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I love statistics.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love statistics. I love numbers, and math in general. When it’s time for March Madness, I love to break down correct guesses, project possible point totals, everything. But statistics can be a double-edged sword. Sometimes stats give a skewed, or unpredictable result. Let me give you an example:

I enjoy the website www.82games.com a lot, because it’s all about the statistics. Sometimes to the point of absurdity. There is a whole article on there about which player converts on the most “fouled, make the bucket, chance for a three-point play” which they call an “and-1″, which is what every NBA player screams when he shoots the ball and somebody breathes on him. And it breaks it down to chances close to the rim, mid-range, driving, etc. Pretty amazing really.

Anyway, I stumble across the breakdown of the best tandems of each NBA team. They keep track of how well the team does when Player A and Player B are both on the court together. There could be any combination of three other players, but it examines every possible combination of players on each team, and compares their “plus/minus” - how many points their team scored vs. how many the opponent scored while they were on the floor together. I would LOVE to see what type of computer program they use to compute all of this data. So, I start looking at the tandems, and many of them are quite predictable:

LA Lakers - Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom (Duh! - I was expecting Von Wafer to sneak in there)

Houston Rockets - Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming (Another no-brainer)

San Antonio Spurs - Tim Duncan and Eva Longoria…I mean Tony Parker

No big surprises there, right? Now, let’s try the Utah Jazz. I’ll hold a gun to your head and give you five chances to name just ONE of the tandem to save your life.

Let’s see, Andrei has GOT to be there, right? Is there a better all-around player on the team? AK-47 makes everyone better.

Incorrect!

Well, Memo has been the leading scorer, and the offense seems to run much better when he’s in there.

Sorry, charlie.

What about Harpring? Nobody works as hard as he does. Plus, it’s all about the averages, so the fact that he’s missed some time won’t factor in.

Nope.

Hmm, I better pick someone who I wouldn’t normally think about. Someone who is a veteran, who knows the system…how about Ostertag?

That’s four.

Last gasp, I’ll go for someone consistent, the guy who runs the show at the start of the game. He led the Jazz to a 6-1 start at the beginning of last year while the Carlos Arroyo experience was getting healthy. Keith McCloud?

And then my friend, you die…

So who was it? That tandem who produces better than any other? None other than Milt Palacio and Jarron Collins.

WHAT???????

Seriously, what is up with that? I hardly remember them on the court together…ever. Collins starts the game, loses the opening tap, takes a couple of charges, and then gets comfy on the bench. Palacio has been the fourth quarter stud of late. I guess maybe they have a few minutes when their floor time overlaps, and sparks just fly. Pretty strange; you can check it out here. Outside of the Blazers and their combo of Charles Smith and Viktor Khryapa, I don’t think there’s a more surprising duo.

And THAT is why you can’t always trust statistics.

“In this corner, weighing 165 pounds, Allen Iverson…and in this corner, weighing in at nearly 1 ton, the Utah Jazz”

It didn’t really seem like a fair fight, but A.I. took all comers in the first half, and the Sixers were ahead by four. Of course, he had some help from Chris Webber, who had nearly all of his 21 points in the first half. Both Webber and A.I. seemed to get a little tired in the second half. Who could blame them, as they dragged 10 other Sixers along? Guys like Andre Iguodala, who only seemed interested in an offensive set that might get him on SportsCenter, Samuel Dalembert, the league leader in blocks and a threat to goaltend anytime someone shoots the ball near the basket, or Kyle (Dude, Where’s My Jumpshot?) Korver, the NBA’s answer for Ashton Kucher, also described by my wife as a “pretty boy”.

What a contrast in styles! First, let me say that I am amazed by A.I. and his ability to score. He’s a really tough guy, and he throws his body around with reckless abandon. He also falls into my group of NBA players that are almost unbearable to watch, due to the stellar job that the NBA does of protecting their superstars via the referees. This group includes: A. Iverson, K. Bryant, and D. Wade; I hesitate to omit one L. James from this list, but I haven’t seen enough of him recently to grant him status on this list. I have a seat waiting for him, however.

By the middle of the third quarter, I had seen A.I. shoot enough free throws. Don’t get me wrong; he shoots enough, and attacks the basket enough that he definitely takes his lumps. I just hate when the referees anticipate contact, and blow the whistle. Like when Iverson took a jump shot in the third quarter, and Deron Williams put a hand up to within a foot of A.I., and they blew the whistle. Williams looked around, incredulous, and Iverson casually walked up to the line. Welcome to the NBA, Deron. Hopefully someday you’ll sell enough jerseys for David Stern to award you your own plastic bubble.

