The Rockets are done.  This isn’t just an arrogant prediction after the Jazz took game from Houston, 93-82.  It’s based on Tracy McGrady’s actions at the end of the game.  With 1:05 left in the game and the Rockets down 10, McGrady checked himself out of the game, and possible his team out of the playoffs, by fouling Kirilenko.  Immediately after he fouled AK, he walked straight to the bench and sat down, covering himself with a towel.  The Rockets were in a fouling situation as they were trying to get make a last-ditch attempt to get back into the game.  But I think Tracy had given up long before that.  And I don’t buy that the game was out of reach.  Not when the Rockets have pulled off comebacks such as this.  He has no trust in any of his teammates and seems willing to throw them under the bus,

They’ve kind of taken away our first option [I guess he’s talking about himself here] and we’re a little stagnated on the offensive end and don’t know what else to do.  We’re all out of sync and we don’t have too many guys out there who can create their own shot.

This is a far cry from the McGrady interview last year when he stated “I tried” after losing game seven to the Jazz.  So Rocket fans, you can still hate the Jazz and Jazz fans.  But you should be furious with the man that wears #1 for your team.  Because if Boozer, Deron Williams, or anyone on the Jazz quit like McGrady has, I would be pissed.

Enough bandwidth wasted writing about McGrady.  Maybe that should have been a separate post.

The Jazz went into Houston and did exactly what they needed to do.  Nobody has given Houston a chance to win this series, but you really expected a lot more out of them.  But a win on the road for the Jazz, and especially one that delivers a pretty crushing blow to Houston’s series chances, is huge.

After Houston came back to tie the game at 57, the Jazz put on the defensive screws and held them to just 3 points over the last five minutes of the third quarter.  The Jazz pushed their lead to 8 with the help of two Kyle Korver threes and buckets by Williams and AK.  The Rockets never challenged Utah in the fourth.

Kirilenko led the way with 21 points.  He really kept the Jazz in the game early while the Jazz struggled at times to get things going.  Boozer added 20 points and won the rebound battle with Okur tonight grabbing 16 to Memo’s 8.  Memo was off tonight going just 2-8 for 4 points.  I still think that  Memo is the biggest factor for the Jazz going deep in the playoffs.  And the fact that he can have a bad night and the Jazz still win comfortably speaks volumes about the win.  And Deron turned in another “standard” performance with 20 & 10.  Price came in and played well despite only four minutes in relief of Deron.  And Korver had his 11 on 4-7 from the field.

I really thought that this series would go 6 or 7 games.  But from the body language from the Rockets players and McGrady giving up, this could be over in four.  Anything can still happen and there’s still a lot of ball left, but I don’t see this going on much longer.

Other notes,

• Having listened to most of the game on radio, I realized how much I missed Hot Rod’s calls of “belt-high dribble” and “the cow hide globe hits home.”  I really don’t think he has a face for HD though.
• Until Deron attempted two free throws late in the third, the Jazz had only taken three free throws the entire game.  The Rockets had 21 straight attempts of their own at one point.
• When it’s NBA playoffs, the local stations aren’t getting interviews with Boozer, Williams, or whoever the hero of the night was.  ESPN or TNT or the press at large get them.  That’s gotta suck.  That’s like your typical cop movie where the FBI comes in and claims jurisdiction and takes over your case.
• Here’s my HoopsVibe article with predictions for the playoffs.
• Boozer dressed the part tonight,
  
• Videos coming soon

Other blogs,

• FLA
• My Utah Jazz
• Biased
• The Dream Shake & again here.

As if last night’s loss wasn’t bad enough.  This is not a valid form of defense.  I would give him the benefit of the doubt on the first one as just trying to get out of the way and not foul.  But this is ridiculous.

The second image is not photoshopped.  I hope the other Jazz players take him to task for this.  Even if he’s trying to get out of the way, curling up in the fetal position doesn’t look very good.

UPDATE:  I remember this play.  He was trying to avoid the old “head-fake and leap into the guy” play from Finley.  I thought the whistle blew before there was even contact.  This is one of my least favorite plays when the offensive guy leaps into the defender.  But either way, you’ve got to look better than this.

Well now we all know that Deron Williams reads BBJ.  We saw the same angry Williams last night that we saw in late January and early February.

