Clippers @ Jazz | Saturday November 6th @ 7pm

[InGameStrategy]

It's only the sixth game of the season. Allow this team some time to grow together. If and when they become more consistent, I think that they have a lot of potential. Let's also not forget that we are still playing without Memo. He will give us a consistent scoring option of the bench. And to the poster who talked about how the Jazz have only been really good when they've played a certain way in the past: well, obviously those ways did not work, because Utah STILL has not won an NBA Championship. I believe that the Jazz have FINALLY found their "Big 3" (Williams, Millsap, Jefferson) that will push them over the top. Kirilenko is a solid player as a fourth option. I think that Raja Bell will fit in very well with the starters because he doesn't need to score to be effective. He just has to play great defense on players like Kobe, Dwayne Wade, et cetera and hit the occasional three-pointer. The Jazz have always only had TWO players that could be considered stars. Do you realize that Williams, Millsap, and Jefferson are ALL averaging over 20 points per game? If the Jazz have a really good record by the All-Star break, all three could possibly be under All-Star Game consideration. All we need now is consistent bench scoring. We lose our scoring punch once our starters leave the court. I believe we get this when Memo comes back. The Jazz have never had a team with this makeup. This might be the core that finally gets us our long suffering championship, my friends. We might not get it this year, but it may come eventually. Right now, the Jazz might have the best 1-2 punch front court in the Western Conference.

Talk about rose-colored glasses.

Okur, at his peak, was a borderline All-Star. Now he's a clutch center--offensively. It is highly likely that MO will come back and things won't improve (although they look pretty bad at times now). He's slightly taller than Jefferson, but he's probably slower. And his help defense is poor--maybe as poor as PM + AJ's are.

If Sloan had played Elson or Fes for another 5 or 10 minutes, this game would've been won sooner. If Sloan practiced what he preached, he would've benched Jefferson or Millsap for 5 minutes simply for letting the Clipps' 4/5 go off in the first half like they did. AJ should've been benched for this play alone ("Cleaning the Boards"):
https://www.nba.com/games/20101106/LACUTA/gameinfo.html?ls=gt2hp0021000086#
Big Al was totally mesmerized with the ball. Not looking for the opposing center.

Gordon scoring on a dunk on the last play of regulation had EVERYTHING to do with there not being a true center there to protect the paint.

 

[GVC]

Gordon scoring on a dunk on the last play of regulation had EVERYTHING to do with there not being a true center there to protect the paint.

Not sure why I'm responding to one of your posts, but you should probably go back and re-watch that play. Big Al was helping on the PnR, so there was a 0% chance he (or any center in the same position) could have been protecting the paint/rim. I realize you don't watch the games and/or only see what matches your preconceived notions of reality, but this is so blatantly false it's funny.

 

[Hopper]

Commie, one big-*** shortcomin in your post there. Ya made it without takin S2's "coachin 101" class first.

 

[tatermoog]

On the bright side, CJ was aware of how much he sucked after the game: "Shots are going to come. Tonight's nothing that extra shots in the gym won't fix tomorrow," Miles said. "There will be nights like that. I know that. Coach knows that, but he believes in everything else I'm able to do on the floor, and that's what I try to do."

Wait...what?

 

[memo is money]

On the bright side, CJ was aware of how much he sucked after the game: "Shots are going to come. Tonight's nothing that extra shots in the gym won't fix tomorrow," Miles said. "There will be nights like that. I know that. Coach knows that, but he believes in everything else I'm able to do on the floor, and that's what I try to do."

Wait...what?

LOL. What a moron. He really believes that he did anything possible to help this team win this one except shooting. He could be really helpful if he had told Sloan to take him out and put Hayward or Raja on the floor. His shoot selection is basically flawed. He says he is aware of his abilities and versatility, athleticism but somehow we cannot see them on a consistent basis, well... other than jacking up three after three. He has the ability to be a multi-dimensional player who can also play very good defense given his size, strengthened body and athleticism, but he just does not commit himself or I have watched different games.

