This game was a nationally-televised microcosm of what the Utah Jazz have become.
Utah has the lead midway through the 4th-quarter, largely because Al was on fire hitting contested mid-range jumpers over Noah&Gibson (impressive but ultimately fools gold) and you have Paul Millsap outplaying Carlos Boozer in virtually every aspect. Then in the final 5-min Boozer scores 11 straight points on side screen-roll w/Marco Bellineli (yes,
Bellineli - so don't talk about how the Jazz miss Hayward & Mo when the Bulls at the end of a 6-game roadtrip and without their top 2 PG's
are still beating us with Marco Bellineli running side pick&roll). Contrast that to the other end, where Joakim Noah begins aggressively fronting Big Al in the post denying him position/ball and Millsap&Jefferson are once again unable to execute a highschool-level high-low.
-This is why I’ve said even though he was a poor defender – Boozer added so much more offensive value to Utah than Al because of Booze’s versatility & ability to run the pick&roll. He’s one of the best screen-roll bigs I’ve ever seen and he can score getting the ball on the move unlike Big Al who needs to get to a spot which is much easier for Noah or a Chuck Hayes to deny. Boozer wasn't worth resigning - but he & Al are much different in helping you score late in games.
This isn’t even mentioning Thibodeau playing chess to Corbin’s game of checkers. Chicago ran sets that the Jazz used to run better than anything we run now.
-On the step-back three by Millsap in the corner – Foye was the first option. The Jazz tried to wrap him off a double-screen like Jerry used to do to get the ball in Stock and Deron’s hands late in games – but Millsap & Big Al both set tissue-paper soft screens (in sharp contrast to Favors’ monster screen to free Hayward for the game-winner vs. Sacramento) and Foye was easily denied the ball.
It’s not November anymore. If a team is still relinshishing leads late in games and unable to execute basic fundamentals 50+ games into a season – that reflects directly on the coaching staff.