Jazz 99, Mavericks 90
At their current pace, the Jazz are going to go 34-7 at home and 14-27 on the road. That's not exactly the consistency you'd expect from a team that went to the Western Conference finals, but it would be good enough for a 48-34 record and likely playoff spot.
It's hard to imagine a team that plays more differently home and away than the Jazz. They can jump out to a 16-0 lead against Dallas, like they did Wednesday night, or they can drill the Lakers even without two starters. Just as long as they're at home.
On the road, the Jazz lose to the Hawks, Bobcats and Heat. That was just in the last week. Now the Jazz have to string together a month's worth of victories at home and hope they can climb back up the Western Conference standings.
Even Deron Williams had to admit after Wednesday's game that the Jazz play with more confidence at home than they do on the road.
"I don't know why," Williams said. "Personally, I like playing on the road. I like going and trying to upset people on their home court. It's fun. We got to win on the road if we want to win some games, though. You've got to play on the road."
The Jazz/Lakers game Friday night in L.A. is shaping up as one that you might want to circle on the calendar. The Lakers have won nine of their last 11 and will be motivated after losing to the Jazz minus Mehmet Okur and Carlos Boozer last month.
They looked incredible against the Suns on Christmas, but the Jazz will be playing with confidence after beating a Dallas team that went 67-15 last season.
"It's a good win for us," Boozer said. "It feels good to be on the other side, beat a very good team. Hopefully, we can take that as confidence and move forward."
* * *
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was about as effusive as he gets after Wednesday's game. He called it a "terrific win for our team" and said "Our defense was about as good in the first quarter as I've seen it since I've been here."
After losing nine of their last 11 games, Sloan took a look at that 16-0 run to start the game and said, "It looked like they were having fun playing basketball and they certainly needed to do that and they needed to have fun and they did tonight."
"You step up to the challenge and play like that every night," Sloan added, "you make up for a lot of things that's happened."
More Sloan: "We had a lot of guys play well. That's what you have to have in order to beat a team like them. That's what was so satisfying."
* * *
Some details of the game I couldn't really get into in the paper:
The Jazz gave up a 10-2 run to close the first half after Boozer went to the bench with his third foul with 2:13 left. Boozer was called for shoving Devin Harris as he tried to follow-up Andrei Kirilenko's missed layup.
They missed three straight jumpers and gave up a Devean George three-point play and a Harris three-pointer that briefly gave the Mavericks the lead (46-45) before Kirilenko came back with a dunk.
Just like the first quarter, though, the Jazz blitzed the Mavericks at the start of the third. They opened the quarter on an 8-2 run. The Jazz built an 11-point lead in the third, then watched as Dallas closed to 84-80 in the fourth on two George three-pointers.
This was probably the key juncture of the game. The Jazz stopped the Mavericks on seven consecutive possessions, starting when Nowitzki missed a runner. Boozer then stole a Harris pass to Nowitzki.
The Mavericks tried to post up Josh Howard against Deron Williams - - they really went after Williams all game - - only to watch as Howard hit the side of the backboard with his shot. Nowitzki missed a three-pointer.
All of those shots could have made it even closer. Kirilenko nailed a jumper for the Jazz to make it 86-80 and Stackhouse missed for the Mavericks. That's five straight empty possessions, followed by turnovers by Nowitzki and George.
Nowitzki finished with 20 points, nine rebounds and five turnovers. He went just 3-for-10 from three-point range. Jason Terry had a horrifying night, going 0-for-10 and 0-for-6 from beyond the arc.
Maybe it wasn't the Mavericks best shot, but it was an impressive victory for the Jazz. Said Williams of that 16-0 start: "When we help each other out, when we talk, when we're communicating on defense, we're a lot better offensively as well."
* * *
Three notes on the Jazz's young players: C.J. Miles is now 15-for-24 in his last three games and hit a big-time three-point Wednesday even as 7-foot Dirk Nowitzki closed out on him. Sloan said he has no timetable for recalling Morris Almond back from the Utah Flash. Rookie center Kyrylo Fesenko didn't play and is going to be pressed for minutes now that Mehmet Okur is back.
* * *
Check back Thursday morning and we should have something on the Web from the meeting between Kevin O'Connor, Jerry Sloan and Gordan Giricek, who now has been paid more than $133,000 NOT to show up at work these last three games.
