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Utah Jazz @ Minnesota Timberwolves 12/22/10 6PM MST

I think we had cut it to 6 when Fes came in. It ballooned up to 11 within a couple of possessions of Fes checking in...and it was mostly his fault for not defending or rebounding well.
 
I thought there were few important things in this game.

Price was afraid of deep shots and they played off of him. Also he energy level wasn't as high as other games. So that is why Sloan when to Hayward and put CJ at the 2.

Hayward brought energy to the team. He fought over screens. He was able to get to the loose balls the T-Wolves had gotten in the first 3 quarters. He was in the right spots on the offense and made a few nice passes. He scored on the fastbreak.

Deron struggled against the "soft" double teams they put up against him all night. He did make some big plays but he was inefficient.

Millsap struggled with foul trouble again all night, but besides that he was awesome.

Big Al gave a total effort. He just seemed like he was pressing too hard in the 1st half. 7 blocks is something we would never have gotten from Boozer or Memo last year.

AK came up with several big plays and when he as gassed Sloan got him out.

Earl Watson is a much smarter player than Price.

In the end, I hope this leads to Hayward steal Price's minutes next game. I hope when Memo comes back.
 
I can still root for the kid, right? I only remember Troy talking him up so I don't know what GVC has to do with this. But I don't care. He might have been a little soft and gawky and ugly and weird and uncoordinated but he was lovable. I just want him to have a good life and I'm standing by that.

and he absolutely killed in that dance contest!

:-)
 
I'm not sure if Jerry went to Hayward instead of AK because of fatigue, though it's possible. I thought it was more of an attempt by Jerry to instill some confidence in Hayward against a weak team and it worked. I don't think he would've done it against a play-off caliber club.

Also, I can't believe how bad Darko is, and I also can't believe that KK is even worse, and that Minny is fielding two 7-footers that are so bad.
 
Also, I can't believe how bad Darko is, and I also can't believe that KK is even worse, and that Minny is fielding two 7-footers that are so bad.

Quite a strange moment when Koufos' shot attempt went behind the back board. There was about 5 seconds of very awkward confusion. Jefferson had a look like "I didn't touch it" the ref had a look like "he didn't foul him" and Koufos had a look like "God, someone bail me out"
 
Quite a strange moment when Koufos' shot attempt went behind the back board. There was about 5 seconds of very awkward confusion. Jefferson had a look like "I didn't touch it" the ref had a look like "he didn't foul him" and Koufos had a look like "God, someone bail me out"

hahaha I was thinking the same thing. Kosta definitely got it handed to him that game.
 
And the first Miami game, Orlando, and Lakers games. Or don't they fit into your rant?
Um, I said that that the Jazz were inconsistent, not incapable. That's a key part of my "rant": with better game management, they could be a 5-loss team right now instead of a 9-loss team. They've had some good wins, though. Although still having only 9 losses is good, it's still only 4th place in the West if the playoffs started now.

Even the examples you suggest aren't as impressive as they may seem.

The Lakers' loss vs. the Jazz was part of a 4-game Laker losing streak, and L.A. has the absolute lowest strength of schedule right now.
https://espn.go.com/nba/stats/rpi/_/sort/SOS

In the next game after losing to the Jazz, the Magic lost to the Raptors, and they are now 16-12--certainly not as good as their early record suggested when they met up with Utah.

It's hilarious that you mentioned the first Miami game, even though I mentioned the second Miami game, which was an entirely different story. Miami was clearly still figuring things out when the Jazz beat them, and they have lost only one game in all of December. While the Jazz's loss to them might be overestimating their ability, the Jazz's win was against a new Heat roster underperforming to their potential--and a far bigger transition than simply adding AJ (and a returning Raja).
 
Um, I said that that the Jazz were inconsistent, not incapable. That's a key part of my "rant": with better game management, they could be a 5-loss team right now instead of a 9-loss team. They've had some good wins, though. Although still having only 9 losses is good, it's still only 4th place in the West if the playoffs started now.

Even the examples you suggest aren't that impressive.

The Lakers' loss vs. the Jazz was part of a 4-game Laker losing streak, and L.A. has the absolute lowest strength of schedule right now.
https://espn.go.com/nba/stats/rpi/_/sort/SOS

In the next game after losing to the Jazz, the Magic lost to the Raptors, and they are now 16-12--certainly not as good as their early record suggested when they met up with Utah.

It's hilarious that you mentioned the first Miami game, even though I mentioned the second Miami game, which was an entirely different story. Miami was clearly still figuring things out when the Jazz beat them, and they have lost only one game in all of December. While the Jazz's loss to them might be overestimating their ability, the Jazz's win was against a new Heat roster underperforming to their potential--and a far bigger transition than simply adding AJ (and a returning Raja).

It's hilarious that you say the Lakers' loss was "part of a 4-game losing streak" rather than "the Jazz ended the Lakers' 5 game winning streak". But whatever it takes for you to downplay the fact that any win for the Jazz against the Lakers, especially a great comeback win, wasn't impressive. It's also hilarious that the Heat were making adjustments and trying to figure things out, but the Jazz "simply" added AJ (and Raja).
 
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