The coolest thing about this game was the complete contrast in the teams. I didn’t count how many times the Jazz got wide open layups due to good execution, but it must have been 10-15 times. They played hard, stuck to their game plan, and slowly clawed back into the game. Back in November, if the Jazz were down by 9 points on the road in the third quarter, the game was as good as over. But now, they have the confidence and team cohesion to come back. Philly tried valiently to set A.I. 35,000 picks each time down, but even his 46 points weren’t enough.

And speaking of team cohesion, Fox Sports Utah showed an interview with Carlos Boozer at halftime that I found very interesting. The interviewer threw him a couple of softball questions, and then hit him with the old “Are you excited to get back to playing here in Utah?”. For just a split second, he had the whole “deer in headlights” thing going, and then he recovered, and made every Jazz fans feel better with his non-commital reply “I’m just excited to play basketball again. I’m 24 years old, and I’m a baller…” Ah! I sure feel better about him now! I don’t know if he’s a malcontent, or he’s a little sissy when it comes to pain, or what. He might be legitimately hurt; he sold Larry Miller, and the only things Larry won’t stand for are basketball players who are dogging it and gay cowboy movies. I just look at a team that has won 8 of their last 9, is winning on the road, and a part of me hopes that Boozer feels another little twinge in the ol’ hammy tomorrow morning.

At least until the Jazz come back to earth…

Ladies and gentlemen, your Northwest Division leading Utah Jazz!!!

Hard to believe how times have changed in such little time. Their traditional pre-Christmas roady was a disastrous 1-4 and they looked like they were starting to circle the drain. But the re-emergence of AK (which corresponded with my walking past him and his family in a local grocery store - yes, I’m taking the credit) has helped the Jazz to win 7 of their last 8, only losing to a vengeful Grizzlies team along the way.

The best moment of this recent streak was when the Jazz went to Auburn Hills and smacked the Pistons in the mouth again. It was hilarious to watch the NBA community try to figure out how exactly the Jazz have handed the Pistons two losses, when the balance of the league has only gotten them three times. Even the Jazz can’t put a finger on it; I suppose that good coaching, balanced scoring, and rebounding are the likely suspects, but it was still an amazing result.

Tonight, I forgot to have my wife record the game, so I was forced to follow from work via ESPN.com updates and the radio. It seemed that the Jazz started fast and never looked back, basically running the Wiz out of the gym before they staged the inevitable rally in the fourth quarter, but Deron Williams stuck a dagger in the Wizards’ hearts to win it.

Antawn Jamison had a huge game, but Gilbert Arenas (who the Jazz courted when he was a FA with Golden State, but couldn’t land) had a so-so game. He was only able to get up 17 shots, so it must have been an off night for him. I guess we’ll never know how well he would have fit in with the Jazz. I was really hoping that the Jazz would sign him; he’s a real offensive threat that Jerry Sloan probably could have kept under control.

Next up: Philly on Wednesday. I wonder if the Sixers were angrier that the Jazz beat them a couple of weeks ago, or that they were stuck in stuffy old Utah to ring in the New Year…

Here’s to the Jazz staying ABOVE .500 for the rest of the year!

…although it’s mostly a wealth of information, and a taste for meats and cheeses.

My name is Josh Nelson, and I am the new blogger on the block (known from here forward as the NBOTB). I happened upon this website, and was excited to find that they were looking for a blogger to write about the Utah Jazz.

So, as of today, January 9th, 2006, I am the official NBOTB for sportslogs.com. I was intrigued at the idea of having a blog for all of the major sports in one place, and I am excited to be a part of this fledgling website, because I hope to help build this up into something special.

Now, a little about myself…

I am a Utah native, married, with one 5-month old girl, who is the apple of my eye. I follow all sports, although I am particular to football, basketball, soccer, and hockey (in that order). I am a diehard Utah Jazz fan, having gone through all the highs and lows of the past 25 years of the Utah Jazz. I remember excitedly sitting at lunch in elementary school, explaining how the Jazz had passed Dallas in the Midwest Division for first place. And I remember sitting in the dark in our backyard, stewing over Michael Jordan robbing the NBA title away from the Jazz (again).

In other words, what I lack in writing experience, I make up for in enthusiasm. Because this is a Jazz weblog, I will try to keep this on a sports level, but certain personal touches will creep in from time to time (like the Rolling Stones homage in the title).

Feel free to drop me a line; I’ll be posting in the message board section of the website as well!