Jazz Pound Raptors

The Jazz were at home last night, and they finally seemed to realize. Playing great team ball against a Raptors team that had a new coach, the Jazz ran away from the Raptors at the ESA, winning 114-87. The team finally picked up another home win against the EC. And given Denver being blown out a couple nights back and Portland last night, the Jazz moved up a bit in the Northwest, moving to a game behind Portland (2nd in the West!) and 0.5 games behind Denver (3rd in the West!)

Things…

1. Welcome back AK! 7 points, 6 assists, 5 boards, 2 steals & 2 blocks… man have you been missed! And throw in a solid shooting night (3-4) to offset the subpar night from the line (1-4).
2. All 5 starters got at least 10 shots… with only Brewer (4-10) & Miles (3-10) missing the 50% mark, and only Miles missing double-digits. Deron had 14 & 5 assists, and attacked the hoop early to make his presence known. Brewer had 10 points, 3 boards & 4 steals. Okur woke up again, going 9-13 from the field (2-4 from deep) for a game high 21 points. He also have 5 boards & 2 blocks. ‘Sap had another monster game, finishing with 17 & 11, along with a career-high 7 assists, and 3 blocks. That’s a solid night from the starting 5.
   

3. Brevin got into the game before Price. In fact, Price didn’t even see the court until the 4th quarter, when J-Slo emptied his bench. Which is surprising. At least to me.
4. Oh yes, welcome back No Knees. I still hate you. But congrats on the 14 & 7. And now I fully expect you to suck for the rest of the month. Or get hurt. Isn’t that how it always is?
5. Almond… 4 points and 5 boards in 15 minutes is nice. 1-5 shooting isn’t.
6. Kosta got in late (disappointing because he deserves more time) and played 6 minutes. In that time, he went 5-5 (!) for 10 points and pulled down 3 boards (2 offensive) and picked up a steal. Not a bad night for the rookie.
7. Chris Bosh went 6-15 for 18 points. It took a 6-6 night from the line to get that though. Obviously not solid, but it seems that he settled for a couple jumpers too many. I’m not complaining though.
8. The Jazz owned the boards (52-38), had more assists (31-23), shot a lot better (52% to 44%), drained an extra trey in 4 less attempts and had 6 fewer turnovers & 4 more steals. Domination throughout?
9. A view from the Raptors side over at Raptors Republic. True quote from this review…
   

   The Jazz are basketball’s version of porn…

   Have to admit, I’ve never heard that before.

10. Jermaine O’Neal went down last night. Again. Not sure, but if he’s injured, he really won’t be much help to the Raptors. At least, that’s how I see it. He’s like Booze in that regard, except that the Raptors don’t have to worry about JON jumping ship after the season.
11. NBA Roundtable caught the game, and has his thoughts on it there.

The Jazz won the game. Then they caught a flight, headed to Phoenix, and got to their hotel around 2:30 AM. Which is great, because they have a game tonight at 7 PM MST. Just further proof that the NBA is run by idiots… how can you truly justify having a team play a late game one night (just because the wwl comes calling), and then another game the next night in a different city?

About these ads