That’s why I shouldn’t, and don’t usually, predict point spreads or margins of victory.  I stated in my preview that either the Jazz were going to lose or we were going to blow them out.  I then stated at the half that we would win by 15.  I was a quarter right.  We won, but that was as good as my predictions go.

It was bound to be a closer game (I now have put on my hindsight glasses).  Bobby Jackson wasn’t going to be as bad as he was in game 1.  We were still playing a team that had won 22 in a row (10 without Yao).  And were still going up against one of the best defensive teams in the league.

I was right about another thing.  The Jazz do get better as the game goes on.  They made incredibly clutch shots (on the road mind you) down the stretch.  None bigger than the shot of the year from KK.  His turnaround jumper, with about 4 seconds left on the shot clock, went off the side of the backboard.  AK got the board and passed back out to KK who caught it and shot it with 1 hand with about .5 on the shot clock.  The swish with about :20 left finished off the Rockets and gave the Jazz a 2-0 series lead.

The defensive of the Jazz was hands down the biggest reason for the W.  Bobby Jackson did score 18, but it took 7-17 to do it.  The Jazz held the Rockets to another 41% shooting game.  Houston did themselves in again making only 16 of 26 free throws and only 4-19 from the arc.

And the best defense of the game came from AK in the second half.  He was assigned to guard McGrady for most of the 3rd and 4th quarters.  It paid off as T-Mac had only 1 point in the fourth quarter and was just 9-22 overall from the field.  He filled up the stat sheet with 9 assists and 13 rebounds.  But he disappeared when the Rockets needed him the most.  I won’t go over his shortcomings, I’ll let The Dream Shake express how Rockets fans feel (PG-13).

Okur was back last night getting 16 & 16.  It really didn’t seem like he was getting that many rebounds.  A very quiet 16.  Boozer, in foul trouble again, scored only two points in the first.  He came back in the second to score 11 and had some huge baskets to keep Houston at bay.  He had some great post moves and I don’t know why he hasn’t eaten Mutumbo up yet.  If he can light up Yao, Mutumbo should be a walk.

One of the most underrated players in this series has been Ronnie Price.  He filled in for Deron by hitting 2 threes in his eight minutes of relief.  One of those threes came at the end of the third when the Rockets had just gone up by one.  It sent the Jazz into the fourth on a positive note and gave them the lead.  He also had another steal with a great dunk on the other end by outracing Brooks for the flush.

Deron Williams had big shot after big shot.  And that was despite all the abuse he was taking without getting a call.  The biggest no call of course came when he was running out to challenge a three and Aaron Brooks absolutely leveled him with his shoulder.  It was a great screen except that Brooks moved at the last second to instigate contact with Deron.  That hit sent Deron onto his side and he had to go to the locker room for a bit.  It seems like Deron is the little Shaq of the league.  Shaq wouldn’t get a lot of calls when he would get hammered because he was bigger and stronger than everyone else.  Deron finished with 22 points and just 5 assists.  The Jazz as a team only had 19 assists total.  There was great D on Houston’s part as the Jazz weren’t really able to get into their offense.  They didn’t get many lay-ups or cuts to the basket.

And I’ll echo the sentiment by RRR.  The refs are plain awful.  I really can’t remember a year when the they’ve been this bad.  They missed calls, they made wrong calls, and this particular set seemed to think that the game was about them and that they’re in control.  Do you want to know how you’ve got bad refs?  When their antics resemble Enrico Pollazzo and not officials.  They’re out of position on calls and in Deron’s leveling, the ref was more worried about whether the shooter’s feet were behind the three-point line than what was going on in front of him.  And of course Rockets fans have a legitimate gripe when AK did some great acting to draw an offensive foul from Scola when Bobby Jackson had just made a game-tying three.  But there were other missed calls.  Scola and McGrady got to extend their arms all night to make room.  Price was called for a block when Jackson was spinning out of control.  Deron was called for a travel after receiving the ball in the air and coming down.  And Boozer was whacked on the head on one of his lay-ups.  Like RRR stated, can we can find competent refs amongst the population?  And whatever happened to Stern’s promise of more transparency for the refs?  There needs to be some accountability for these things.

