Ouch. Another winnable road game down the drain. Such a great game full of so much bad defense, unexpected heroes (for the Suns) and disappointments (for the Jazz).

Honestly, I thought that the Suns lost the game with 8:10 left in the game when they took their best player out, Louis Amundson.  Amundson won this game for the Suns with his hustle, blocking shots, and putting in 10 points on 5 of 6 shooting. The funny thing is, Amundson is perhaps the least productive player in Utah Jazz history… Here is his career line with the Jazz:

Despite the great former Jazzman’s performance, the Jazz and Suns were tied with 49 secs left after Ronnie Brewer hit a jumper.  Following a timeout, Grant Hill hit a tough fade away in the key to regain the lead with 31 seconds left.  It was definitely a difficult shot, so credit the veteran for coming through.   Now this is usually the type of situation that the Jazz thrive in. When almost every team in the league would call a timeout, Jerry Sloan and the Jazz usually don’t, preferring to keep the defense on their heels rather than let them talk it over and get set.  But to my surprise, Jerry Sloan called a timeout himself with 27 seconds left.  The only person more surprised than me perhaps was Deron Williams, he kept running the offense, unable to hear the unexpected timeout whistle. After the timeout, Deron missed a 17 footer but Memo got the Jazz another shot with a offensive board.  Unfortunately for the Jazz Memo forced up a horrible shot with 5 seconds left and that was that.  Not the shot you want to go down with.

• Boozer’s play is still frustrating me as I am sure it is to many fans of the Utah Jazz.  And actually, it all started about a year ago, continued through the playoffs and through the Olympics and through most of this season.  I have always defended Carlos when fans have ridden him for his injury issues but this seems to be a major confidence issue and I’m really not sure if there is an end in sight.  His box-scores are generally okay but if you watch closely, Carlos is really struggling.  He is fumbling balls, making careless decisions and costing the Jazz points and momentum at key times in the game.  Boozer got blocked 4 times in the games (twice by Shaq, once by Hill and once by Amundson). To my liking, Sloan pulled Booze with 3:17 left in favor of Okur.
• Deron Williams played a great game and got the Jazz back in it with back to back three balls when the Jazz trailed by 7 with less than 5 minutes to play.  D-will was having his way most of the night on his way to 25 points and 10 assists.
• Kyle Korver continued to impress with his hot shooting (5-8 from deep).  He is deadly at the moment if he gets any sort of an open look… far cry from January when he was struggling mightily (most likely due to his injuries).
• Props to Grant Hill.  The guy has battled back to play in every game this season.  He finished with 26 points including the shot that put the Jazz against the wall.
• Can’t help but start to wonder if the Jazz would be better off at times with Ronnie Price rather than Brevin Knight.  I think Knight is a fine player and solid backup but Price brings more energy and better shooting.  Coming into this season, I though Knight’s biggest strength was not turning the ball over but Brevin had 3 costly turnovers in 9 minutes against Phoenix.
• The Jazz and Suns each shot 27 free throws… the Shaq-lead Suns made 6 more of theirs… ball game.

This season it doesn’t really matter what the name on the front of the jersey says because the Washington team is just not very good. Don’t tell that to Jerry Sloan and the Jazz though, who lost in D.C. giving the Wizards their only victory of their first 11 games this season.  Another such loss could have been catastrophic to the Jazz team which is still trying to recover from the debacle on South Beach this past weekend.    The Jazz managed a victory but if you ask Jerry Sloan that is about the only thing they did right.

