.
- 1:05 - AK’s defense on Jefferson driving in the lane is to stand with both arms straight up, and then make a last second hack for the foul. When has AK ever played D like that?
- :48-:17 - KK misses two threes.
- :15 - It’s Jefferson and AK 1-on-1. AK is guarding Jefferson about 3 feet behind the three-point line. And inexplicably, AK lunges for the steal, almost 30 feet away! Then Jefferson drives and makes the running layup.
- :01 - Last chance for the Jazz. On the in-bound, you have three options, Okur running to his right along three-point line, Boozer down low, Deron popping out, or a timeout. And of course the choice is Okur while he’s running out of bounds and has to turn against his body to get the shot off.
If I didn’t know better, I could have sworn AK was trying to throw the game. Other reactions:
So on to tonight where we have a gimme. This one is at home v. the Raptors. The Raptors are going to be without Chris Bosh (who does not look like a velociraptor at all!) most likely. Hopefully this one will be over by the fourth so that the boys can rest up for LA on Thursday. The Jazz then have another 3 games at home against cellar dwellers. So this could be the week where the Jazz move up a bit.
Posted in Andrei Kirilenko, Preview, Recap | 
March 17th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Happy Bday to Kyle today!! And it really stinks that they lost to NJ. Also, the more I think about it, the more I want to go to that party!!! If I didn’t have 3 tests this weekend, I’d so go. Also, I think that AK can be really good when he chooses to be. But, we have beat some really good teams this year when he was out. It’s going to be an interesting sumemr trade wise.
March 17th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Yep. I think AK is gone. The team has shown they can win without him which doesn’t bode well for him. I still think he’s a big part of the team’s success this year, but the extension for Deron looms large this summer.
March 18th, 2008 at 1:21 am
I did not see the game, just partly heard it on radio, I could not believe the Jazz lost it, totally atrocious!
But when you don’t put them away, the last minutes where luck happens can rule the day. It did.
As near as I can tell AK, or Sloane, made a bad decision, and it cost the W. Reality is, all AK needed to do was impede the players access to the hoop, he did not do that. Fer sure sucks at best! Not a reason to throw him under the bus, but have a discussion with about?, yes.
FLA offers some pretty good incite or the possibilities and probabilities as well as observed meshes that work and work very well!
I think the team learned something the other night, I also think they will take it like the young men they are and prevent such from happening in the future.
Bad decisions are learning opportunities, learn the lesson, prevent it from occurring again, and move on.
This Western conference is not exactly getting any easier for any of the teams.