The Jazz withstood the Rockets’ best (and the refs’ best) and now head home to the SLC to wrap things up.  Stranger things have happened but the Jazz should take care of business at home and move on.  The Lakers could as easily sweep the Nuggets so the Jazz probably won’t have time to rest.  And that’s probably a good thing.  They don’t seem to play well coming out of a long break.  So fans, relax a bit and get ready to rock the ESA on Thursday.

Other notes,

• Was anyone else waiting for Harp to miss the lay-up on his break-away?  Instead he shows that his knees have a little more mileage in them by throwing it down.
• McGrady quote, “Offense is really not an issue.”  Really?  41% from the field and 62% from the FT line isn’t an issue?  4-19 from three?
• Videos coming soon

Other blogs,

• Biased Fan
• FLA & Again
• My Utah Jazz
• Deadspin
• Ross Siler
• True Hoop
• Daily Dime

This time last year the Jazz dropped game 2 to Houston on the road and were heading back to the SLC to try to salvage the series.  This year things are a bit different.  The Jazz already have stolen home court and can effectively end Houston’s season tonight with a win.  I always hate saying that type of thing because it always comes back to haunt you should it not turn out.

As I said in game 1’s recap, I think Houston is done.  I think McGrady is already looking to next season when Yao and Alston are back.  He’s tired of the “can’t get out of the first round” player and wants to be able to say it wasn’t his fault.  And to a point it’s not really.  Nobody expected them to win this series with the injuries they’ve had.  But he still owes his fans a competitive series.

Look for the Jazz to do the same defensive scheme tonight.  As Ken, Scrum, and FLA stated, they’re going to keep playing T-Mac straight up and send help.  Someone else is going to have to beat the Jazz.  We’re going to have to see Scola or Bobby Jackson have a career night.  Battier was great in the first game, but unless McGrady has 50+, just having two scorers won’t be enough.

Have you ever seen Memo and AK both have good games on the same night?  I can’t remember the last time both of them had close to 20 in the same game.  They must share one pair of lucky socks.  Boozer and Williams will get their’s tonight.  We’ll need a good game from one of the sock mates and KK and Millsap to do their thing.

Either the Jazz blow them out in this one or the Rockets pick up a win.

Other blogs,

• My Utah Jazz
• The Dream Shake (gets straight to the point)
• David Thorpe

UPDATE:  Videos up

It’s almost refreshing that this game wasn’t about Williams/Paul.  Let’s get that out of the way.  Neither had anything offensively.  The only advantage was Deron’s 16 assists to Paul’s 9.  We didn’t even see Paul the entire fourth quarter until 3:40 left in the game.  And that 8 1/2 minutes while he was out is when the Hornets made their run after being down 20.  MVP?

This game was all about the Jazz as a team and the team defense.  They’ve held the Spurs and now the Hornets to 64 & 66 points respectively.  Can we get Elias Stats to get on that to see if that’s a record?  It’s a Jazz record for sure.  It’s the best D from the Jazz I’ve ever seen.  Ever.  They must have set Sloan’s heart aflutter with all the diving for loose balls, strips, blocks, and overall hustle.  It was infectious.  It seemed like everyone was on the floor at some point.  Now that it’s spring time, maybe the Jazz are getting their super-human defensive power from the yellow sun of the earth, let’s hope there’s no kryptonite.

The only thing you have to worry about was Utah’s offense these past two games.  The Jazz seem to get out of their normal flow when it’s a big game.  That’s what happened in the last game in NO when they got blown out.  Once they were down so much, they relaxed and almost pulled that one out.  Both teams seemed to be out of sync the whole game.  It’s like they both knew the importance of the game and forgot their offenses.

The only one that was reliable this game was #13, Memo.  After Neo rescues Morpheus from the agents and Trinity from the helicopter, Morpheus says to Trinity, “Do you believe me now?”  Memo showed why he’s the one that needs to be clicking for the Jazz to make a run in the playoffs.  He was 9-20 for 22 points and 17 boards.  Millsap, Boozer, and AK all had 10.  Memo and Peja were the only ones that had decent offensive outputs for this game.  Okur was the only player to break 20 points.  Let’s hope Memo can keep this up for the next couple of months.

