Jazz Update 1/10/8: Key to victory? Steve Nash's tummy!

Tonight the Utah Jazz get to make an appearance on national television, as they take on the Phoenix Suns at home in the second game on TNT tonight.

While the Jazz easily dispatched the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday, the Suns seemed to have their hands full. They overcame a 16 point deficit going into the fourth period and wound up winning in overtime. After that, they had to get ready to fly to Salt Lake City. Oh the grueling schedule of the NBA.

Steve Nash didn’t fly with them last night, as he sat out a good chunk of the game thanks to a stomach virus. He still might be at home; there has been no announcement if he’s joined the team or is staying home sick. Suns coach Mike D’Antoni has also said that Leandro Barbosa and Shawn Marion were feeling somewhat ill, as well.

What does this mean?

Does it mean that the stars and moon and suns are aligned in a way that the Utah Jazz might be able to get the win tonight?

Possibly.

When a full Suns roster played the Jazz back in December, the Jazz nearly won the game. In the fourth quarter—surprise of surprises—the Jazz choked and allowed Phoenix to get the win, 103-98.

In addition to the gastrointestinal problems, the Suns are also missing Grant Hill. He’s gone through a sort of renaissance this year as an all around player, adding rebounding, passing and leadership.

This absence doesn’t have anything to do with his ongoing ankle problems, but an appendectomy. Who would have thunk.

For the Jazz, they are still missing Andrei Kirilenko (back) and Ronnie Price (ankle).

So what should the Jazz do tonight? Defend.

If Nash isn’t playing, try to keep the ball in Barbosa or Marcus Banks’ hands. Force them to turn the ball over as much as the possible.

The Suns also like to set up their three point shooters, so defend the perimeter. This gives the Jazz a chance to work on using a 3-2 zone defense, something that will definitely help them in the playoffs.

Related to that, is that they need to step up their help defense in Kirilenko’s absence.

The Jazz are going to have to be careful on their use of physicality on defense. I’m not saying that the Suns are softies, but they rarely foul their opponents when they are defending. The teams just have two completely different styles. The referees know this, and will probably give the Suns the benefit on this one and be more critical on the Jazz. It would be different if it were say the Detroit Pistons, another physical defender.

On the offense side, the Jazz have shown that they can score in bunches, something that is needed to compete with the Suns. They do have to remember that they don’t have to compete with the Suns as to who is going to be faster; they should just be concerned on their execution.

Jazz Update 1/9/8: They beat the Pacers

All the Utah Jazz needed was one quarter to get themselves back on track last night against the Indiana Pacers. In that period, they outscored the visiting Pacers 40-19 and never looked back.

The Jazz wound up beating the Pacers, 111-89 in front of a sold out 19,911 crowd at the Energy Solutions Arena.

Utah's quick offensive onslaught last night allowed their team's top scorer Carlos Boozer jto drop 22 points and pull down 4 rebounds in 24 minutes. Deron Williams score 10 points and picked up 8 assists in 25 minutes and Mehmet Okur had a productive 24 minutes, with 9 points and 7 rebounds.

I'm assuming Jazz coach Jerry Sloan decided that it was going to be a victory early on and let his starters rest up for their game against the Phoenix Suns tomorrow night.

All eleven Jazz players got a chance to score and geton the stat sheet. Most impressive was second year forward Paul Millsap. "The Paperboy" almost got a double double, scoring 9 points and getting 8 rebounds. Jarron Collins played like a decent back up center getting 4 points and 5 rebounds. Backup point guard Jason Hart played better than some of the starters in the league, with 11 points, 3 assists and 5 rebounds.

As for the swingman shoot out bonanza I called in the preview, Matt Harpring clearly won that one with 16 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.

