• Player of the game was Ronnie Brewer. Ronnie had 17 points on only 7 shots from the field and played with an enormous amount of energy that was contagious to the rest of the team.  Gotta love Ronnie’s second half reverse dunk as well, kinda reminded me of Dwight Howard’s “Superman” dunk, how he really threw it in rather than dunking it.
• If not for hot three point shooting by the Rockets, this would have been a blowout.  Houston was 10 of 26 from downtown, 38.5% which was actually better than their overall percentage of 34.8%.  They really found their groove at the end of the second quarter and carried it into the early third quarter to come back on the Jazz and even take a brief lead (see game flow above)
• The Jazz bench has got to look scary to opponents with Andrei Kirilenko, Kyle Korver and Paul Millsap.  Really the Jazz have 8 starters right now as all three of those guys could be on the floor in crunch time.  Think about it, it is perfectly reasonable to see a lineup of AK47, Korver, Millsap and Deron Williams along with either Boozer or Okur at the end of a big game.  Deron is really the only player that has got to be in there, the other “pieces” are quick interchangeable and Sloan can throw many different effective lineups out there. Kyle Korver was +16 and Millsap was +12 against Houston.  
• If the Jazz happen to draw Houston in the first round for the third straight year, I think that Jazz players and fans would feel quite confident even if Houston had the home court advantage again.  If I were a Houston fan, I would be routing for just about any other 1st round match-up, it would be demoralizing to lose to Utah for the 3rd straight season.
• Pretty sure the Jazz are now 6-0 on national TV this season, but I am guessing that all of those games were played in Utah.  The Jazz have another national TV game tonight in Phoenix on ESPN to make an attempt at 7-0.  This very well could be the first time that the Jazz have played on national TV on back to back nights.
• After years of lobbying, the Jazz have been selected to play in Europe this upcoming preseason.  Utah will take on the Chicago Bulls in London on October 6 and will play at least one more game in a yet to be named city as part of NBA Europe Live 2009.  Jazz players and management have been trying to play in Europe ever since their scheduled preseason trip to Russia was cancelled in the wake of a terrorist attack at a school in 2005. 
• At halftime, Charles Barkley was complaining that Karl Malone set an illegal pick on the Stockton shot that won the 1997 Western Conference Finals. I have seen that play hundreds and hundreds of times and I still get goosebumps from that play.  I have seen that play hundreds and hundreds of times and I have never heard anybody mention Malone’s screen.

It was a barometer game. Sure Houston was playing for the second night in a row.  Sure it was another home game for a team that struggles much more on the road.  But no doubt about it, this was a telling game. The Rockets were nearly as hot has the Jazz, having won 8 of their last 9.  It was a test for this finally healthy Jazz team against the premier defense in the NBA. It was a test that the Jazz passed en route to their 12th win in their last 13 outings, adding Houston to the list of heavy-weights taken down during that stretch (Lakers, Celtics, Hornets, Dallas… and now Houston).

Despite 20 turnovers (14 in first half), the Jazz were able to push the tempo and share the ball to the tune of 50% shooting and 25 assists on 40 FGs.  Utah was able to recover from a brutally tough start of the game where they started out ice cold and turning the ball over at will.

Boozer Shows Rockets He is Back

It was Boozer’s 5th game back and Carlos looks to be getting healthy and returning to All-star form.  He out rebounded Houston by himself in the first half 13 to 9 and ended up with 20 pts and 17 rebs.  Boozer was hitting his fade away shots over Yao and finding his rhythm.

Deron Took Over

D-Will continued his strong play and imposed his will on the Rockets with 26 pts and 14 ast.  It was a complete game and it appears that Deron Williams is developing into one of the great team leaders in the NBA.  Deron put the dagger in the Rockets with 20 foot jumper with 21 seconds to play to put the Jazz up 5 after, somehow, Ron Artest gave the Rockets hope by banking in a three ball.

Respect for the Rockets

That team came to play.  They hustled, they defended, and they kept themselves in the game when Utah could have run away with it in the third quarter up by 13.  Yao is great (19 pts/7 rebs/6 ast/5 blk) but he seemed to completely lose his gas halfway through the 4th quarter… probably a factor was his 7′6″ 310 lbs. frame playing at altitude on the second night of a back to back against the physical Jazz.  Ron Artest did not seem to impose himself so much defensively but had 25 pts including 5 from downtown.  Kyle Lowry kept the Rockets in it with his strong play which kept Aaron Brooks glued to the bench for all much of the second half.  Houston definitely has a solid team that will be a tough match-up for anyone in the 1st round given their superior defense.  Part of what gives the Jazz a competitive advantage against the Rockets (and has generated to playoff series wins against them) is that their offense is not run through a great shooting guard such as Kobe, D-Wade, Brandon Roy, etc… This cancels out some of the defensive greatness that Shane Battier brings to the table.  Battier is fantastic about getting a hand in the shooters face and denying dribble penetration, however his skills are not as effective against a team that passes as well as Utah and the find-an-open-spot, dunk-happy Ronnie Brewer (19 pts).

Whats Up with Rockets Fans? 

Are they still bitter from the Stockton shot? Or being bounced by the Jazz from the playoffs for 2 straight years despite home court advantage? Jazzspin was on Twitter during the game and noticed many “hate Jazz” type tweets.  Add to that this little tirade from The Dream Shake:

Do Jazz fans know what basketball is?  Contrary to their belief (the collective belief of Energy Solutions Arena’s inhabitants) it is not a combination of rugby, MMA, and British “diving-is-a-bloody-part-of-the-game” soccer.  It’s basketball, and flopping and taking charges off the ball isn’t a part of the game.  Jazz fans consider it an integral part of the game, and they boo their butts off whenever a call isn’t made.  To add to that, they’re straight up classless.  But back to the basketball vs. flop-sketball argument.  Here’s what angered me the most: When Yao Ming came off the court in a typical Shaquie Chan rage, it wasn’t because his sixth foul was on an elbow to Boozer or yet another incredibly stupid charge attempt of his own, but because frickin’ Ronnie Brewer picked the spot on the floor where Yao would be next (which happened to be a whole first-and-ten away from the ball) and waited for the Ming Dynasty to collapse on him.  What a pathetic way to play the game.  Pathetic.  We’ll go sign Carlos Tevez before our next Jazz game and have him run around solely trying to get his ass kicked.  But wait – Sloan doesn’t need professional soccer players to flop.  He gets professional floppers to flop!

Hmm…. well, if anything is “straight up classless” it may be this argument or when they referred to Utah as the “hell-hole of all hell-holes.”  Regarding the Yao charge play, in an interview Ronnie Brewer described that the Rockets had run the same play about 3 times in a row, so how do you stop it? Answer: you get in Yao’s path and let Yao run over you.  That was no flop. That IS smart basketball and if Battier had done the same to Boozer, Rockets fans everywhere would have rejoiced.