The Jazz jumped on the Hornets early with a near-perfect 41 point first quarter. The Jazz scored on 19 of 23 possessions in the quarter and that includes a Memo Okur 40-foot heave at the buzzer (not really a possession).  That may have been the best offensive quarter that Utah has had, home or away, all season long.

The Hornets were able to hang with the Jazz for the first 5 minutes (tie game 12-12) but then New Orleans was outscored 29-7 to close the quarter out as the Jazz got active on defense.

The Jazz lead ballooned to 30 in the second quarter and the Hornets would never get closer than a nine-point deficit near the end of the third quarter.

This has to be the biggest win of the year for the Jazz. Not just because it was their first win over a Western Conference playoff contender, but because the Jazz seemed to be losing confidence.

• Ronnie Brewer was the clear player of the game for the Jazz. Brew started the Jazz off right with three buckets on the first three possessions on his way to 23 points on 11-16 shooting. It is not a surprise that Ronnie had the highest +/- on the team at +16. When Brewer is able to get to the bucket AND hit his jump shot, the Jazz are tough to beat. 
• You gotta love watching Deron Williams and Chris Paul battle.  Statistically, they virtually cancelled each other out. Deron had 21 points on 8-10 FG, 11 assists, 3 steals and 0 turnovers.  Chris Paul had 19 points on 7-12 shooting, 12 assists, 1 steal and 4 turnovers.  The Jazz are now 11-2 against the Hornets when they play each other.
• Great move by Byron Scott leaving Chris Paul in the game when he picked up his fourth foul with 5:28 left in the third quarter. The Hornets really had no hope if CP3 went to the bench at that point down 20. Instead the Hornets made their run to cut the Jazz lead to 9 near the end of the quarter and Paul didn’t pick up his 5th foul until one minute into the fourth quarter when Brevin Knight stepped in front of him and drew a charge.  I am definitely a fan of leaving guys on the court in that type of situation.
• Andrei Kirilenko started in place of C.J. Miles who dislocated a finger against the Timberwolves on Friday.  AK brought some much needed energy and defensive presence and continued to shoot the ball well from outside. You can’t help but wonder if AK’s move to the starting lineup is a permanent one. 

• 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.

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?

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.