Here's how the rest did:

• CJ Miles got 7 points and 5 rebounds, predominately as a small forward.
• Ronnie Brewer got a 4x3, picking up 9 points and 3 in each rebounds, steals, and assists. Most of his points were picked up at the free throw line.
• Kyle Korver scored 12 points on 5-11 shooting. He was 1-6 from three point land.
• Morris Almond got his first NBA bucket, where it looked like everyone on the Jazz was passing to him to try to set him up. That would be his only points of the night (2 total), which is very funny considering he's looking like Kobe and shooting up the D-League.

I'll chalk up the Jazz's win to the following:

• They outrebounded (48 to 42) and outpassed (27 to 17) Indiana.
• The Pacers were awful from 3 point land, shooting 5-24.
• The Pacers put the Jazz on the free throw line 34 times where they scored 27 points. Compare that to their own 16-26 shooting.

Danny Granger lead the Pacers in scoring with 17 points. Jamaal Tinsley chipped in 13 and Mike Dunleavy Jr. added 12.

Jazz Update 1/8/8: Utah Jazz look to pace ahead of Indiana tonight at home

For more, check out Jazzcore.blogspot.com

It's been a rough stretch for the Utah Jazz. They've been getting killed on the road and have a chance to start to redeem themselves and get back on track. This month (January, they have a fairly light schedule and they take on the Indiana Pacers at home.

This is the first time both teams have met. The Jazz will be without Andrei Kirilenko (back injury) and Ronnie Price (sprained ankle). Unfortunately there is still no timetable for AK's return.

Here are some key points to tonight's game.

• Guard the Pacers' wingmen. And I'm not talking about the guys who are willing to go after the ugly chicks. Danny Granger and Mike Dunleavy Jr. can be a handful, especially if they get past their man. I know I sound like a broken record, but the Jazz really need to step up and work on their help defense.
• Jermaine O'Neal vs. Carlos Boozer. Tonight should be a challenge for Boozer. O'Neal is a better than average defender, and on the opposite end of the floor can get his own on the offense. Boozer is going to have to deal with a bunch of talented power forwards if the Jazz can get themselves back into considering themselves a playoff contender.
• Mehmet Okur vs. Troy Murphy: Self, meet former self. Or self, meet future self. Both of these guys have a similar style of play; a big guy who can and seems to prefer shooting from the outside. Okur has been having a rough time of it and hopefully can have a big game tonight. For Murphy, this could be a vision of what could happen to him in the future. Which might not be too bad for him, considering Okur already has an NBA championship ring, an All-Star appearance and a marriage to a Turkish super model.

Most interesting about tonight's lineup for the Jazz will be watching who gets time at the shooting guard and small forward. Consider all the players the Jazz will have tonight who play those positions:

• The Jazz have called up rookie Morris Almond from the NBA D-League. Almond was drafted due to his enormous perimeter shooting and potential.
• Kyle Korver who the Jazz just traded for his outside shooting prowess.
• CJ Miles, who at times shows lots of potential from downtown but then have an awful game.
• Ronnie Brewer who began the season as the 2 guard of choice due to his high shot percentage and strong defense.
• Matt Harpring, all-around favorite player of Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan.

So who's going to win the Utah Jazz swingman contest? Other than Harpring, who ever shows the most effort on defense. I suspect one of these five could be very well traded by the end of the season.

That's all for now. Tip off is at 9 PM EST.

Jazz Update 1/6/8: Oops, Portland beat them again...

This season, the Utah Jazz have shown great difficulty closing out teams in the fourth quarter. Last night against the Portland Trailblazers at the Rose Garden, the Jazz choked in the third quarter, getting outscored 36-22 and losing a three point lead that they had in the first half. The final score was 103-89. Portland won their series against the Jazz 3-1.

In a game that could have been winnable, thanks to Portland guard Brandon Roy going out with a bruised tail bone (yes, you are reading that right), their forward Martel Webster game off the bench, figuratively carrying his team to the win. He picked up the scoring slack, getting 24 of his 26 points in the third quarter. He was supported by LaMarcus Aldridge's 20 points and 8 rebounds.