The team offensive stats are so were so ugly that I won’t even go over them.  Take a look if you dare.

Okay, so a little more on Williams/Paul.  The match-up everyone was hoping for never materialized.  Both only had 4 points on 2-11 shooting.  Deron had some great assists, but he was unbelievably wild.  He had 6 turnovers and on consecutive possessions through the ball way over the head of Memo.  That’s pretty hard to do when you’re 6′ 11″.  He still wound up with 16 assists on some great plays but the Jazz actually seemed to be playing better when he was out.  The same was true for Paul.  The Hornets played better with CP out as evidenced by Scott leaving in the bench to start the fourth.  They cut the Jazz lead from 20 down to 12.  We didn’t see Chris until the game was pretty much decided. You’ll have to wonder now how much that will hurt his MVP chances.  They have another game against the Lakers coming up.  If they fall in that game, that could be the death knell.

Speaking of the Lakers, they went down to the Trail Blazers last night.  That means  that the Jazz are only 1 game behind them and just 2 1/2 behind the Hornets.  The top 6 teams are now just separated by those same 2 1/2 games.  I don’t know if it’s technically possible, but it would be great for everyone to end up with the same records and they have to use tiebreakers  such as who had the better free-throw percentage in road games decided by two point or less.

And finally, almost overlooked in all of this is the fact that the Jazz are back-to-back champs, of the Northwest Division.  Like I stated in the preview, this is only the second one in Jazz history.  Karl and John only had the 97-98 seasons as repeat champs.  I think they pretty much went back and forth with the Spurs on that under the old alignment.

So we’re hitting all the goals so far.  Playoffs, check.  Division champs, check.  Winning big games late in the season, check.  Up next, home-court advantage.  The Jazz are now 2-0 on this six-game “series.”  Up next are the Mavs who have been playing very well since the return of Jirk.  It’s a road game as well but is still very winnable.  Did you ever think that would be said about the Jazz playing on the road?

Other notes,

• Now we know how Paul and Chandler get some many alley-oops.  Chandler just takes out the guard on the pick and roll.  He whacked Deron in the eye on his way their 145th oop this season.
• I appreciate letting them play, but the Jazz only went to the line 5 times?  Wow.  NO only had 13 trips.
• Millsap was a beast.  He had tip ins and boards galore.  His best play came when he stole the lazy in-bounds pass at then end of the first half to put the Jazz up 18.
• I don’t have the +-, but I would have liked to have seen more of Price.  The team seemed to be playing well while he was in.
• The Jazz game didn’t get shown on Sports Center until about 45 minutes into the broadcast.  Amazing.  We saw almost every baseball game and NBA game before that.  I was trying to give ESPN the benefit of the doubt as the NCAAW championship was the same night and the Jazz game had ended just 30 minutes earlier.  But it was a pretty significant game that got pushed way back.  We even had a Rewind of NBA games before we saw the Utah/NO game.

Other blogs,

• Hornets 24/7
• At the Hive
• My Utah Jazz & Some more
• Biased Fan
• FLA

While I was watching the game today (the reason for the late recap), I realized that these last six games are pretty much a six-game playoff series for the Jazz. They’re going to be playing SA, DAL, HOU, DEN, and NO. I don’t think any other potential playoff teams in the West have the schedule against playoff teams that Utah does.

They’re well on their way to a series sweep (six games in this case) as they came out the victor of a pretty ugly game. Pretty if you’re the Jazz, ugly if you’re the Spurs. Have you ever checked the box score of a game you’ve missed, in any sport, found your team’s score first and cringed? If you were to come upon the 90 the Jazz scored, you would have almost immediately thought that they got blown out. Instead, they held the Spurs to a middle-school girl’s basketball-like score of 64.

What was really bizarre was that the Spurs were only down 9 to start the fourth. In the NBA, that’s nothing. But after a oop to AK from Deron, and a lay-up from Harpring (more on Harps lay-ups), the Spurs called timeout and we never saw the starting team again. That’s only 13 points with 11 1/2 minutes to go. In fact, we didn’t see Duncan the last 15 minutes of the game. Parker didn’t play the entire fourth either. And once the Spurs were down 20 with about 9 minutes to go, we didn’t see Ginobili. If they took that timeout when they went down 13 to slow momentum, shouldn’t we have seen a quick return of Parker and Duncan to see if they couldn’t get back into it? Instead, the Jazz scored 7 straight more points and the game was over.

