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Official Game Thread--1/1/11: Utah vs. Memphis 7pm MT...FSR-UT/KFNZ

We're now on pace for 55 wins. If we win the next two very winnable games at home, we're on pace for 57 wins. Not too shabby for as bad as we look at times. Still though, SJax would look sweet in our starting lineup.
 
Another incredibly mediocre effort from our Utah Jazz.

Both Williams and Jefferson sucking it up.
 
Hi all! I'm new here. Just thought I'd share some of my thoughts on the game.

Overall, the Jazz didn't play too well. But they did just enough to ward off the Grizzlies. I have to say the bench really saved the Jazz again this time. FT shooting was terrible (63%) not what you'd expect from the Jazz. D Will got it on just in time in the fourth to hit some much needed shots. The game stagnated in the fourth as both teams got into the penalty early. A win is a win though and I don't think we should expect anything less than a win against the Grizzlies at home if we want to be amongst the top teams in the West.

MVP: Paul Millsap (9.5/10)
Sap played pretty much a perfect game. Looked much more like the guy who took out the Heat back in November. Excellent shooting, very active on the defensive end, calm and composed on offense. Wonderful all round game in which he led in all stats apart from assists. Wish he had taken more command in scoring though. 22 and 10 is what you would expect Sap to put up on a nightly basis given his playing time. Let's hope he keeps this up.

Al Jefferson (4/10)
AJ did not impress me at all in this game. He was absent on both ends and poor shooting FT and FG. He took some shots outside of his range and missed easy ones as well. Took the most shots and missed 9/12! When compared to Boozer, his numbers just have not been consistent at all. To his credit though he did have 2 blocks. He needs to step it up in the next game.

Andrei Kirilenko (5/10)
AK looked rusty after returning from his back problems. Played OK but insists on throwing up bricks. I would give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he is rusty from injury. But if he doesn't pick his game up, he could well lose his minutes to Hayward. His biggest contribution (highlight) to the game was his sulking on the bench while the rest of the bench celebrated when Hayward hit a dunk in the fourth. He has been losing minutes to Hayward in the fourth even prior to injury. AK like how he was at the start of the season is a vital piece to the Jazz. AK like how he played today deserves to lose his place to a rookie and sulk on the bench.

Raja Bell (6.5/10)
Raja stuck to his role today and played within his expectations (or my expectations of him). Would like to see him more active on offense though instead of being as passive as he is. I believe his lack of activity is one of the main reasons for the lack of energy in the starting backcourt's vs that of the bench (price and watson).

Deron Williams (8/10)
Stats wise, below par. But he played well when it counted. He was visibly frustrated in the 3rd quarter but did well to channel the frustration into points in the fourth quarter. Again, D will seems to only be up for it in the 2nd half of games. If he could play well early then the Jazz may have been able to blow the Grizzlies out and give Dwill some much needed rest.

Gordon Hayward (8.5/10)
Outscored Bell and Big Al in the same amount of minutes. Played with enthusiasm, energy and was a great spark for the Jazz. One thing I like about him is how active he is on the defensive end of the floor. The best part is he is only going to get better with more games and more confidence. With CJ and Memo coming back, things look good for the Jazz with more scoring options off the bench.

Ronnie Price (9/10)
Price had his best game in a long while. He was everywhere and didn't do much wrong. Went after loose balls and Price was just being Price. He was definitely the spark off the bench in this game.

Earl Watson (8/10)
Similar to Price, Watson was extremely active and had a team high 6 assists. Only concern is that he seems afraid to take shots. He has made some big shots but I don't know why he seems to lack confidence in his shooting. Don't think I saw him attempt a shot in the game.

Kyrylo Fesenko (7/10)
Seemed more aggressive on the offensive end, which is good. Not many shots fell for him though.

Jeremy Evans (7/10)
Played very little in the game but still managed to pull off an alley-oop. Wish Sloan would play him more. Don't know why he didn't as the Jazz were clearly short handed. Really don't see him playing much or at all when Memo and CJ return. Like Harpring says, every time he comes onto the floor, he makes things happen.

Francisco Elson (6.5/10)
Played usual Elson ball. Don't know why he got ejected but seemed a bit harsh. He had a few bad calls go against him and it frustrated him.

That's my assessment of the game and first contribution to this forum. Comments are welcome. :)
 
I missed what happened to him. Can someone recap?

He was called for a pretty lame foul trying to get a rebound on a Jazz miss. He was then called for a defensive foul which did look legit (he actually blocked the shot pretty good but he hit the Grizzly player with his body). He clapped and complained and got a tech, and that tech seemed legit. Then I guess he said something because he got hit with a second really quickly, and that tech seemed like a very weak call.
 
Hi all! I'm new here. Just thought I'd share some of my thoughts on the game.

