The second and final meeting between the Jazz and Raptors played out much like the first installment of the movie Jurassic Park. If the entire game had been like the first quarter, I would have compared it to JP II & III (awful, awful movies).

In the first scene, the Jazz jumped out of the gate scoring five quick points. But after the exciting first scene, the story stagnates. And by the end of the first act, both the Raptors and the Jazz manage to score just 16 points apiece.

In the second stanza, things pick back up again. Led by Ronnie Price, the Jazz had built up a 6-point lead when he exited with about 6 minutes left in the second. And by the end of the half, the Jazz had a 9-point lead.

In the third though, the Raptors would have their revenge. The Raptors feasted on poor shooting and turnovers much like the velociraptors dilophasaurus devoured Dennis Nedry’s bountiful flesh. By the time to end of the third came to a close, Toronto had evened the score at a paltry 65.

And finally (finally you’re saying), it was the calvary to the rescue. Ronnie P came back in again and showed why he’s the backup. He ignited the Jazz offense and by the time Deron had replaced Price, Utah had a 20-point lead. Williams only stayed in a for a few minutes before giving way to Hart.

Okay, that was kind of lame. But I had spent too much time typing it all to remove it.

Suffice to say, the bench won the game for the Jazz. Price led the way with 13 & 5 in just 13 minutes. I think if there were any lingering Dee Brown fans, Ronnie’s recent play might have finally pushed the memories of Dee out of their head.

And Korver played 24 minutes, which is what he should get every night, and had 17 on 6-7 shooting.

Kirilenko had a chance to step up and be the third option when Okur left early in the first with a bug. But he was only 2-7 for an uninspiring 8 points, 4 assists, and 4 turnovers.

So now it’s a couple days off before the Lakers come to town and threaten the home-court winning streak. More on that coming.

More importantly, last night the Celtics did us a favor by beating the Spurs, 93-91. That puts us percentage points behind them. So it looks like that last game of the season will loom large. And we’re a half game back of the Suns (our current first-round opponent). And unfortunately, the Bulls couldn’t finish off the Hornets. They got blown out in the fourth.

So as it stands now, only 2 1/2 games separate teams 1-7 in the West. The Jazz need teams to lose though. They have 24 losses while Houston has just 20, NO & LA have 21. So they’re going to need them beat each other up if the Jazz are going to move up. And we should with four more games at home coming up.

Other blogs,

• Frank Layden Admirers
• Biased Fan