I’m not complaining though. After an ugly, ugly first quarter, the Jazz turned it on and turned a 8-point deficit into a two point lead at the half. And from there they never looked back. The Jazz scored 68 points (we’ve scored more in a half) in the final three quarters to the Spurs’ measly 40. And they might not have have broken 60 for the game had Stoudemire not scored all of their 9, yes 9 points in the fourth quarter.

I wrote back in TWolves recap that we need the Memo we all know to be able to have any chance in the playoffs. He was on again tonight putting up 17 & 16 with 3-5 from downtown. And now he has no excuse about disappearing in the playoffs. Last year he stated it was hard to focus on his offense when he was trying to play good D. Well last night he held Duncan to 15 and frustrated him most of the night. Boozer also played well on Timmy, giving him all kinds of fits. And is there anything more pathetic than seeing Duncan flail with every shot attempt to try to draw a foul? Is that what his game is now? We saw a lot of pushing and even some words being exchanged. Boozer hardly speaks crap to anyone unless he’s he trying to coax a ball to go in the hoop after a foul so he can scream “And-1!” I like seeing him with a little attitude. You know, we really don’t have that bad-boy type on our team.

What kept the Jazz close in the first part of the game was three ball. That’s also one of the biggest reasons they were able to put the game away. They shot 10-19 for 53% (better than their overall percentage of just 41%). They all came from the usual suspects; Deron & Price had 2, Memo scored 3, with KK, Miles, and AK nailing one each. And recent games aside, the Jazz place a crazy 26th in the league in the number of attempted threes. They’ve hoisted only 1013 attempts while the Warriors have attempted almost twice that amount. But they are fifth in the league in 3-point shooting percentage. And yet they are still the league’s highest-rated offense.

Deron, despite the blowout, played 42 minutes and had 16 & 11. He should have had 14 assists if Harpring hadn’t blown three lay-ups and a put-back off one of those missed lay-ups. We should start calling him Mrs. Harpring because he misses (did you get that?) all those lay-ups. Booze was solid with 16 & 7. KK gave us 11 with his brothers in attendance. AK had 10 and played great D on Manu. The Manuflop only had 8 points.

So we got what we needed out of this six-game “series” with a win over the Spurs. That kind of confidence and mo is needed as we go into Tuesday’s game against the New Orleans Pauls. I have to say this game is probably amongst my most anticipated for the year; even more so than the Feb 4th game against the same team. I don’t think anything could bring me more joy this regular season than to have the Jazz walk into the Hive and shut the media up with a win. And while having Deron embarrass Paul again would be great, it would be the icing on the cake of a W. A loss at home against the Jazz and Williams would put a serious cramp in the CP3 MVP bandwagon. I don’t know when the voting ends, but I would think some might be holding their vote to see how this game plays out. But perhaps even more importantly, the Jazz would go to 2-0 on the trip and would have a good chance to to move up while other teams in the West cancel each other out.

We’re also just a win or GS loss from clinching a playoff spot. And the magic number for clinching the division is three.

It’s a great time to be a Jazz fan.