So what went wrong for the Jazz?

• Andrei Kirilenko was out of the game with his back injury. His man on man and help defense would have really helped neutralize Webster tonight. They really need to get him back. In a post game interview, Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan said there is no timetable for his return.
• If Carlos Boozer is going to have a rough game, the rest of the team will suffer. Last night he only had 6 points, 9 rebounds. He was 3-16 from the field last night and missed both of his free throws. When he's playing well, he frees up outside shooters like CJ Miles and Kyle Korver, who chipped in 6 and 4 points respectively. Boozer also should have played more aggressively in the second half of the game, as Portland center Joel Pryzbilia had four fouls. He's possibly the best Blazer defensive big, and getting him out of the game would have opened up the paint.
• Sloan gave his team too much freedom in the third. He really should have called a time out, but instead watched as the team didn't score on eight consecutive possessions and Portland went on a tear in front of the home crowd. At times, I think he forgets how young the team is.
• Mehmet Okur (15 points, 7 rebounds) really needs to become more of a leader. He's starting to play much better than he did earlier in the season, but he needs to become a better help defender and needs to regain his ability to be a clutch shooter for the team at the end of games.

In case you were wondering, Deron Williams had 23 points and 7 assists on the night.

The Jazz have off till Tuesday when they take on the Indiana Pacers. Tomorrow's update will show us how the Jazz get down and party like a rockstar.

Jazz Update 1/4/8: AK-47 out for Portland game, Okur fights Giricek, Secret on Joining the Jazz

Andrei Kirilenko Checks Himself Before He Wrecks Himself

Kirilenko's case of fragility reared its ugly head today at an unfortunate time--during the end of today's practice session. According to the Deseret News, AK will be staying home tomorrow night and not joining the team as they go on the road to play the Portland Trailblazers. He's suffering from back spasms, an injury which caused him to sit out some games during the 2005-2006 season.

With these starting small forward minutes, coach Jerry Sloan has a few options as to who will get the start tomorrow.

• Matt Harpring, who just may be Sloan's favorite player in all of professional sports, is a likely favorite.
• CJ Miles has been playing really well the last few games and I could see him getting some extra tick. His perimeter play would compliment Ronnie Brewer's inside game.
• Paul Millsap might get some extra minutes at the three, but he's more valuable backing Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur.
• Kyle Korver has played well in his first two games, but if there's one thing Sloan doesn't like doing is veering from the plan. You never know, because Sloan has been very pro-Kyle since he joined the team. I'd personally like to see them play a Boozer/Korver/Okur/Deron Williams/Brewer lineup. The Williams/Boozer pick and roll would cause mayhem in the paint, freeing up Okur and Korver on the outside and Brewer to slash towards the basket.

This will propably be a game time decision so we'll just have to wait and see. Hopefully AK will get back quickly, as his help defense will be missed.

Mehmet Okur vs. Gordan Giricek: The Euro War To Settle The Score

Many people think that Giricek's exit from Utah was mostly due to some feuding with Sloan, but maybe it was a beef with Okur. If you remember on Wednesday night's game, Giri took a somewhat hard foul from Okur, to the point he was screaming at the ref that it should be a flagrant. I didn't buy into it then, but look at this footage of the Jazz from their game in Philadelphia in November:

You can clearly see Okur trying to trip Giri from behind. Thanks to the Jazzfanz message board crew for finding this one.

Quote of the Day

"The reason I liked Harpring was he came in here and kicked our tail."

This was said by Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller on a radio interview on January 3. The secret has been revealed. If you want to play for the Jazz, all you have to do is have a good game against them before you become a free agent.

That's it for today and have a great night. We'll be back tomorrow with coverage of the Jazz/Blazers game.

Kyle Korver shoots up his old team

Because of his timely three point shooting, Allen Iverson dubbed him sniper.

Kyle Korver lived up to his nickname and helped the Utah Jazz close out the Philadelphia Sixers 110-107.