Deron was nearly perfect going 13-15 from the field for 32 points and causing problems for the Clippers all night.  Whether he was taking it to the basket, pulling up for the J, or dishing one of his ten assists, the Clips had no one to stop him.  He had one of the beset dunks of the year when after a steal, at half court, he drove the lane and threw down over Kaman.  I think only his dunk over Tyson Chandler was better.  And that was because it came after he made Paul look silly.  And with this double-double, Deron and Paul both have 46 DDs.  You won’t hear that comparison anywhere else.  But you have started to see Sloan not holding back praise for Williams,

Deron sees so much out there on the floor and knows the game so well as a young player. It’s very unusual,

This coming from the same Sloan that complains about defense and lack of effort when the Jazz blow out teams.

Deron didn’t do it all by himself though.  The other half of the LA-abusing duo was Carlos Boozer.  He had his way with the Clippers big men, shooting 16-22 for 36 points and picked up the rebound slack with Memo out, grabbing 17.  It was the same for Booze as it was for Deron.  He would either knock down the 16-19 foot jumper or drive right by his defender.

Maybe it was best that Memo (stomach virus), Brewer (ditto), and AK (left in second, calf spasms) were out for this one.  The rest of the team seemed a lot more focused and played within the offense.  They were getting lay-ups, dunks, and open shots. And Jaron Collins didn’t suck.  We also saw Hart play for 16.  And he didn’t suck either. And because they were playing in the offense, they were able to get back on D.  The Clips still shot 51%, but the Jazz forced 17 turnovers and out-rebounded LA, 41-29.

The Jazz did what they needed to do and took care of things at home.  There wasn’t going to be lapse with this one.  The lead got to 25 at one point and the closest the Clippers could get was 15.  Korver helped seal the deal with a couple of threes down the stretch and finished with 17.

And the night got even better after learning that NO got blown out by Boston.  The Celts really are becoming my second team to root for.  It’s too bad they don’t play any more WC teams.  And even bigger news is that Memphis went into LA last night and beat the Lakers, 114-111.  That was despite Kobe’s 53.

So as it stands now, the Jazz are two out of first, 1 1/2 behind Houston (our latest first-round matchup),  and a half game behind PHX.  We’ll get the chance to overtake Houston on April 14.  It will be the third and final game in the series this year.  The series is split 1-1, so whoever wins will have the tiebreaker advantage.  But you know how they show lead changes in a game?  I’d like to see the seed position changes for the last month of the season for the WC.

So tomorrow it’s a rare Sunday game; at Minnesota of course.  Then it’s return home for game against WSH, Minny (again), and the biggie next Friday against SA.  There’s a good chance to move up in seeding this week.

Great time  to be a Jazz fan.

Other blogs

• Clips Nation
• Biased Fan
• Ross Siler (more insight into President Monson talking to Sloan & Deron with a classic quote about it)

Other notes

• Sloan turned 66
• President Monson (LDS Church leader) was in attendance.  And according to ESPN, he stopped by the Jazz bench on his wait out from halftime and said a couple words to the team and Sloan.  Probably a Happy Birthday, go get ‘em kind of talk.

  

• The Clips have had a lot on injuries to say the least.  But it looks like they could get Brand back soon.  He was working out before the game.  Also, if you haven’t seen Livingston’s injury, check out this link (not for the squeamish).  It’s amazing that he can walk again after that.

  

• NBA Top Ten

• Amazing stat of the night goes to Corey Maggette going to the line 19 times.  He scored 16 of his 28 points from the line.  And take a look at his shot chart,

He had one made jumper.  The rest were layups and foul shots.

How embarrassing of a loss would that have been?  The Jazz had the game put away at the end of the third going up 92-72.  But with 6:15 left, the Bobcats had cut the lead to only three, 101-98.  Yikes.  But as quickly as the lead evaporated the Jazz were able to build it back up again.  AK missed the free throw on a Boozer-announced and-1.  A quick kick-out to Korver led to a three.  KK went on to hit a couple more, Deron added one, and a couple of steals led to dunks on the other end.  And just like that, the Jazz had the win.  (Do you you think Jazz fans like Korver?)

You didn’t ever get that feeling that they were going to lose the game.  The Bobcats couldn’t stop the Jazz except for the 14-0 run that got them back in it.

And the same thing that got them the original 21-point lead won it for them, defense.  AK had a couple steals, Brewer had one, and KK drew on offensive foul.  The Jazz held the Bobs to only 2 field goals over the final 5:33 and a couple of free throws.