Other notes,

• No videos. I didn’t get home in time to record any.
• I still don’t want to see the Spurs in the playoffs.  That’s usually when they work their magic.  And by magic, I mean the little elves with whistles that make sure the Spurs get  the calls.
• Bolerism of the night: After Parker got the loose ball and had a breakaway basket, Boler states, “A little showtime from Parker” as he lays it up.
• Boonerism of the night: I think he was talking about Memo, I’m not sure. But he said basically that he was a better shooter from the three-point line than the two-point line? Where exactly is that two-point line?
• AK getting the bunny ears from his wife. That’s translates to all languages.
• Refs made some terrible calls once again, but it was a relatively foul-free night. I couldn’t imagine what the game would have been like with a ton of fouls.
• Spurs only had 5 offensive boards. Huge reason for the Jazz win.
• Manu doesn’t know how to play D unless he can flop (same as Collins). Here he puts his shoulder into Deron’s face but no call,
• They also only had 8 assists as a team. Parker had 17 but only four assists. No one else had more than 1.
• He’s cooled off a bit lately, but after the All-Star break, Duncan has been shooting close to 80% from the free-throw line. Crazy.
• Dumbest call of the night. After a loose ball, AK jumped on it and was on his hands and knees. Finley jumped on him, didn’t even touch the ball really, and they called a jump. And Sloan had been trying to call a timeout the entire time.
• Duncan’s turned into a hot-head. I think it would be really easy to get to him. And surprisingly we saw very little of Collins. And that wasn’t until Tim was out of the game.
• Can the Jazz be the most chameleon-like team in the league? They play to whatever level or style the other team is playing. Whether it’s running and gunning with the Warriors or playing in 90-64 defensive games, the Jazz just seem to blend in with the other team’s style.
• And I think Danielle might be on to something. I haven’ heard MVP chants at all for Deron before last night’s game. Maybe my stats don’t indicate just how many people are reading BBJ.
• And finally, for your latest Deron Dis, I give you ESPN’s the Daily Dime again. Marc Stein gives us his All-NBA teams, 1st through 3rd. And Deron is barely a footnote. We’re not going to debate Williams/Paul. But there’s no way Deron shouldn’t be second team. He should be above Nash and Manu. And third should be the lowest. And if you read the comments, the fans are ticked again. I’m sure most are Jazz/Illinois fans, but there are some from Spurs & Lakers fans as well. We’ll see if anything changes when he schools all of them in the playoffs.

Other blogs,

• FLA
• Ross Siler
• Biased Fan
• And I’ll get Danielle’s recap up in a bit.

Now if we can keep Memo away from anyone that is sick for the rest of the year, we’ll be in good shape. In fact, he should be made to wear a mask from now until the end of June at all times.

We need the Memo that goes 4-7 from downtown for 22 points. We need the Memo that can nail back-to-back three pointers that put the Jazz on a run to pull away from teams. He was open for most of the second half with the now patented “Deron beating his man off the dribble and when Memo’s man comes over to help, Memo slides behind the line and drains an open three” play. And whatever it is, Memo likes the rims at the ESA. He shoots 44% at home but just 31% on the road. He has improved since the All-Star break however.

He wasn’t the only one nailing the three. After making 15 against Washington (compared to only 14 made free-throws), the Jazz followed that up making 12 against Minny. Korver was 3-3 again, Williams & Price both had two (I like that backcourt a lot), and AK made his only attempt.

But more impressive was that they actually put some D on the Wolves in the second half. In their previous two games at Minny and for the first half, they couldn’t stop the TWolves. Minnesota shot almost 60% in the first half. But they finished the game shooting just 47%.  Boozer even came away with a huge block.

The Jazz had seven players again in double figures.  Memo had the aforementioned 22, Deron had 19 & another 14 (including one of the best oops to CJ of the year), the Price for Booze was 12-pack, AK scored 13, and Harp and Korver were in double-figures.  And with those last two, I think the Jazz are now 15-0 when they both score 10+.

The season series against the Timberwolves has been the Jazz season to a tee.  Lose on the the road to crappy teams, and blow them out at home.  The Wolves only have 7 wins against teams with a winning record.  28% of those wins are against the Jazz.  But on the flipside, the Jazz do weird stuff like going into Boston and blowing them out by 18.

So now the gauntlet begins.  Friday the Spurs come to town.  Then it’s three-days rest before heading to NO.  This is going to be one of my most anticipated games of the year.  If they avoid another first quarter mess like last time, I think we come away with the win.  Then it’s at Dallas.  That’s another game we could win.  Then it’s home to host Houston and Denver.  A win v. Denver would probably clinch the division by then.  And then what will certainly have home-court implications, we finish the season @ SA.

With as crazy and Jekyl/Hyde (is there another term to use for this?) as the Jazz have been, it’s crazy enough that they could just go 6-0 and blow everyone’s minds.    The three home games are all winnable.  The lone loss at home earlier this season from those teams was against Houston.  But we’ve beaten them @ HOU.  We’ve lost at Dallas, but that was pre-Kidd.  The NO game I think we see another Deron statement game.

