Boy, did that Boston game stink.
Sadly, I could see the writing on the wall when I was listening to the pre-game on the radio. The jocks were going on and on about how Boston had lost so many on the road in a row, how they had gone into the tank, all this kind of stuff. As I listened, all that I could think about was that this is a game the Jazz can easily lose. Especially because most of the Jazz players were coming off of an extended vacation, not having to bother with participating in Houston.
The worst part was that I could sit and watch it live for a change. I was home playing Daddy while my wife was out of town, working. So, I was flipping between the Jazz game, the Olympics, and “American Idol”, so that when my wife called later, I could discuss the efforts of the female contestants and help her to whittle down her choices to vote (she ended up voting for 7 of the 12 contestants). When the Jazz got a double-digit lead in the second quarter, I actually took the game out of rotation for a while, allowing me to just use the “back” button to toggle between the Olympics and “Idol”. Can’t we get a back button that will go through more than just two choices? I mean, I could set up a favorites list with those three channels, but that’s WAY too much work. Am I asking too much?
Anyway, by the time I mixed the game back in, it had gone south in a big way. The Celtics, a team built around making tons of threes and letting Paul Pierce shoot 500 times a game, got hot, and started bombing away. The Jazz seemed a little disinterested, and rode quietly off into the night. By the middle of the fourth quarter, I had soothed my feelings with a nice, warm bath (my daughter’s, not mine), and was watching the Americans choke in Torino before the game even ended.
So, with the first match-up of the season with the surprising NO/OKC Hornets the next day, it became a contest amongst all of the Jazz writers to see which lead they would post. Was it “Did someone let the Jazz know that the All-Star break was over?” or “Time for Chris Paul to show the Jazz what a mistake they made”. So, after sifting through those gems over and over, I was glad that they had a game again.
Because of the early start time, I was able to catch the first quarter before I was forced to play remote control derby again, and after the Jazz laid that 12-point egg in the first quarter, an 11-point deficit on the road against a good home team seemed a little much to overcome. So, I zoned through most of it, listening on the radio while I called the Guinness people to ask them if I did indeed have a world record weight diaper for a 7-month old (a disturbing sidebar, for certain. Let’s just say that 1 jar of sweet potatoes + 8 oz. of juice + 5 oz. of formula in one sitting at Grammy’s house = an explosive situation several hours down the road. That, and the encore performance this morning, were eye-opening to say the least). Alas, the world record is held by a 7-month old labratory chimp in China. But I digress.
I was still listening half-heartedly en route to the airport when the Jazz came alive in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Hornets by 14 and coasting to a win. I was beginning to think that this would be the start of a downward spiral for the Jazz, and began to dread writing these blogs about the last 15 crummy games of the season while they play out the string. So this rally surprised me, rather pleasantly. There’s no guarantee that a collapse won’t happen, but if they can beat up on this same Hornets team on Saturday, it can only build some momentum for the stretch run.
Some quick thoughts:
- How nice was it to see Deron Williams assert himself and get the most of Chris Paul in the fourth quarter? While Chris Paul will the runaway Rookie Of The Year, and stands to be a superstar in the NBA for years to come, I don’t think that the Williams v. Paul case is so cut and dried. Playing one of those “We’ll never know for sure” games, if the Jazz had Paul and the Hornets D-Will, I think that it would be closer to how it is right now than people think. I love Jerry Sloan, but the two areas that drive me crazy about him are his stubborn refusal to change (double-teaming the low post to leave open three-point shooters is a philosophy that stopped working about 10 years ago), and his impatience in developing young talent. I mean, did you SEE Kirk Snyder’s dunk the other night? And while he only had 9 points last night, he’s starting on a playoff-bound team. I’m sure that we could use him somewhere. But, he got buried on the bench, and never got the chance to develop. Maybe Chris Paul would have shined so brightly, that Jerry couldn’t keep him on the bench. But after a half-season of doing the three point guard tango (with two capable, but journeyman guards), and being asked to not only learn the 1 position, but also the shooting guard spot, and maybe Chris Paul doesn’t have quite the year. Of course, we’ll never know for sure. At least for one night, Deron Williams got some of his mojo back.
-Nice to see Memo only get 7 points and the Jazz still win. I expect that the Young Turk’s back was getting tired of carrying the entire team around. A couple of months ago, seeing Memo in single digits meant a blowout loss. 4 guys had 14 or more points, including Mr. Carlos Boozer. AK-47 was only 2 blocks short of another triple-double, and as excited as he got with the first one, I half-expected him to set up a mini trampoline on the court to help him get the other two swats.
- Lastly, where is Ostertag? 3 minutes against the C’s, and the always exciting DNP-coach’s decision last night. Maybe he stepped on Jerry’s line when they were golfing during the All-Star break.
All in all, it was a good win. These next 28 games should be a lot of fun. If Boozer can get back into the swing of things, and if Williams can keep improving, the Jazz should make the playoffs. They’re only 1 1/2 games behind the Lakers, and nothing would make me happier than to catch those guys. Plus, we might see a 60-shot night out of Kobe.