Memo carried the Jazz in the first half with 17 points.  He finished the game with just 20 after that first half.  He also added 10 boards for the teams’s third DD.  It was good to see him back all the way from the flu or whatever he had.

In the second half, it was Boozer’s turn.  He had a great block earlier in the game to go along with his 28 points and 13 rebounds.  His last field goal of the game came on a dunk that I didn’t think he was going to get to the rim for.  But he kept rising and rising until he flushed it home with the left hand.

Deron had an off shooting night but still finished with 14 & 15.  AK and Brewer both had good nights and had 16 apiece.  And Harpring and KK both ended in double digit points with 18 & 10 respectively.

Jason Richardson, Earl Boykins, and Gerald Wallace were the biggest reasons for the Bobcats’ comeback.  Richardson and Wallace had 26 & 21 points.  And Boykins, he of the 32% FG percentage, had 14.  I’ve coveted Wallace for a long time as I imagine most teams do.  But he’s got a long contract for about $10M per.

So now it’s a couple nights off before LAC comes back to town.  We didn’t get any help tonight as DAL, SA, and NO all won.

Houston has an easy one tomorrow against Minny before going to SA and SAC.

SA has a couple of cupcakes this week against LAC and Minny.

PHX heads east for three before a home and home against Denver.

NO has a tough stretch coming up; @CLE, @BOS, @TOR, and @ORL.

LA has an easy schedule like the Jazz with CHA, MEM, WAS, and POR all coming to the Staples center.

So we’re not likely to gain ground on LA, but we could get one or two against those teams above us.

Other notes:

• Click on the bobcat if you don’t know what lolcats are.
• Another quiet T from Sloan.  Are they putting sedatives in his pre-game coffee?
• Collins squared
• Deron had his 45th Points/Assists DD.
• Why couldn’t Jordan have been the GM of the Bulls while he was playing with Chicago?  The tenth anniversary of the push off is coming up this year.
• A lot of missed calls in this one.  Here’s Harp with the ball in his hands with the shot clock at 0 and it still counted,
  
• Korver had a little stare down of his defender after nailing a three,
  

Other recaps:

• Ross Siler
• No one else has anything up yet

So Danielle was kind enough to lend these pictures to BBJ for your entertainment. She was out stalking waiting for the players to arrive before Saturday’s game against the Sonics. She was kind enough to let me post them here. I’ll let her have the post…

So. On Saturday, my dad told us that we were going up to the SLC for Easter. The crew left, and Jac and I shortly followed. We got up to SLC around 4:30, and I told Jac we should cruise over to the Delta Center (yes, I know it is now the ESA) and see if anything was going on before the game. Sure enough, there were a few people standing over by the entrance to where the players drive in. So Jac and I parked and went over and asked them if any of the players had come. Carlos Boozer had come through just a minute before, but the security guard said that the others should be coming really soon. So, I was like, ok this could be good. But I didn’t want to look like a crazy stalker or anything. So sure enough, the players start rolling through one by one.

Ronnie Price was nice and stopped to sign a card for this little boy. Interesting enough, he still had Sacramento Kings license plate surrounds.

Memo thought he was too cool for school. Whatever, I have the same car!

No wonder Jerry loves Harpring so much. A good old truck driving boy. No glitz or glamour.

CJ is really young! Like, younger than me! He stopped and was nice to sign for this kid.

And then my dreams came true! I got to meet KK!!! He was sooo cute. Even cuter in person than I thought he’d be. From what I remember I wished him a happy Bday and good luck at the game. He said ‘Thank you’. And then Jac said, “This is my older sister, Danielle, and she is absolutely in love with you”. Great. He smiled politely and said “Nice to meet you, Danielle”. I’m sure I replied with something! Of course, Saturday morning I was up and running around studying and running errands, so I totally didn’t even put any make-up on. Hence not actually taking a picture with my love. But, I did get a signed card, thanks to the kid that was there. All in all, it was a very luxury experience. I totally didn’t want to invade any of their personal space, but the security guard assured me that people did this all of the time. So, I felt a little better about it.

Unfortunately, my favorite pic got erased off of the camera. It was Jarron Collins (the ‘wonderful’ Jazz back-up Center) getting DROPPED OFF by his wife in an old-school Escalade with the darkest tinted windows. Jarron, know one is that desperate for a picture of you. But, way to help out the environment by consolidating trips.