• The Jazz would not have beat many teams with their play Tuesday night, the Wizards were just really, really bad. Of course, Washington was missing Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler but that is the norm for them, not the exception.  The Wiz are 0-14 in their own division, ouch. I can’t help but think of a article I recently read (sorry can’t recall where) that talked about the no-care attitude that the Wizards locker room has regardless of win or lose… Apparently Darius Songaila is the only player taking things seriously and other players and the team could benefit by following his lead.  Reading stuff like that makes you appreciate what the Jazz have with Jerry Sloan and the team culture.
• Ronnie Brewer was replaced in the starting lineup by Andrei Kirilenko after Brewer showed up late to the team’s 10 a.m. shoot around because he slept late.  Ronnie had a decent game with 13 points on 6 of 10 and logged 24 minutes.  
• Utah started out by shooting 40% in the first half but finished the game at 50.6%.  Washington shot an atrocious 35.6%, it is hard to imagine how bad the Jazz would have had to play to get beat.
• D-will had 8 turnovers to go along with his 8 assists and stuggled with his jumper going 0-5. Deron scored all 4 of his buckets on layups or dunks. 
• Although the Jazz were only +4 while he was on the court, Kyle Korver seemed to be the catalyst in putting the game out of reach.  Kyle was 6-9 shooting and led the Jazz with 15 points on his 28th birthday.

Deron Williams had his worst scoring game in recent memory scoring just 5 points on 1 of 9 shooting, although he did contribute with 12 assists and 5 steals.  Carlos Boozer scored just 11 points on 4 of 13 shooting while struggling against the length of Roy Hibbert and the interior defense of the Pacers.   It didn’t matter though, the Jazz were able to pull through with big games by Paul Millsap, Memo Okur, Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver.

Jazzspin MVP

Ronnie Brewer. Brew was consistently deflecting balls with the Pacers attempted to drive or drop it into the post. His 5 steals paced the way to 16 thefts for the Jazz leading to numerous fast break chances resulting in many easy points for the 3rd year pro.  The Jazz ended up scoring 26 points off the Pacers turnovers, the key factor to staying ahead of Indiana all night.

Somebody Guard That Guy

Troy Murphy was on fire… for the first half. SEVEN first half threes by big Troy kept this game from getting out of hand.  Murphy consistently found himself wide open from deep as Boozer and Millsap struggled to fight through screens and stay up on him.  I am sure Jerry Sloan let them know how he felt about that at halftime and Murphy’s hot hand only got him a pair of free throws after halftime.

Millsap/Boozer

Paul had a fantastic game. 22 points and 9 rebounds in less than 30 minutes.  His energy was at its usual level and his 12 to 15 foot jump shot was falling all night.  Boozer, on the other hand, struggled mightily as he often does against tall, lanky defenders such as Roy Hibbert.  Hibbert’s long arms and 5 blocks kept Booze from putting the ball in from point-blank range and his 3 turnovers felt more like 6.  Carlos is certainly not all the way back from injury but he occasionally gets a match-up, which for whatever reason, it seems every shot he puts up is blocked (I am specifically remembering a game against Minnesota a few years ago).  It is amazing the luxury that the Jazz now have when both Millsap and Boozer are available as it is unlikely that both will struggle on the same night. 

Memo’s Hot Starts

Memo Okur has been leading the Jazz out of the gate recently, a huge key to their current 12 game winning streak.  It started just 19 seconds in against the Pacers as Memo converted a 3 point play on his way to a 12 point first quarter.  The Jazz are very hard to beat with Okur scores 15 or more.  Prior to the streak, the Jazz often would bury themselves on the road with a dismal opening quarter which they can’t recover from.  Now, they seem to be playing from the front and Memo is the catalyst. 

Kyle Korver, Not Just a Shooter

I really don’t think Kyle Korver gets the credit he deserves for his all-around game.  Ever since coming to Utah last season, I have been consistently impressed with Kyle’s hustle, overall defense, help defense, movement without the ball, etc… No player of the Jazz sacrifices his body more for the team, which is saying a lot with guys like Paul Millsap and Andrei Kirilenko around. Kyle is constantly diving for balls and taking brutal charges.

The Real Test

Now come the harder games as the Jazz travel to Atlanta, Miami and Orlando.  I could almost pick any of these three games to be the toughest.  The Jazz should be able to take Atlanta, but it is the second night of a back to back against a rested team and Atlanta has been great at home this year. Jerry Sloan’s team always seems to struggle against D-Wade, probably a factor is the 20 trips to the line he is sure to get against the foul-happy Jazz. Orlando will be a tough game as they present a inside-outside game and will be the end of a long road trip for the Jazz, and also the second of a back to back.

Will the Jazz streak run to 13 against Atlanta?