The Phoenix Suns veteran dropped a pass out of bounds with 25 seconds left allowing the Jazz to force overtime with a Deron Williams jumper over Steve Nash.  In overtime, the Jazz put the Suns playoff hopes on ice with strong play by Deron and a four point play by Andrei Kirilenko.

It had to be a demoralizing loss for Phoenix that could be comparable to the Jazz collapse in Miami earlier this month.  The Suns had battled back to go up by 7 with 2 minutes left but could not hold on as the Jazz outscored them 9-2 to close out regulation.

Despite walking away with the victory, the Jazz perhaps produced more questions than answers as the playoffs near.  Utah lead Phoenix by 21 early in the third quarter but were extremely fortunate to be able to force overtime.  

• Mehmet Okur had a great first quarter to get the Jazz rolling.  He was cutting to the hoop and making deep jumpers on his way to 26 points on 10 of 15 from the field.  Memo hit the shot of the game (no disrespect to AK’s 4 point play) with 51 seconds left to pull the Jazz within 2.  It was a deep three over Steve Nash and without it going down the Jazz would have been toast.
• D-Will had another great game against Nash.  21 points and 13 assists and two clutch shots in the final 30 seconds of regulation.
• Boozer didn’t play in crunch time and was benched in favor of Millsap for overtime.  
• The Jazz had 23 turnovers leading to 26 Phoenix points. Deron had 7 turnovers at home whereas he had zero giveaways on the road versus this same Phoenix Suns team.
• With the Jazz down one halfway into the overtime period, Andrei Kirilenko hit a three pointer and was fouled by Grant Hill to complete the first four point play of the year for the Jazz… Phoenix would never see the lead again.
• If the playoffs started today (Monday) the Jazz would face Denver in the first round with the Nuggets having home court advantage.  The Nuggets have to be one of the more favorable match-ups that the Jazz could realistically hope for but there is so much that could happen over the remaining 10 games that this match-up is not likely to remain.  
• The Jazz are now 11th in this weeks ESPN NBA power rankings by Mark Stein, 7th in the computerized Hollinger power rankings and 9th in the Jeff Sagarin NBA rankings.

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.

Memo Okur was lighting it up early for Utah but had to leave after he was poked in the eye by Chucky Atkins of the Thunder. Memo had 12 points in 12 minutes when his night was ended with blurry, double-vision.  The Jazz were able to pick up the slack and had a good defensive effort leading them to the victory.

• The Jazz seemed in control for the duration of the game and never let the Thunder get the sellout crowd too excited. The key was the 19 turnovers that were forced by the Jazz leading to 23 points.
• Booze was only 7 for 19 shooting but seemed to be getting into the flow of the offense better, finding his way for quite a few easy buckets.
• Apparently, the Kyle Korver twitter feed is not really him but @KyleKorver is still fooling hundreds of people.  Better to be like @jerrysloan when it is obviously not him.
• I’m not sure who is responsible but I am beginning to despise FSN Utah and/or Comcast.  Somebody forgot to flip the switch to the Jazz-Thunder game until 1 minute into the game and completely missing the 40 or so minutes of pregame.  This is far from the first time that this has happened over the years because FSN Utah is basically a sub-channel of FSN Rocky Mountain.  Was anybody watching on DirecTV, did this happen to you?
• Russell Westbrook looks like he is going to be a fine player for the Thunder (22 points, 4 assists). He is quick and has a decent jumper but needs to work on getting his teammates involved (only topped 10 assists twice in last 33 games) if he is going to become a top-notch point guard.
• Andrei Kirilenko had the play of the game when he received a pass from Korver as he cut through the lane.  AK subtly dropped the ball to Boozer yet continued up for the layup without the ball. Boozer was left with a easy finish. Love it when AK is making those type of plays.
• This season’s got to be tough on Matt Harpring and you can’t help but feel for him. Matt battled back from injuries at the beginning of the season but has not found his way into Jerry Sloan’s rotation. The Jazz are so deep at the 2/3 position that Harping has only logged 15 minutes total in the last 4 ball games including a DNP against Oklahoma City.  Matt definitely still has some game in him if his body can hold up but it has got to be tough on Kevin O’Connor and the Jazz having Harp on the books for $6 million this season and $6.5 million next season.
• I wonder how the reception was for Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune in his first trip back to Oklahoma City following his remarks that pissed off many of the OKC’ers.  It’s interesting how defensive people can get about their city, of course anybody who has ripper Salt Lake City has found that out as well.   

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?

After an emotion day of paying tribute to Larry H. Miller, the Jazz had to keep the energy high to survive the NBA’s worst.  The Jazz played with bursts of energy that built leads followed by inevitable letdowns allowing the Kings to hang around into the 4th quarter.  In the end it was the hot shooting of Okur and the athleticism of Ronnie Brewer that put the Kings in their place.

31 Assists on 40 Made FGs (77.5%)

For the season, Utah has assisted on 64.5%… when the Jazz assist on over 75% of their made field goals, it is almost a given that they are going to win.  The Jazz lead the league in assists per game at 24.66 and assist differential +5.47 (+17 vs. Kings).

Ronnie Brewer is More Athletic Than You

At least a couple of times every game, Ronnie Brewer makes an athletic play that makes you go “Wow”.  Brewer must have eaten his Wheaties on Saturday because his athletic ability scored him 26 points (career high), 7 boards and 4 steals.  Off the top of my head, I distinctly remember a ridiculous rebound and a double-clutch dunk (that I was sure he was going to lay in, instead turned into the NBA.com dunk of the night).  Brewer is only a 3rd year player that most casual fans around the league have never heard of, but I am beginning to believe he could be an all-star in a few years.  I also wonder if he flourishes much more under the Jerry Sloan/Jazz system than he would anywhere else, much like Shandon Anderson did.

Memo is Heating Up

Lost in all of the Jazz injury woes this season is the fact that Memo Okur is having maybe his best season.  He is now shooting 49.8% FGs for the season (previous season best is 46.8% in 2004-2005) he is making 47.1% of his three pointers (previous season best is 38.8% last season).  Last night Memo had 26 points on 9 of 12 shooting including 4 for 4 from deep…. can’t ask for much more shooting-wise than that.

Within Reach

The Jazz now find themselves only 1 game out of the 4th slot in the West after winning 7 straight and 10 out of 11.  They finished up February with a 10-1 record and look to avenge their lone loss against the Warriors tonight in Oakland and this time they will have Boozer (Warrior killer) and AK.