Jac was in charge of the recording. This isn’t very long, but it is luxury.

Also, the D. Will was throwing a bday bash for a few players with Lil’ Jon (YEEEAHHH!!) but, since none of my girl friends are 21 I couldn’t go. Mainly because, given the track record of some of the players, it wouldn’t exactly be the best decision to go by myself.

Also, we saw Donyell Marshall (a Sonics player) [editor: and former Jazz palyer] in the lobby at the Grand. I wanted to say something witty like ‘Good luck tonight’ but I didn’t want to be annoying.

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PRELUDE:  If you have any questions for the Jazz PR director, leave a comment.  I’m going to be sending them to him tonight.  Maybe you want some inside info?

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It’s probably a little late to be recapping these games.  They’re out of everyone’s minds by now.  But here’s a few comments.

The Jazz cruised to wins over the Clippers earlier this year.  Maybe it was retribution for my Clippy picture that I made though.  I usually don’t make fun of teams in my posts, maybe that’s why.  Nah.  It was probably the 68% free-throw shooting and 0-13 from the arc that did the Jazz in.  They still shot well from the field, out-rebounded the Clips, and had nearly as many assists.  During the recent run, the biggest think hat has stood out is the good FT shooting.  And they didn’t have it Friday.  They went 26-38 from the line.  They would have had to shoot 100% to match the 38 made by the Clippers.  And besides the obvious lead it would have given them, I think if they made even 6-8 of those, it changes the game.  If you add 6-8 point to the final score it doesn’t give them the win. 

But what I think it does for you is keep the game closer (duh).  And when the game is close, it changes different aspects of the game such as shot selection, and mentally, you’re still in it.  The Jazz were down 5 at the half.  But had they been tied going into the break, maybe it would have been a different ball game.  Five points wouldn’t have helped with the final score.  But it’s a little like time travel.  If you go back in time and change one little thing, it can have a great affect on things later.

The 0-13 three-point shooting was a surprise.  I think a lot of it was trying to catchup or stay up with the Clips.  It got me thinking about the 3-point shot though.  Isn’t there a point where you shouldn’t be shooting threes (as a player)?  Your risk/reward for a three would have to be better than your 2-point percentage.  A three is worth 1.5 that of a 2 pointer.  So if you shoot 55% on 2-pointers, what should your 3-point % be to justify the three?  If you take 100 shots, 55 have gone in for a total of 110 points.  So for your 3-point shooting, you’d have to make 36 (approx) of those 100 shots to score the same 100 points.  So 55% = 36%.  And .36/.55= .6667 (the inverse of our 1.5 reward).  So who should/shouldn’t be shooting the three?  Here’s the stats for the Jazz this year (click for bigger):

The surprising ones are Korver and Brewer (maybe not so much).  Of course this has a lot to do with their overall shooting.  So if they’re shooting bad, then it will allow for bad 3-point shooting.  Korver needs to step it up.  But overall, the Jazz are justified in shooting the 3.  Take that Sloan.  If I’ve assumed something or have the wrong thinking on this, let me know.

But the worst part is that with NO and Denver and GS losing that night, we didn’t move up in the standing when we should have.

In the Atlanta game (which I didn’t watch), Price returned with a good game after having an off night v. LA.  And the Jazz had to hold off Atlanta to win with free-throws.  I didn’t have much interest in this game.  I watched LOTR with by boy instead.  But it seemed to be the Jazz that play down to the level of opponents that they should be handily (at least at home).  They had the fend of Hotlanta to get the W.

But it’s all good for now.  Denver lost again and are now 3 back of the Jazz (and out of the playoffs).  The Rockets just lost Yao.  PHX is sliding.  SA scores 5 points in one quarter and still wins.  Thanks Chicago.  Portland is done.  And NO is showing signs of breaking down.

And now we have a game tonight that we should win against Minnesota.  Of course they’ve given Boston and SA and other fits.  Let’s hope the Jazz take care of business early so that the starters can be ready for the next night against Detroit.

