Update: Originally posted on 4/2/08 at Biased Fan. CJ Miles’ break-out night… no way I was passing this one up.
The Jazz went into their game last night against the Wizards without Ronnie Brewer & AK. Yes, I know the Wizards were without Gilbert, Antonio Daniels & Caron Butler, but since I’m not going to use this entry to complain (at least not too much), I’m going to ignore it. I’m also not going to mention the Jazzsters embarrassing performance in Minny and the Wizards OT loss to the Kobes… both less than 24 hours before. Because those don’t really relate. What I am going to mention is that due to the injuries, Jerry was forced to start not only CJ (who’s been starting whenever Brewer or AK is out), but also Ronnie Price. And while I’m not much of a fan of starting a 6′2″ SG (see most of last year), it worked out fairly well yesterday. Of course, almost everything did. And it really makes the idea of 4 guards/wing & 1 low-post guy very appealing (it really works well in video games too… I’ve tried), as Matt over FLA mentions. I’d keep Brewer though… he’s developing his outside shot, and if you trade AK he’ll be your best perimeter defender. By the way, the decision to start Price was a good one, even with the size issues that it causes. Because Price is shooting well, and is able to lead the team, giving you 2 good PGs. Of course, when you win by 42, everything looks a bit better. I’d imagine, at least… it doesn’t happen very often.
Anyhow, back to blow-out at hand. First for the Wizards. Roger Mason got the start, and finished with 16 points and 6 assists, while going 7-11 from the field. Ex-Jazzster DeShawn Stevenson (now with a grown out beard that really doesn’t fit) finished with 9 points. Antawn Jamison had 22, and rookie Nick Young. had 18 off of the bench. That was it really… though you really don’t expect much when the team only had 87 points.
As for the Jazz… Price was impressive in his first start of the year. He finished with 10 points, 4 boards & 4 assists, along with a handful of hustle plays that really got the crowd into the game early. Deron had 12 points, 4 boards, 3 steals & 16 assists. Yet another double-double for him. Okur had 16 points, 5 assists and a team-leading 9 boards. Booze went 9-13 from the field, finishing with 19 points. He only picked up 2 boards though. Deron, Booze & Okur all played less than 30 minutes in the game, which is nice to see. Off the bench, ‘Sap had 4 points, 6 boards, 3 assists & 2 steals. No Knees had 13 points & 5 boards. KoKo was 6-6 from the field, finishing with 15 points (3-3 from long range). Morris Almond had a career high 5 points, including his first 3-pointer in the NBA. Flop added a basket, and Fesenko had 4 points. Jason Hart was the only player to go scoreless on the team… and the only one to not put up a shot. I feel like I’m missing someone. Oh yeah….!
CJ Miles! Jerry finally freed him (more out of necessity than a willingness to be open-minded, but whatever). And he answered in style, though in doing so he all but destroyed my “Unsung Player of the Day” post I was coming up with (no worries, it’ll still be posted). He proved that he can play. All the times where he comes in for 3 or 4 minutes every 5th game really messes with his stats. He’s still been amazing this year… shooting 47.5% from the field (11% better than his previous best, set his rookie year). He’s shooting 40.5% from long range (15% better than his rookie year). His FT shooting is up to 78.3% (75% his rookie year). He’s averaging 1 apg, 0.6 spg and 0.2 bpg this year… all career highs. Of course, given that he only played 23 & 37 games his first 2 years, you’d expect lower numbers a bit. He’s played 55 games so far this year, but due to the many 1 or 2 minute stints, he’s only averaging 4.9 ppg (still a career high).
But he really broke out last night. He played 30 minutes, 2nd most amongst the starters (behind Ronnie), and actually 2nd most on the team. He was on fire all game. He went 12-17 (70.6%) from the field, going 1-2 from the line. Like the rest of the team, he was on from long range, going 4-6. He added 4 boards, 5 assists & a steal, finishing with a career high 29 points (his previous high of 23 came at the season’s end his rookie year). He’s shown flashes all season, but Sloan continues to go away from him. He was absolutely on fire. If given any space at all, he was taking a shot. The shots looked good, and they fell. As for the Sloan thing… for example, after the Gordan Giricek banishment, Miles was amazing. But the team traded for KoKo, and all of a sudden, Miles was back to getting DNP-CDs. It seemed to mess with him for a while, as the constant shifting from starter to DNP-CDs (or a couple of minutes here & there in blow-outs) affected his shooting a bit. He is a bit streaky shooting wise, but when he’s feeling it, he provides another long distance threat for the Jazz that can also open Booze up from the double-teams. And he’s only 21… he’s still improving. He’s got the talent. The one thing hurting him here (even more than the presence of enough wings to support a flock of migrating geese) is that he skipped the RMR this past summer. Stupid? Yes. But it’s over now… he screwed up. I thought it was stupid then (because you know Sloan will hold it against him as long as he’s a Jazz-ster), but I’m over it. He’s been playing hard. He’s improved. What more do you want? He showed what he can do last night. Now Sloan just has to play him more. I’d go on, but I think I’ve already stated almost everything from the “Unsung” post here. Pretty much, it can be summed up as this… “Give him consistent playing time!” This performance better lead to it.
