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

If you can explain the ABC series Lost to me, then you might be able to explain the Jazz at home and the Jazz away from home.  They’re kind of like the Losties on and off the island.  Some of the theories for Lost as why things are so different on the island involve time travel, a parallel universe, and the supernatural.

Whenever the Jazz leave the Wasatch Mountains, they rip through a space-time continuum into a universe where they suck.  Maybe someone should check that the Jazz aren’t flying out on Oceanic 815.  But in the shadows of Mount Olympus, the Jazz are nearly unstoppable.

That was certainly the case again as the Jazz destroyed the Wizards, 129-87.  This one was never in doubt.  That was in large part due to the team record 15 three pointers and CJ Miles.

The Jazz let it rain threes down on the Wiz.  The Jazz went 15-26 from downtown with Miles making 4 of those.  Memo and Korver had 3 apiece, Deron and Price had 2, and Almond made his first of the year.

The star of the night, much to UtesFan89’s delight, was none other than CJ Miles.  CJ got the start with Brewer and AK out.  And he made the most of it tonight.  My biggest criticism of Miles has been that when he gets the chance to play, he hasn’t been very consistent.  Of course UtesFan89 will tell you that’s because he doesn’t get enough PT.  That may be true.  But with a game like tonight’s, he may finally get more consistent PT.  He finished with a career high 29 points on 12-17 shooting as well as 4 rebounds and 5 assists.

Price also got only his second career start.  And I have to say that I like the Price/Williams backcourt.  It has a certain dynamic to it that presents matchup problems for the opposing team.  Either one can penetrate and create.  And when Deron comes out, you have Price that’s still in that can run the show.  He finished with 10 &4.

You would think though that having Price and Deron in at the same time would take away from Deron’s assists.  Not so.  Overlooked tonight, if that’s possible, was Deron’s 16 assists.  He had 13 at the half.  It was only because of the blowout that we didn’t get to see him go for a career high.  He also had three steals with one coming at the end of the first half when he nailed a three and then swiped the ball after the inbound pass and nearly drained another three at the buzzer.

Other stats…  Boozer had 19 & 2 (yes, two rebounds), Memo had 16, Korver scored 15, and Harp added 13.  Hornacek stated that when both Korver and Harp score double-figures, the Jazz are 13-0.  That tells me that the bench adds a lot to the success of the Jazz.

Up next is the revenge game against the Wolves tomorrow.  This game was kind of a revenge game.  You know that they wanted to come out and make a statement.  Let’s just hope that they do the same to the Wolves and to the Spurs on Friday.

In other games of relevance, the Mavs beat the Clips to stay in the playoffs.  And Denver blew a 22-point lead to the Suns and end up getting beat by 15.  The downside is that a Suns’ loss would have put the Jazz just a half game back of them.  But on the plus side, Denver drops 3 1/2 games back of the Jazz and are now out of the playoffs.  As much as I love it when Denver loses, I’d much rather make up ground for home-court advantage.  And both teams turn around and play each other again Tuesday night @ Denver.  So once again, it’s a win-win for the Jazz.  There’s no way I can root for the Nuggets, but if they do win, that’s okay.  But if a loss gets us closer to clinching, that’s okay too.

Other blogs,

• Biased Fan
• My Utah Jazz
• Ross Siler
• Bullets Forever

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.

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

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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.

Thanks to this storm, I was sans power for most of the night.  So I had to follow the game on my phone.  But for those that were able to watch the game, did Bolerjack have to be rushed to the hospital?  I can’t even imagine what Boozer’s triple-double did to him.  Maybe worse for Boler would have been if Booze came up one assist or rebound shy of the TD.  And he very well probably came close as Boozer’s last assist didn’t come until :35 left in the game on a pass to Price for a dunk.

And let’s please put to an end all of the Boozer sucks comments that I’ve read on Jazz message boards.  He has a few bad games and everyone is calling for his head.  We have one of the best power forwards in the game and suddenly people want to trade him for pennies on the dollar.  Amazing.

The Jazz finally put this one away after letting the Sonics hang around for the first 3 quarters.  Utah went on a 12-2 run to start the fourth and it wasn’t close the reset of the way.  And thank goodness, because the last time we were there, AK had to make a game-saving tip-block for the win.  Boozer had his aforementioned triple-double with 22, 10, and 10 assists.  It was great to see Brewer back and add 16 on 7-11 shooting.  Memo hoisted another 17 shots for 20 points and added 10 boards.  And Deron added his typical 17 & 10.

Price continued his strong play with 6 points and 3 assists in 13 minutes.  I wish I could have seen the dunk on the pass from Boozer.  Anyone have a link?  And most importantly for all the Sloan-haters, Hart had his first DNP-CD of the year.  It looks like he’s finally come around.  There’s no doubt that Price has earned it.  Over his last 4 games he’s played in, he’s 10-15 from the field, 6-8 from three, and averaging 7.5 points to go along with his 2.5 assists.  It’s a small sample size, but it’s all we have for the most part.  And if you’re into per 48 stats, that comes out to 28 points and 9.3 assists a game.  And one of the most telling stats is that he only has 1 turnover in that same time period.  That’s 10 assists and one turnover.  Let’s hope he keeps it up to the point that Hart doesn’t see much time.

So now what to do for Jazz fans?  Brewer and Millsap will be in the Rookie/Soph game.  Deron will be in the All-Star skills challenge.  And Boozer will be in the AS game coming up.  And with Kobe maybe sitting out the AS game, we could see Deron as a replacement.  Kidd might still ruin this if his trade to Dallas goes through.  But thanks to George, maybe we’ll see enough of a delay where we won’t be traded for a few more days.

Having Wa in the All-Star game instead of Deron could be one of the biggest selection mistakes in recent memory.   Portland, now losers of 4 straight, sit 5 1/2 back of the the Jazz and are 4 games out of the playoffs.  If you take out their December stretch (as a lot of people did to the Jazz when they started 06-07 12-0), they are playing .384 basketball.  Ouch.  But even the Jazz are only 1 1/2 games from being out of the playoffs.  Denver is out after their loss last night to Orlando.  Portland would have to have another December-like month just to have a chance at cracking the top 8 in the West.  There’s going to be at least one team left out in the west that in most years would have gotten them in.

Should be a great finish to the year.

Other blogs:

• Biased Fan
• My Utah Jazz - Nothing up yet.  He too could have been hit with no power.
• Ross Siler
• Supersonic Soul
• SonicsCentral

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.

Am I getting more comfortable with the Price signing?  Maybe, now that O’Connor stated that he keeps his core players informed of signings and the direction they’re going.

We try to keep our players informed on things.  Specifically, do I talk about what we’re doing? Yes, we try to keep the guys we have under contract informed.

So I would assume that meant that Deron knew Dee wasn’t going to be kept.  I would think that if that was going to be a major issue for Williams, he would have said something to O’Connor at that point.  So while I don’t think Deron necessarily gave him his blessing, he had to be somewhat okay with it or I think there would have been a bigger fuss made and maybe Dee would have been given a guaranteed contract.

Other news:

• O’Connor not talking about Dee & CJ and Fes is still not officially a Jazz Man
• The NBA hates the Utah Jazz
• Next year’s 82 games leading to the playoffs