Utah Jazz Blog

Unfortunately, I was unable to post about the last 3 Jazz games (losses at Dallas, at San Antonio and at home to Golden State). The losses at Dallas and at San Antonio can be expected by the home loss to the short-handed Warriors was perhaps the worst Jazz game of the year. After winning 15 straight home games it was their second consecutive loss to a sub-par opponent at ESA.  A loss to the lowly Clippers would have doomed the Jazz as they headed into the playoffs.  Luckily, the Jazz that we know and love showed up Monday night with energy and a bit of team chemistry to throttle the Clips. 

• It doesn’t matter that this win was against the 19-62 Clippers. This game was about the Jazz and coming together as a team.  Sure, this win is not gonna erase the dismal last 2 weeks but it was key in building some confidence and improving the body language of the players.  Not sure if I have ever seen such troublesome body language by a Jazz team as I saw during the loss to the Warriors. Tonight, there were more high-fives, was more bench cheering and more team chemistry.  
• Matt Harpring started in place of injured C.J. Miles and provided the spark that Jerry Sloan was searching for. Harpring had 6 points in the early minutes and the rest of the Jazz began to feed off his energy.  Matt also mixed it up with Baron Davis resulting in a double personal foul and also a technical on Davis.  Predictably, the ESA crowd booed Davis each and every time he touched the ball for the rest of the game. 
• Brevin Knight sparked the Jazz defensive effort with a pre-game talk. Could Knight be the experienced voice that this team desperately needs? Not sure about that but the team responded by playing their best defense in some time and holding the Clippers to 85 points on just 43.8% shooting. The Jazz were full of energy from the tip and had 21 first half deflections, a clear sign of active play.   
• Memo left just before halftime and did not return with a mild strain to his hamstring. There is a decent chance that Okur will miss the Laker game but hopefully he will be near 100% by the time the playoffs start on Saturday or Sunday.
• The Cavs clinched the best record in the NBA on Monday night meaning that the Lakers do not have anything to play for (seeding-wise) on Tuesday against the Jazz.  The Lakers can however influence how the bottom of the Western Conference playoff bracket will finish up and thus their effort on Tuesday may be partially dictated by whether or not they want to play the Jazz in the first round of the playoffs.  Although I think that the Lakers would rather not play Utah, I also don’t expect them to come out and simply roll over for a loss. 
• So, the Jazz are still alive for the 6th and 7th seeds but must take care of business against the Lakers. If the Jazz lose, they are guaranteed the 8th seed and a first-round match up with the Lakers.  If the Jazz win, they can move up to the 7th seed with either a Dallas loss at home against the Rockets or a Hornets loss at San Antonio.  The Jazz can even climb up to the 6th seed if they win and both the Mavs and Hornets lose. 

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