Overall, the Jazz didn't play too well. But they did just enough to ward off the Grizzlies. I have to say the bench really saved the Jazz again this time. FT shooting was terrible (63%) not what you'd expect from the Jazz. D Will got it on just in time in the fourth to hit some much needed shots. The game stagnated in the fourth as both teams got into the penalty early. A win is a win though and I don't think we should expect anything less than a win against the Grizzlies at home if we want to be amongst the top teams in the West.

MVP: Paul Millsap (9.5/10)
Sap played pretty much a perfect game. Looked much more like the guy who took out the Heat back in November. Excellent shooting, very active on the defensive end, calm and composed on offense. Wonderful all round game in which he led in all stats apart from assists. Wish he had taken more command in scoring though. 22 and 10 is what you would expect Sap to put up on a nightly basis given his playing time. Let's hope he keeps this up.

Al Jefferson (4/10)
AJ did not impress me at all in this game. He was absent on both ends and poor shooting FT and FG. He took some shots outside of his range and missed easy ones as well. Took the most shots and missed 9/12! When compared to Boozer, his numbers just have not been consistent at all. To his credit though he did have 2 blocks. He needs to step it up in the next game.

Andrei Kirilenko (5/10)
AK looked rusty after returning from his back problems. Played OK but insists on throwing up bricks. I would give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he is rusty from injury. But if he doesn't pick his game up, he could well lose his minutes to Hayward. His biggest contribution (highlight) to the game was his sulking on the bench while the rest of the bench celebrated when Hayward hit a dunk in the fourth. He has been losing minutes to Hayward in the fourth even prior to injury. AK like how he was at the start of the season is a vital piece to the Jazz. AK like how he played today deserves to lose his place to a rookie and sulk on the bench.

Raja Bell (6.5/10)
Raja stuck to his role today and played within his expectations (or my expectations of him). Would like to see him more active on offense though instead of being as passive as he is. I believe his lack of activity is one of the main reasons for the lack of energy in the starting backcourt's vs that of the bench (price and watson).

Deron Williams (8/10)
Stats wise, below par. But he played well when it counted. He was visibly frustrated in the 3rd quarter but did well to channel the frustration into points in the fourth quarter. Again, D will seems to only be up for it in the 2nd half of games. If he could play well early then the Jazz may have been able to blow the Grizzlies out and give Dwill some much needed rest.

Gordon Hayward (8.5/10)
Outscored Bell and Big Al in the same amount of minutes. Played with enthusiasm, energy and was a great spark for the Jazz. One thing I like about him is how active he is on the defensive end of the floor. The best part is he is only going to get better with more games and more confidence. With CJ and Memo coming back, things look good for the Jazz with more scoring options off the bench.

Ronnie Price (9/10)
Price had his best game in a long while. He was everywhere and didn't do much wrong. Went after loose balls and Price was just being Price. He was definitely the spark off the bench in this game.

Earl Watson (8/10)
Similar to Price, Watson was extremely active and had a team high 6 assists. Only concern is that he seems afraid to take shots. He has made some big shots but I don't know why he seems to lack confidence in his shooting. Don't think I saw him attempt a shot in the game.

Kyrylo Fesenko (7/10)
Seemed more aggressive on the offensive end, which is good. Not many shots fell for him though.

Jeremy Evans (7/10)
Played very little in the game but still managed to pull off an alley-oop. Wish Sloan would play him more. Don't know why he didn't as the Jazz were clearly short handed. Really don't see him playing much or at all when Memo and CJ return. Like Harpring says, every time he comes onto the floor, he makes things happen.

Francisco Elson (6.5/10)
Played usual Elson ball. Don't know why he got ejected but seemed a bit harsh. He had a few bad calls go against him and it frustrated him.

That's my assessment of the game and first contribution to this forum. Comments are welcome. :)

I agree for just about everything there. I do wish Sloan would play Evans more. He seems to make things happen in his limited minutes out there.
 
Hayward went from a total POS to a serviceable player seemingly overnight. He looks like he's getting buffer too (although he was never too skinny).

I swear, it's made me a firm believer on the effect of confidence in this league. Hopefully he can keep it up. What I like about his game the most is that he can seem to do things on the court that will keep him out there if his shot isn't doing well. His passing for his position is exceptional for a rookie.
 
I wasn't doubting him, I'm just dying to find a website with that kind of information.

https://hoopdata.com/teamshotlocs.aspx

I dunno it shows the overall picture about inside scoring but when you combine the made FGs at the rim with made FGs < 10 feet, Memphis still remains first. Z-Bo is always in full-attack mode on offense and Gasol's passing ability adds a valuable dimension. Their bench sucks big time, as it can be shown in stats.

https://www.hoopsstats.com/basketball/fantasy/nba/teamstats/11/7/diffeff/1-1

They have zero impact players from the bench and that's why coach Hollins have been trying a new adjustment by bringing Mayo off the bench.
 