That leaves the SA game.  It has to end sometime, right?  I think we’ve been saying that for a while now.  But to say the Jazz haven’t won @ SA since last century is crazy.  And what a bigger statement game to make then to go into SA, lay down the law, steal home-court, and ride off on their horses back to Utah.

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You may now comment Danielle

Other blogs,

• My Utah Jazz
• Biased Fan (nothing yet, but expect to hear some cussing about CJ)
• Ross Siler

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.

I have another post ready to go but it’s going up on HoopsVibe.  So I’m just waiting for them to post it so I can link to it.  If it’s not up this morning, I’ll just post it here and fix it later.  And I’ll get a game thread up today.  I usually have recaps, but for those that want to post during the game, I’ll have something.  On to the links…

• This worries me. While the Jazz should win their next four, we all know how they play against lesser teams.  And with a slow week…
• I know home losses hurt, but they’re going to happen.  I don’t think we have to worry about it.
• The Jazz feel real good.
• Boozer, the best of Duke ‘01. I would think he’s probably pretty happy with his decision.
• The Jazz have some hidden talents. - Finally, someone went through all the “get to know them” bios on the Jazz website.
• Boozer gets called out.  Now if he only read these things.
• Deron is now #5?
• How’s Dee doing?
• Can we send this statement to Deron? I need him to get pissed again.  You’ll know it when you see it.  UPDATE:  I’m now praying for a Utah/NO first round series.
• A fans insight from the Lakers game
• “Look, if you want to make a ton of money,”
• Simmons’ take on how the west will be won.
• First time I’ve linked to Jazzbots in a while.  Here’s some good stuff on the Jazz trainer though.
• Crazy statement on why the Jazz haven’t played overseas in the pre-season, “The NBA did head to Moscow in 2006, but opted to send the Los Angeles Clippers, with the Jazz believing they were slighted in favor of a higher-profile team.”
  They know that AK is a national hero there and that almost every Russian is a Jazz fan, right?   Same thing for Memo in Turkey.
• Something no parent should have to go through.
• Amen
• A lucky fam gets free tickets to Leapin’ Leaners

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.

Where do I even start after a performance like tonight? When you talk about playing 48 minutes, this was it. The Jazz started off on fire and never let up. They led by 8 after one and essentially put the game out of reach by the second quarter as they finished the half with a 23-point lead.

And there was no run by the Nuggets that normally happens in the NBA. The Jazz didn’t cool off a bit in the third and in fact pushed the lead to 33 by the end of the quarter.

Mehmet Okur was brilliant. This has to be one of the most memorable games of this career. He simply could not miss. And apparently Denver’s scout team told the coaches that leaving Memo all alone at the three point line was the best way to defend him. Okur had 27 points and another 11 boards while shooting 9-11. That included his remarkable 6-7 from what’s becoming Memoland (three-point line). His only miss came in the fourth when the game was already decided. You really can’t say how well Memo’s been playing over the last 7 games. It’s actually been kind of scary. You know Memo is capable of these games, but when he turns in seven consecutive games like this, it’s really unbelievable. He also knocked Kenyon Martin out of the game with an inadvertent? elbow to his head. Memo was driving and swinging his arms and clocked Martin upside the head. I don’t wish injury on anyone, but it was a bit satisfying to see. I don’t think it was on purpose though.

Everyone got in on the act. Korver was 2-3, CJ was 2-3, and Deron was 1-2 on their respective three point shots. Deron’s came on about a 30 footer with the shot clock winding down.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Boozer’s 23 & 11 was overshadowed by Memo’s big night. He abused the Nuggets again to the tune of 10-15 from the field and had some monster dunks.

And Williams continued his barrage of assists with 16. That’s exactly what he’s been averaging over the last seven games. And the best part about those assists are that he’s creating them for himself. He’s not just finding the open man, with his drives or moves, he forces other players’ to leave their man. This usually results in Memo or someone else being wide open.