It’s kind of funny how things can change so rapidly for an NBA player. On Sunday he was told that he would be traded from the Sixers to Utah. This past Monday he played with the Jazz in their 111-101 victory over the Portland Trailblazers. Tuesday night was spent greeting his old Sixers teammates at the airport and last night he played a key role in beating them.

Former Jazz guard Gordon Giricek gets introduced to his superior replacement Kyle Korver(AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)

Korver had 14 points (2-2 from three point land) in 11 minutes of play, mostly during the fourth quarter. He also had a few key defensive stops, something that he didn’t show too often in Philadelphia.

Four of those points came from clutch free throws in the final minutes of the game. The Jazz had pretty much dominated the Sixers for the game, having a lead at times as big as 13 points. But as expected, the Jazz started slipping in the fourth quarter and at times were whittled down to a 2 point lead. Korver helped them out big time at the end of the game.

Part of the Sixers rally was due to them crowding the paint by going to a 2-3 zone defensive scheme. The Jazz countered that by having Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer going to a high pick and roll which freed up Boozer to take a jump shot from the top of the key. His jumper is a thing of beauty because it gets so much height.

Boozer finished the night scoring 22 points and 9 rebounds. Williams had 15 points and an amazing 20 assists! Their shooting guards Ronnie Brewer and CJ Miles, scoring 11 and 12 points respectively.

Mehmet Okur had a good game for the first time in a while, scoring 20 points (2-3 on three pointers), but only pulled down a paltry 2 rebounds in 38 minutes of play. A lot of his offense came at the expense of Andrei Kirilenko (6 points); Okur had 14 field goal attempts to Kirilenko’s 6.

The play of the night involved Okur, but not in a good way. In the third period, he—a 6’11” center mind you—was blocked by the 6’1” Sixer guard [[Louis Williams[[, who chased the ball down to the other end for a sick dunk. That Williams wound up scoring 17 on the night. That was joined by Samuel Dalembert’s 20, Andre Iguodala’s 30 and Andre Miller’s 25. Iguodala’s 30 were enough to be his season high.

The other Sixer of note was Gordon Giricek, who played his first game as a Sixer. He was the other part of the Korver trade and was booed pretty loudly. He had 4 points on the night.

I guess the Jazz have made out on the better end of the trade.

Lucky 14: Jazz end Blazers' 13 win streak

The Utah Jazz ended 2007 with something they needed: a win. In particular, this was a 111-101 win at home against the Portland Trail Blazers who had beat them twice this month.

Carlos Boozer (19 points, 9 rebounds) and Deron Williams (18 points, 8 rebounds) played their usual. It was Andrei Kirilenko who really carried the Jazz, with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, just shy of a a triple double. Memo Okur is still slumping, scoring only 6 points and pulling down a single rebound in 21 minutes. Ouch.

Paul Millsap is getting Okur's time, scoring 14 and 6 rebounds. The way Okur is playing, they should start Millsap at the power forward and move Boozer to the center.

The Trail Blazers were led by LaMarcus Aldridge who had 36 points and an unreal three rebounds. Aldridge is going to be a good player but needs to be more aggressive on the boards. Brandon Roy added 17 points and Jarret Jones added 15.

The free throw differential wasn't as bad as it had been during the month; Portland only had 16 more opportunities.

Kyle Korver also made his Jazz debut with 11 points, and pretended he was Kirilenko by adding 2 blocks and 2 steals to hsi statline. He looked like he was playing really well and fitting into Utah's system very well. He also played adequate defense which would lead me to believe one of the two things:

1. Korver didn't care about playing defense back with the Sixers.
2. Korver has already realized that the only way to get consistent minutes in a Jerry Sloan team is to play hard.

Either way, I'm really liking his addition to the team. Korver gets to play his old team on Wednesday, as the Philadelphia Seventy Sixers come to the Energy Solutions Arena. Happy new year and enjoy the NHL Winter Classic!