Some quickie links for the night:

• Thanks to Scrumtrulescent for this link.  Booner absolutely dominates in HORSE.  He could probably take most players.
• Booz will be flashing some gold kicks at the AS game
• Don’t expect any more Jazz trades
• Even NO’s assistant coach agrees, 8>3
• Jazz own the Hornets
• Simmons likes the Korver trade

I was spent after live-blogging the Bulls game.  I couldn’t come up with anything interesting to say about the game.  They let the Bulls hang around too long, but nothing the Bulls did made me think that they had something to pull it out.  Boozer was back to form, Deron was Deron, and we won.  Have there been any more uninteresting games?  We lost to the Kings, we played the Bulls without any of their big three, and we play the Sonics after a three-day break.  For some reason none of them have mattered to me because things don’t get serious it seems until after the All-star break now.  This Sonics game coming up to me is like my last period of high school before summer break.  You just want to get it out of the way.

The only thing that interested me in the Bulls game was the play of Ronnie Price.  He struggled early this season, but he never really got a chance to run the offense in a game.  According to Sloan, he hustles and plays well in practice.  But Jerry had gone with Hart a while ago.  So now that Price has had the opportunity to show what he can do, he’s grabbed the #2 job right out of Hart’s hands.  Even Hart said he hasn’t played well and at Price deserves it.  Let’s hope to see Price on the floor in Seattle.

Anyway, I had to get something up and not take my own mid-season vacation like the NBA does.  Did the rest of the Jazz players though ask Deron and Boozer if it was okay to make vacation plans this early?

Why do reporters make stuff up?  There’s no way in Hades that the Jazz trade AK for Wallace.  Big Ben and his contract are a millstone around the neck of the Bulls.  He’s seven years older than AK.  He is having a career-low in blocks.  He would be one of the worst players to play for Sloan.  How long before he would be in the doghouse?  Then we’d have all that money sitting on the bench.  Besides the fact that AK can actually, you know, play offense.  The list goes on and on.  The Jazz would only have one thing to gain and that’s one less year on his contract.  I don’t think even Isiah would do this one if he were Jazz GM.  I can’t believe people get paid for writing this type of thing.  And remember, I don’t get paid ;).  Luhmy has a pretty good response to this.  But would we even have a spot for Hinrich?  It drives me crazy to see stuff like this.  Was this guy paid by the Bulls to float this? 

And my last rambling of the day is about the traitors Pace Mannion and Thurl Bailey.  Before the Bulls game, the pre-game had an interview with Byron Russell on Jordan’s shot in the 1998 Finals.  First of all, great way to bring back pain to the Jazz fans 10 years later.  My wife told me to turn it off until they stopped showing Jordan’s shot.  The interviewer asked Russ if he thought it should have been called a push-off on Jordan.  He didn’t mix any words and basically said, “Hell yes!” 

So they kick it back to the KJZZ booth where DJ asks Pace and Thurl if a call should have been made.  And both of them said no.  “It’s not popular to say” said Thurl, but it was right.  But they make no other statements as to why there shouldn’t have been a call except that they should just let them play when the game is on the line.  BS.  He got the call because his name is MJ.  And former ref Mike Mathis agrees,

Remember when Jordan hit that winning shot? I’m going to give you exactly what the commentators said: ‘What a great move by Michael.’ Was that a great move or was that an offensive foul? There was no question it was a push-off. No buts about it. The only buts you can have is, ‘Well, it was Michael Jordan.’ That was a defining moment.

Here’s something else that I’ve never thought about the foul.  A lot of people will say that Russell’s momentum carried him and he would have been out of position anyway.  That may be true (it’s arguable).  But I think the biggest advantage for Jordan was that he was able to stop himself and his own momentum by pushing off on Russ.  It put him in a rhythm that he otherwise may not have had.  Either way you look at it, Russ and the Jazz got hosed.  And saying contrary (unless you’re a Bulls fan of course) is traitorous.

And finally, some links to tide you over until tomorrow’s game.

• Getting his hopes up
• The best PF of all-time? - Duncan gets the nod of course.  What were his numbers against the Mailman though?  It seems like when he went up against the best, he didn’t have his best games.  Of course, Malone usually played Robinson.
• The coccyx is still out - I don’t think we see Ronnie play in Seattle either.  No reason to irritate it when we’ve had CJ and Price playing well.
• The KK effect
• KK on your mind
• Carlos moving up a bit in the MVP blogger vote - I would have Deron above Carlos right now.
• Pistol gives is HORSE - Best shot for HORSE?  The left-handed layup.  Nobody can do it.
• Jazz players tradeability - I agree with most of these.  Pretty good write-up.
• I’m all in
• “I’ve loved my Salt Lake experience” - Music to Jazz fan’s ears.
• The media love-fest continues - Paul goes 1-10 from the floor and still gets a write-up in the Daily Dime.