Everyone got in on the action tonight. The only player that didn’t score was Hart. And he had his looks. He even missed two free throws. The man that overtook him on the depth chart, Ronnie Price, had a couple of AI-like drives and layups in the second quarter. And Bolerjack was in double-double heaven as four Jazz players, Williams, Okur, Boozer, and Millsap (16 & 10) accomplished the feat. And like I stated in the halftime update, the Jazz could have scored more. They had numerous missed layups and dunks.

I really haven’t seen a beat down of a team like I did tonight. Well, maybe a couple, but the Jazz were usually on the receiving end. I daresay that this is the best basketball I’ve seen this team play. And it could be the best I’ve seen since the Stockton/Malone era; even better than their streak earlier this year.

And for the Nuggets, they’re now two games out of the playoffs. The Jazz have a pretty comfortable lead of four games on Denver for the NW division title. And by the time we play Denver again in April, both teams’ fates could be decided. But more importantly, they move up a bit in the race for home-court advantage in the playoffs. They move within a game of New Orleans with NOLA’s loss last night. And the kept pace with the Hornet’s opponent, the Rockets, staying one game back. Are they ever going to lose? I don’t know how that will hold up in the playoffs. But we don’t want to see them in the first round again. Also, is George Karl gone if they don’t make the playoffs? This guy hopes so. He’s probably wishing he would get fired before then.

And there’s nothing more satisfying than seeing public enemy #1 & #2, Carmelo and Iverson, have their bubbles burst. After one of their biggest wins in SA, they come to Utah and get slapped back to reality. The game was pretty physical in the first half and we saw two Ts and a flagrant called. That wasn’t far from my prediction. And had we had a more competitive second half, we might have gotten there.

So now the Jazz have a couple days off before going on their last real road trip of the season. They play four games in five nights. And with the exception of Boston, they should be the favorites to win those. It would be nice to return the favor though after Boston came here and gave the Jazz their last home loss. That reminds me, even more overshadowed is the fact the Jazz have now won 18 in a row at home. It’s like Boozer’s double-doubles or Deron breaking ankles. It’s to the point now where that’s what you expect to see and you kind of take it for granted. Now we just need a bit of help from other teams to take out those above us in the standings.

Other notes:

• CJ had a great recovery block on AI during a fast break. He was called for the foul when he probably shouldn’t have been. But looking at the replay, it was probably goaltending anyway as it looked like it hit the glass first.
• There were 50 total fouls called. It’s only 9 of what was called in the PHX game. It didn’t seem like that many though. And as UtesFan89 mentioned in the game thread, most of those were in the fourth.
• Carmelo has a WB logo on his left shoulder. I can’t figure that out. Unless it’s this.
• Okay, Boozer’s “And 1!” calls are getting annoying. He’s calling them for everyone else too.
• Watch Tuesday as the Jazz take on Big Ben and the Bulls! At least that’s what Boler told on the previews. Must record those way in advance.
• Anyone else remember when Hot Rod was doing TV and after his interview with the player of the game, he’d give them a gift certificate to some restaurant? I always thought that was funny because one, like they need a paid meal. And two, they probably got their meals for free. Not to mention they have per-diems.
• This guy wasn’t going home happy either way.
  
• Boozer had just thrown his towel to the kid on the bottom. Then the bigger kid grabbed part of it and you get this. They cut away soon after.
  
• In the Fan Sports tourney style voting to find the best Jazz play (Stockton for three! will take it), the presented Memo’s late-game, turnaround, buzzer-beating three against the Mavs a couple years ago versus the game against the Bulls in 89 where they came from 7 down in the last minute. It gave us this shot from Stockton:

  That’s Jordan falling to the right and Pippen not being able to recover enough to block Stockton’s layup. This is where he caught it from half court and streaked down the court with about 4 seconds left. Incredible shot.

Other blogs:

• Biased Fan - Clever title
• My Utah Jazz
• Frank Layden
• Nugg Doctor - It was his win by 40 prediction that did them in.
• Pickaxe and Roll

Videos

I’m trying out Veoh.com instead of YouTube.  Much better quality.  And I don’t have problems uploading.

• Deron Williams interview
• Paul Millsap interview
• Kyle Korver interview
• CJ Miles interview
• Mehmet Okur interview