 

[Shad]

When you look at the stats at the end of the game, we really should have lost that game. They beat us in field goal %, bench points, paint points, and outbounded us. Just to name a few.

 

[Fishsticks]

On the bright side, CJ was aware of how much he sucked after the game: "Shots are going to come. Tonight's nothing that extra shots in the gym won't fix tomorrow," Miles said. "There will be nights like that. I know that. Coach knows that, but he believes in everything else I'm able to do on the floor, and that's what I try to do."

Wait...what?

I tell ya.....Bromance.

 

[Inn Dawn]

C.J. had the second most assists on the entire team last night. He sucked, but let's judge his performance as a whole a little more fairly.

 

[InGameStrategy]

Not sure why I'm responding to one of your posts, but you should probably go back and re-watch that play. Big Al was helping on the PnR, so there was a 0% chance he (or any center in the same position) could have been protecting the paint/rim. I realize you don't watch the games and/or only see what matches your preconceived notions of reality, but this is so blatantly false it's funny.

Um, then Jefferson should have been playing along a big man who is taller than 6'7".

Coaching 101.

 

[GVC]

Um, then Jefferson should have been playing along a big man who is taller than 6'7".

Coaching 101.

Again, watch the damn game. Sap and AK are generally very good help defenders, but on this particular occasion neither got into position quickly enough (they may have been confused whose responsibility it was to step up), and Gordon split them at the rim. The play had nothing to do with not having enough size.

Also, "InGameStrategy" + "Coaching 101"? I'm starting to think you're just joking. Have you ever coached a game of competitive basketball in your entire life?

 

[InGameStrategy]

Not sure why I'm responding to one of your posts, but you should probably go back and re-watch that play. Big Al was helping on the PnR, so there was a 0% chance he (or any center in the same position) could have been protecting the paint/rim. I realize you don't watch the games and/or only see what matches your preconceived notions of reality, but this is so blatantly false it's funny.

P.S. "Helping"? Are you kidding me? AJ wasn't very tight on Kaman, and Gordon dribbled RIGHT PAST him as if he weren't there. If anything, Jefferson should've been up a bit more to close off the crossover, given that Millsap was closer to him on the right side.

And as I correctly stated, Millsap was too short to come over and block it; he was even in the paint for most of the drive, and he still wasn't tall enough. It's plainly presented as the first play of the highlights on NBA.com for everyone to see. Not just anyone with a tick.

I'm not so ambitious to think that Sloan would have enough sense to put in a center (Elson was probably the better choice) on the last play rather than keep his undersized, lead-foot frontcourt out there--LAC subbed in, so there was opportunity--but this game was plenty winnable in regulation if Utah had put out a big man who could stave off the opposing rebounds (L.A. still outboarded Utah 51-43, even though Griffin fouled out) or opposing 44 points in the paint (ditto).

Coaching 102.

 

[InGameStrategy]

Again, watch the damn game. Sap and AK are generally very good help defenders, but on this particular occasion neither got into position quickly enough (they may have been confused whose responsibility it was to step up), and Gordon split them at the rim. The play had nothing to do with not having enough size.

Also, "InGameStrategy" + "Coaching 101"? I'm starting to think you're just joking. Have you ever coached a game of competitive basketball in your entire life?

I believe that I have coached as many professional games as you have, which gives me just as much right to criticize the coaching as you do to apologize for it.

And again, I have been pounding the table more heavily for Jefferson to be reduced in minutes than Millsap, especially given that PM knows the system better, although I think that either one would've had the same effect of shoring up the rebounding and help defense.

If you're trying to--um--defend the decisionmaking so far in the season in at least a couple of winnable games that were lost, you have a long row to hoe. Griffin and Kaman were abusing Millsap and Jefferson; at least they managed to turn it around, thanks in large part to DW's and PM's offense. The freaking WARRIORS were abusing PM and AJ, too; adding height was the clear answer, especially given that Elson and Fes have been OK out there (better than the egregious first-half negatives that Big Al has produced), and Sloan didn't do adjust.

Coaching 103.