Three games before the All-Star game coming up against the Kings, Bulls, and SuperSonics.  There’s a let-down game in there somewhere.  The reason I think that is because none of those teams have really ticked off Deron.  Maybe I can fabricate something about Bibby saying that Deron should have been left off the All-Star team?  Let’s hope we see some more of this against the Bulls.  And let’s not forget the last game against the SSS.

Your Jazz link fix:

• A.W.E.S.O.M.E.  - There’s been talk about this for the NBA game.  It needs to happen.
• The Collins are awesome
• No marquee star? - Maybe this is why Deron got hosed.  No recognition.
• CelticsBlog eats crow
• More KK love
• Late mid-season grades. - I never got around to doing the obligatory halfway grades things for the Jazz.  Maybe I’ll get up something during the break.
• Korver > Shaq & Gasol
• These lucky souls got some free tickets to the Hornets game.  And they got some good pics as well.
• A new Jazz blog give us his thoughts on trades

Is this the win that shows that the Jazz are back?  After going 10-2 in their last 12 and winning two in a row on the road and 8 straight at home, it sure looks like it.  And with the Denver loss tonight, the Jazz are only a half game back in the division.  They’ve also snuck into the eighth spot in the conference.

There are a couple things that back me on this.  First, they’re not only getting to the free-throw line, they’re making them.  And second, they’re playing well offensively in the fourth quarter.

That was the case tonight when they beat the Rockets, 97-89.  The first 43 minutes of the game were ugly for both sides.  But the Rockets couldn’t stop the Jazz in the last 5 minutes.  We got two threes from Korver in that time and a couple of penetration and assists from Williams.

And it was pretty much a one-man-show on the other end as it usually is when Yao is out.  McGrady was 10-24 for 21 points.  I was worried after he only had scored two in the first half.  We’ve seen too many times where we’ve held their star player in the first half only to see them burn us in the second half (Paul Pierce anyone?).  And he did have the second half that I expected with 19 points, but he didn’t have any of those big threes that he normally hits.  And thank goodness, I don’t think I could stand looking at another McGrady scowl.

The big three tonight were Williams, AK, and Korver.  Each had 17 points.  Korver had a telling quote tonight after the game.  He basically stated that he’s comfortable in the offense and not having to worry anymore about being in the right place.  He can now just focus on shooting.  It showed tonight going 6-9 including those huge back-to-back threes.  Williams put up what is becoming a standard 17 & 12.  And Kirilenko, the self-proclaimed “cold-blooded Russian,” was on again going 6-12 from the field to go along with 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks.  I’ve said before that we need to have Memo clicking in order to win down the stretch, but it’s looking a lot more like we need AK more.  I don’t know how we can possible trade him now.  His contract makes it hard enough, but who do we get back that improves the team more than AK?  I don’t think there is anyone.

I obviously don’t hang out with the team so I can’t say this with any authority.  But it sure seems like the team chemistry is at an all-time high.  Korver will deny having anything to do with it, but the Jazz are 10-2 since his arrival.  Was having Giricek on the team that bad?  Giricek wasn’t getting a lot of minutes and as a result, we didn’t have the three-point threat that kept the defenses from sagging.  Now with Korver, you can’t leave him alone for a split second because the ball will be half-way to the basket.  So whether it’s a chemistry thing or just a basketball thing, Korver’s arrival has given this team the boost it needed.  And if the trade ends up the reason for the Jazz getting back into the playoffs and  going far once again, this has to be the biggest coup of O’Connor’s career.

So the Jazz will get to relish this win for just a bit as the suddenly defeatable Spurs come to town tomorrow night.  I don’t care if the Spurs have lost 20 in a row.  They always play the Jazz well.  But should the Jazz win tomorrow night, it could very well point to a changing in the guard.

Biased fan

Other notes:

• Two games in a row without Collins.  Jazz fans praise their respective gods.
• Price > Hart.  Hart was out with an inflamed back.  Price’s play tonight shows that he deserves the backup minutes to Deron.  Price’s stats / Hart’s stats.  Sloan seems to have settled into his rotation now.  But the thing I don’t understand is how he has no problem benching other players or ticking them off, but he’s stuck with Hart despite his suckitude.  But I never thought I’d see Collins get two DNPs.  So maybe we’ll see some changes.
• A bitter, bitter, Jazz-hating Jazz fan.