Ronnie… take your time getting back. The playoffs are coming up, the most important thing is that you’re well rested. The team showed the ability to compete yesterday (yes, I know they were short-handed to the extreme)… there’s no point in rushing Ronnie back and making it worse. We’ll need him in the playoffs.
For the game, the Wiz shot 44.1% (30-68 ) from the field, 5-16 (31.2%) from deep & 22-27 (81.5%) from the line. The nabbed 23 boards; 9 offensive & 14 defensive. They had 16 assists & 15 turnovers. As for the Jazz! They shot 50-84 (59.5%) from the field. They only attempted 17 FTs, but made 14 of them (82.4%). And they went 15-26 from long range (57.7%). Those 15 3-pointers set a franchise high (the previous was 14… set earlier this year against the Hornets), and they also set (or matched, I’m not sure) a franchise high with 9 3-pointers in the first half. CJ had 4. KoKo & Okur had 3 each. And Price & Deron each drained 2. Everyone on the Jazz (save KoKo & Hart… each only had 1 board… and Flop… he had 0) had at least as many boards as Booze (2), and the only players with as many were Almond & Fesenko. Everyone else (even the guards) had at least 3 boards. The Jazz had 40 boards, 14 of which were on the offensive end. Meaning that the Jazz rebounded as many of their own misses as the Wizards did. That’s amazing too (just see this explanation). The Jazz only had 11 turnovers, and they had that many steals too. Oh… and they picked up 40 assists on 50 baskets. Talk about efficient.
The Jazz are really good with this type of offense. Get out and run. I don’t see why Sloan refuses to use it. The Jazz can run with the best of them when need be. Putting 4 shooters (Deron, KoKo, CJ & Okur) around Booze just makes the Jazz more efficient. ‘Sap can come in if Booze needs a breather. And if any of the shooters are off, you have Price, No Knees (he’s got a decent mid-range jumper), Brewer (his shot is getting better), Almond & AK (trade bait?… alright jumper though, especially after working on it this season). Fesenko can come in when you need some defensive help inside. But getting out and running fits this team so much better… just look at the results. There will be the games where someone is off… Booze on his 4-16 night or KoKo going 0-7, etc… but it’s really rare that everyone will be off. If Sloan was to realize this and incorporate into the offense, the Jazz would be that much more deadly. And when you score so much, it makes it a bit easier on your D, which is good when your D (especially on the interior) is as weak as the Jazz D is. Of course, I guess I’m just dreaming, because Sloan is not going to change… even if it would improve the team.
Linkage
Yahoo! box score
Basketball John recap
My Utah Jazz recap
Frank Layden Admirers recap
Luhm’s recap
Bullets Forever asks for it to stop
Opponent wise… the Hornets beat the Magic by 1. I blame Carlos Arroyo. Come on dude. I cheered for you when you were here. And now you can’t make one shot to help us? The Spurs destroyed Golden State. the Suns/Nuggets are close late. Very close. The Rockets are at half-time with the Kings. In other words, no help to the Jazz, though a Suns win bring the division title a bit closer. But no help in moving up.
The next game is tomorrow night at the ESA, against the… hated Timberwolves. If the Jazz lose this game, it really might be time for a new coach. If Sloan is unable to properly game-plan for this (simple really… get out and run… 4 shooters & a big-man), changes need to be made. Losing at home to the Wolves would be the low of the season. No offense to the Wolves, but as a playoff bound team (most likely), a loss at home (where you’re near invincible) to a lottery-bound team (and 3 losses in 4 games to that team… all in the 2nd half of the season) would be devastating. And humiliating… just like the last loss. And the loss before that.
Again, Jazz/Wolves tomorrow night at the ESA. Enjoy it.
Filed under: CJ Miles, Game Recap, Ronnie Price, WAS Wizards
