Triple the pleasure of AK-47 tonight as he becomes the first Russian-born player with a triple-double. I don’t know what I found more surprising: the fact that he never had a triple-double in his NBA career before tonight, or that he only has one other trip-doub with the Russian national team (points, boards, blocks).
I do know what DIDN’T surprise me: the fact that SportsCenter buried the highlights at the end of the hour. I mean, they did have TWO WHOLE NBA games tonight. We saw tons of NHL, they broke down the NFL playoffs over and over…it was obviously a slow news night. Perfect time for the Jazz to move up into the top of the hour, right? If only Jay Bilas could have stretched a couple of more minutes rambling about which underachieving team, Kansas or Kentucky, could go far in the NCAA tournament, or if they could have found another couple of Boston College / Holy Cross highlights, the Jazz game might have been tagged with the ominous “Score Only” highlight. Thanks, ESPN, we can always count on you.
Okay, I’m off my soapbox…
I must make a point of something here. Were I so lucky to have people reading this blog on a consistent basis, they could probably see that I didn’t post anything during the two losses to the Heat and the Clippers, and now that they won, I’m back. It’s a little more involved than that. I only got to watch the Heat game at another person’s house, while we made nice with our neighbors. We were locked into the Broncos / Patriots game, and got very few updates (although we saw enough that my taping the game was pretty much ruined). With the rare afternoon tip against the Clippers, I listened on the radio until I got to work, and followed it from there, through the amazing rally, and the unbelievable collapse in OT. Couple that with me getting hit with a nasty head cold, and the blogging took a hit.
It IS always more fun to write about the Jazz when they win, and tonight was an amazing game to watch. The Jazz moved back into a first-place tie with the T-Wolves and Nuggets (although the Wolves have played 4 fewer games) and pretty much rolled over the Raptors 111-98. They squared their home record up at 9-9, and made a team that had won 7 of their last 9 look like the same old crummy Raptors.
The chemistry on this team is pretty good mix right now of veterans (Ostertag, Harpring, Palacio), rising stars (Kirilinko, Okur), and young talent (Williams, Whaley, etc). There’s definitely a part of me that doesn’t miss Boozer and his hammy. The Jazz are just playing well right now, and now doesn’t seem the time to bring him back and ask the rest of the team to carry him into game shape. Of course, I’m not the one paying him $180,000 per game to sit behind the bench and pseudo-clap during the game.
When the Jazz are playing their game, it’s a really amazing thing to watch. Both the Sixers game and tonight’s game prove to me that there is a place in the NBA for teamwork, precision, and execution. Jerry Sloan really takes his lumps from the fans when the Jazz struggle, but he deserves consideration for Coach of the Year if he can bring these guys together and get into the playoffs. Time after time against the Raptors, the Jazz found each other for wide-open layups. Raptors coach Sam Mitchell tried to go zone, but that was nearly fatal, and the Jazz exploited it repeatedly until they gave it up.
Bottom line: AK is simply amazing, and he has been playing at an All-Star level ever since I walked past him at the grocery store in December. He deserves to be at the All-Star game, although his time off due to injury will probably cost him with the fan votes. And while we’re talking All-Star game, Memo needs to be there, too. Yao Ming is hurt, and I can’t think of too many other West centers who should be there. At least let him go to the 3-point contest!
So, congrats to Andrei for his first triple-double (plus, he was a block and a couple of steals from another 5×5), and congrats to the Jazz for getting back on track. Hopefully they can go to the Pepsi Center on Friday and put the co-Division Leading Nuggets in their rearview mirror.