--Ross Siler
It's hard to imagine a team that plays more differently home and away than the Jazz. They can jump out to a 16-0 lead against Dallas, like they did Wednesday night, or they can drill the Lakers even without two starters. Just as long as they're at home.
On the road, the Jazz lose to the Hawks, Bobcats and Heat. That was just in the last week. Now the Jazz have to string together a month's worth of victories at home and hope they can climb back up the Western Conference standings.
Even Deron Williams had to admit after Wednesday's game that the Jazz play with more confidence at home than they do on the road.
"I don't know why," Williams said. "Personally, I like playing on the road. I like going and trying to upset people on their home court. It's fun. We got to win on the road if we want to win some games, though. You've got to play on the road."
The Jazz/Lakers game Friday night in L.A. is shaping up as one that you might want to circle on the calendar. The Lakers have won nine of their last 11 and will be motivated after losing to the Jazz minus Mehmet Okur and Carlos Boozer last month.
They looked incredible against the Suns on Christmas, but the Jazz will be playing with confidence after beating a Dallas team that went 67-15 last season.
"It's a good win for us," Boozer said. "It feels good to be on the other side, beat a very good team. Hopefully, we can take that as confidence and move forward."
* * *
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was about as effusive as he gets after Wednesday's game. He called it a "terrific win for our team" and said "Our defense was about as good in the first quarter as I've seen it since I've been here."
After losing nine of their last 11 games, Sloan took a look at that 16-0 run to start the game and said, "It looked like they were having fun playing basketball and they certainly needed to do that and they needed to have fun and they did tonight."
"You step up to the challenge and play like that every night," Sloan added, "you make up for a lot of things that's happened."
More Sloan: "We had a lot of guys play well. That's what you have to have in order to beat a team like them. That's what was so satisfying."
* * *
Some details of the game I couldn't really get into in the paper:
The Jazz gave up a 10-2 run to close the first half after Boozer went to the bench with his third foul with 2:13 left. Boozer was called for shoving Devin Harris as he tried to follow-up Andrei Kirilenko's missed layup.
They missed three straight jumpers and gave up a Devean George three-point play and a Harris three-pointer that briefly gave the Mavericks the lead (46-45) before Kirilenko came back with a dunk.
Just like the first quarter, though, the Jazz blitzed the Mavericks at the start of the third. They opened the quarter on an 8-2 run. The Jazz built an 11-point lead in the third, then watched as Dallas closed to 84-80 in the fourth on two George three-pointers.
This was probably the key juncture of the game. The Jazz stopped the Mavericks on seven consecutive possessions, starting when Nowitzki missed a runner. Boozer then stole a Harris pass to Nowitzki.
The Mavericks tried to post up Josh Howard against Deron Williams - - they really went after Williams all game - - only to watch as Howard hit the side of the backboard with his shot. Nowitzki missed a three-pointer.
All of those shots could have made it even closer. Kirilenko nailed a jumper for the Jazz to make it 86-80 and Stackhouse missed for the Mavericks. That's five straight empty possessions, followed by turnovers by Nowitzki and George.
Nowitzki finished with 20 points, nine rebounds and five turnovers. He went just 3-for-10 from three-point range. Jason Terry had a horrifying night, going 0-for-10 and 0-for-6 from beyond the arc.
Maybe it wasn't the Mavericks best shot, but it was an impressive victory for the Jazz. Said Williams of that 16-0 start: "When we help each other out, when we talk, when we're communicating on defense, we're a lot better offensively as well."
* * *
Three notes on the Jazz's young players: C.J. Miles is now 15-for-24 in his last three games and hit a big-time three-point Wednesday even as 7-foot Dirk Nowitzki closed out on him. Sloan said he has no timetable for recalling Morris Almond back from the Utah Flash. Rookie center Kyrylo Fesenko didn't play and is going to be pressed for minutes now that Mehmet Okur is back.
* * *
Check back Thursday morning and we should have something on the Web from the meeting between Kevin O'Connor, Jerry Sloan and Gordan Giricek, who now has been paid more than $133,000 NOT to show up at work these last three games.
--Ross Siler
1:17 AM
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