I swear, it's made me a firm believer on the effect of confidence in this league. Hopefully he can keep it up. What I like about his game the most is that he can seem to do things on the court that will keep him out there if his shot isn't doing well. His passing for his position is exceptional for a rookie.

THis is so true. Hayward definitely has the skills to play. But we have seen him play with zero confidence and that is why he plays 10 minutes and gets no stats at all. He's too afrad to even do anything, so he does nothing. Now we see him calling for the ball and shooting like he thinks he can make it.
Where does that come from? Hard work. That is why Jerry preaches it so much. When you work hard, you improve and eventually your confidence grows.

Raja needs confidence right now. He still plays pretty tentatively. I understand. I don't known what it will take, probably time, for him to get his confidence back. But when he does, we will see big games from him.

You could see the other night that Wes Mathews plays with a lot of confidence. He truly believes in himself and plays like it.
 
Sap with his 7th double double of the season. What happened to 19 straight?
 
I still think the verdict is out on Hayward. Too many times, we as fans, see a little bit of forward progress and instantly label the progressing player as being the next this or the next that. Is he moving in the right direction. Absolutely. Do I want him to succeed. Absolutely. I want every one of our players to succeed. Hayward is no different.

I think it's great that he is playing so well. I just hope he can do it for his "career."
 
I think it's great that he is playing so well. I just hope he can do it for his "career."

The confidence is there - and that's a great deal of the equation. However, I'm betting Hayward had completely fallen off the radar with advance scouts. These next couple of games he'll be getting a little more attention. Let's see if he can make the adjustment.

We got spoiled a little bit by Matthews last year - he made the adjustment, didn't hit the rookie wall and continued to expand his game throughout his rookie season. That's rare for any rookie let alone an FA.
 
I still think the verdict is out on Hayward. Too many times, we as fans, see a little bit of forward progress and instantly label the progressing player as being the next this or the next that. Is he moving in the right direction. Absolutely. Do I want him to succeed. Absolutely. I want every one of our players to succeed. Hayward is no different.

I think it's great that he is playing so well. I just hope he can do it for his "career."
Just the same for those saying he was a bust not enough time to tell one way or the other. Of course you can call any draftee a bust and you'll more often then not be correct statistically speaking.
 
I just watched the first quarter again. AK was very active, put up 2 ill-advised shots although they were not forced. He also set up both Williams and Millsap for easy layups which they missed. Put those 2 very easy layups in and AK would have had 6 rather than 4 assists. He was crashing the boards, playing help defense, etc. His stat line (especially FG%) doesn't look very good, but people who were freaking out in chat were going overboard. Of course AK isn't worth what he's paid right now, no question. Also, he seems to have this back problem at least once a season. Still, considering that he is coming back from injury, and that the injury is still affecting him, he did fine. AK wasn't the problem last night. All the criticism directed his way last night wasn't quite balanced with what actually happened in the game, IMO.
 
TThese next couple of games he'll be getting a little more attention. Let's see if he can make the adjustment.

Exactly right. Once the in game adjustments are made by the opposing teams, lets see if Hayward, himself, can adjust and continue the way he has. It's easy to make great plays when teams are not expecting you.

Make us proud Hayward.

Also, in other unrelated thoughts...is there a chance that Hayward is inbred. Kind of a weird looking kid.
 
I just watched the first quarter again. AK was very active, put up 2 ill-advised shots although they were not forced. He also set up both Williams and Millsap for easy layups which they missed. Put those 2 very easy layups in and AK would have had 6 rather than 4 assists. He was crashing the boards, playing help defense, etc. His stat line (especially FG%) doesn't look very good, but people who were freaking out in chat were going overboard. Of course AK isn't worth what he's paid right now, no question. Also, he seems to have this back problem at least once a season. Still, considering that he is coming back from injury, and that the injury is still affecting him, he did fine. AK wasn't the problem last night. All the criticism directed his way last night wasn't quite balanced with what actually happened in the game, IMO.
I was afraid to post something like this, I'm not saying he played well but not as bad as everybody is making it out to be.
 
Exactly right. Once the in game adjustments are made by the opposing teams, lets see if Hayward, himself, can adjust and continue the way he has. It's easy to make great plays when teams are not expecting you.

Make us proud Hayward.
That still may not happen (being more scouted) until he continues to get playing time (consistently) every night and keeps playing consistently well on top of that. All though to get one he'll most likely have to do the other baring injuries of course.
I honestly wouldn't think he'll be more focused in the scouting reports until after the AS break.
 
Pathetic.
Ya pretty much, guess if I was skerred I should've went to church.
Hardly online because of the holidays and me taking off 2 weeks of work so wouldn't want anyone to think my lack of response was conceding a point and losing the argument. I would prefer to do that by my poor posting skills at least it would show it was due to me sucking and not quiting.
 
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