Dallas Mavericks @ Utah Jazz GAME THREAD (Airing on TNT, January 19th, 2012 - 8:30 pm Utah time)

[Saint Cy of JFC]

So.....Millsap didn't look like an All Star tonight. He struggled against Dirk's length, and Dirk could barely move or jump. Then he struggled against Lamar Odom's length, which reminded me of the past Lakers' series. I like Millsap, but I wonder how far the Jazz could go with him as a starting PF.

Oh.... and on an unrelated note, Jason Kidd was a complete decoy tonight. Did he even score? And yet we rotated double teams to him, which opened up Jason Terry and Roddy Beaubois.

I think it had less to do with Dirk and more to do with their overall team defense.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Sap is an extremely rhythm based player offensively too. He was constantly getting blocked by help defenders and he could never establish a personal rhythm.

 

[Revolution 9]

I don't think Favors had any real intention behind what he did, but he did throw the ball at the Mavs bench.
However, I thought that the refs reactions to both players (Dirk and later Favors) were over the top.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

I don't think Favors had any real intention behind what he did, but he did throw the ball at the Mavs bench.
However, I thought that the refs reactions to both players (Dirk and later Favors) were over the top.

Yeah, on the replay he actually did nail one of the Mav's bench players in the head. It sucks, but I understand why they threw him out. It was one of those technicalities where everyone could tell it was just a random throw, but it did go to their bench.

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

Harris was 0 for 7 tonight. He got a technical free throw. Otherwise he wouldn't have scored. That's your ballgame right there. He and Kidd were having a "who has less offense" contest. Harris won.

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

I actually liked seeing some emotion from Favors. He knew he could get a step on Nowitzki and wreak havoc at the rim.

 

[billyshelby]

They're able to overplay because the Jazz don't have a point guard who can exploit it AND because the Mavs D collapses on the roll man, which is helped by the lack of outside shooting for the Jazz.

I don't think they overplay. We ran PnR from all 3 spots tonight. But Carlisle tightened things up after CJ's 1st quarter. They just do a great job of stringing out the ballhandler. The difference, to my mind, is we run PnR likes it's a single play. Dallas runs PnR like it sets the table. If they don't get anything off the PnR, they're already looking for options like Marion down low, or passes on the perimeter. We have to find offense if it doesn't work, they don't care if it doesn't because they already have sets built off it not working.

 

[InGameStrategy]

Harris had a huge steal and assist to cut the game to 2. At that time it seemed like a great move. It just didn't work out today. Harris has actually been our best 3 point shooter this year.

There was no basis to put him in at that time; he had made zero FGs, and besides that "huge steal and assist", he did nothing. That "huge ... assist" was one of his only two assists for the entire game. In nearly 24 minutes. And a 3-point shot wouldn't have been necessary to win the game; assists were more important. Watson showed that.

I maintain my claim.

 

[northeast]

Even thought they lost...
I was encouraged that the Jazz kept fighting to stay in it, even though they missed a lot of shots they could have made.
Dallas is a smart vet team, maybe the Jazz will learn a few things from the experience.

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

This is still a good learning game for the Jazz. I like the emotion and competitiveness by both Watson and Favors. If the Jazz had Howard tonight, they would have had a better shot at winning. He's a versatile player who can make plays when the normal stuff is getting defended well.

A Josh Howard-type player is the kind of player the Jazz should look to draft. I think Quincy Miller could make a decent imitation.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

There was no basis to put him in at that time; he had made zero FGs, and besides that "huge steal and assist", he did nothing. That "huge ... assist" was one of his only two assists for the entire game. In nearly 24 minutes.

I maintain my claim.

I'm not denying that I would have stayed with Earl, I'm just saying that initially the move looked great. Hell, if Harris hits that 3 we are all praising him showing confidence in Harris by putting him out there. And if you look at the stats, Harris has definitely been our best spot up 3 point shooter, by a large margin too. Sometimes things workout, sometimes they don't. Tonight we just sucked (as a whole team, not just Harris) on the offensive end. Our execution was poor on all fronts besides CJ (who would ever thought we would say that?).

 

[billyshelby]

Why did we bring back Bell, Hayward, and Bell this game? They all stunk. Hayward was sort of OK so I can let that pass. But none of them had games that merited being on the floor in the 4th.