• 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. 

Don Nelson is a great coach. You don’t stay in the league as long as he has if you are not great. Don Nelson is also just a little bit crazy. 

As part of Nellie’s new strategy, a healthy Stephen Jackson was forced to watch in street clothes as the Jazz pushed their winning streak to 8 games. Combined with a Denver loss, Utah sits just 2 games out of the 3rd spot in the west and their own division.

Sharing the Ball

Just as was the case on Saturday when the Jazz beat the Kings, ball movement against the Warriors “Defense” was the key.  As a team, the Jazz assisted on 36 of 43 made field goals, an amazing 83.7%.  Deron Williams shot was not dropping so instead he started dropping dimes, 20 of them.  The Warriors free-wheeling style created for many transition opportunities… Deron & Co. took advantage and found the open man. The highlight was Deron at the end of the first half – crossing over about 4 times in a row, then spinning and dishing to Memo for a rainbow shot at the buzzer.  Doesn’t get much better than that.

Memo on Fire

Memo Okur continue his hot streak and in my opinion won the game for the Jazz with his 17 point first quarter.  On the second game of a back-to-back, the last thing the Jazz could afford to do was fall behind early, we have all seen where that leads.  Memo’s brilliant first quarter not only keep the Jazz even from the get go, but actually allowed them to escape the 1st quarter with a 5 point lead.  Memo finished the night with 23 points on 7 of 11 from the field.

Korver is Back

After struggling for a few weeks, it is now safe to say that Kyle Korver has officially rediscovered his shot.  Surely, some of his struggles were due to nagging injuries but it also appeared to be a lack of confidence at times.  Kyle was 7 for 12 and 3 of 4 from deep doing most of his damage in the second quarter.  The Jazz were +19 with Korver on the floor as opposed to -11 with the struggling C.J. Miles.

Important Stretch

The Jazz have a couple days off before a couple of huge home games against Houston and Denver before they head out East on a road trip.  Houston is playing on Tuesday night at home against the Raptors and Denver will be playing back to back as well as they take on Portland at home on Thursday.  The Jazz could find themselves in a far different position than their current 7th place in the West standings when they take the floor Sunday afternoon in Toronto.