Jazz 108, Suns 86
As long as Matt Harpring and his wife, Mandy, are still mulling over a name for their new baby girl, allow me to welcome Hillary Barack Pelosi Harpring into the world.
Matt Harpring is a proud Republican who has been known to ride Jarron Collins from time to time about his support for Hillary Clinton. He's also the only NBA player I can imagine who TiVo'd the YouTube Republican presidential debate before leaving on a road trip.
I ran the name suggestion for Harpring's new daughter by Collins in the locker room after the Jazz's victory over Phoenix and he agreed it was a good one. In all seriousness, congratulations to the Harprings on their second child.
The Jazz announced the birth in the second half of Thursday's game, saying the Harprings' new daughter weighed in at 6 pounds, 9 ounces and that they were still deciding on a name. We all hope Huckabee Hannity Harpring is doing great.
* * *
What's funny is that Harpring was headed to the doctor's office after shootaround Thursday and was going to talk about options for the birth, including the possibility of inducing labor to work around the Jazz schedule. As it turns out, there was only one option.
* * *
Thought this quote from Jazz coach Jerry Sloan pretty much summed up things on a night when the Suns scored 86 points and shot 36.1 percent without Steve Nash, Shawn Marion or Grant Hill in the lineup.
"They have obviously pretty good players at home," Sloan said. "That's what makes them a great team. They've got guys that, in the absence of all their players, can step out there and be effective.
"It's the people that back them up that don't have the experience to play as much. You're talking about younger guys replacing older guys and that's always a tough thing to do."
The Suns had no answer for the Jazz inside and lost the points in the paint battle 52-28. Their only hope in the game was to rain three-pointers, but they went just 10-for-32 for the game. Marcus Banks started at guard and went 3-for-11 overall in 38 minutes.
* * *
If not for their collapse against a zone defense to start the second quarter, the Jazz could have put together a pretty complete 48-minute victory.
They went 1-for-15 with four turnovers to start the quarter, but I'm convinced things would have been different had Kyle Korver gotten just one shot to fall. Korver was 0-for-5 in the quarter and missed all four three-pointers he took.
The last two games, Korver has gone 5-for-11 and 5-for-14 and a combined 2-for-12 from three-point range. Korver said afterward he would forget about Thursday's game as soon as he got back in the gym Friday.
"I haven't gotten that many good looks in a long time," Korver said. "I was probably a little bit anxious, shot them a little bit quick maybe. I haven't shot the ball well the last couple games, but we had blowout wins.
"If you're going to pick a game to not shoot the ball well, you want it to be those games. I just take it as a positive and get ready tomorrow."
* * *
Would love to know what Jason Hart's conversion rate is this season for shots taken at the end of a quarter. The Jazz held for shots at the end of the second and third quarters Thursday and Hart opted to keep the ball for his own shot both times.
He missed a 22-footer the first time and a three-pointer the next. It was part of a 1-for-7 night for Hart, who finished with two points. It seems as if he gets at least one jumper every game off a high screen with the quarter winding down.
Yet Hart is shooting just 31.8 percent this season after Thursday's game.
* * *
Two interesting things from Mehmet Okur's 22-point, 17-rebound game Thursday. Deron Williams said he thought Okur was starting to get his legs back after missing seven games in December with a shoulder injury. The Jazz only can hope so.
Okur, meanwhile, talked about how he got himself going in the game. He got to the foul line for two early free throws, scored off an offensive rebound and later nailed a three-pointer. Okur remarked that he should start every game by building confidence that way.
I'm not sure I've seen Okur make two better post moves this season than the dunk and the reverse layup he had against Amare Stoudemire in the first half. It just goes to show you that he has it in him.
--Ross Siler
Matt Harpring is a proud Republican who has been known to ride Jarron Collins from time to time about his support for Hillary Clinton. He's also the only NBA player I can imagine who TiVo'd the YouTube Republican presidential debate before leaving on a road trip.
I ran the name suggestion for Harpring's new daughter by Collins in the locker room after the Jazz's victory over Phoenix and he agreed it was a good one. In all seriousness, congratulations to the Harprings on their second child.
The Jazz announced the birth in the second half of Thursday's game, saying the Harprings' new daughter weighed in at 6 pounds, 9 ounces and that they were still deciding on a name. We all hope Huckabee Hannity Harpring is doing great.
* * *
What's funny is that Harpring was headed to the doctor's office after shootaround Thursday and was going to talk about options for the birth, including the possibility of inducing labor to work around the Jazz schedule. As it turns out, there was only one option.
* * *
Thought this quote from Jazz coach Jerry Sloan pretty much summed up things on a night when the Suns scored 86 points and shot 36.1 percent without Steve Nash, Shawn Marion or Grant Hill in the lineup.
"They have obviously pretty good players at home," Sloan said. "That's what makes them a great team. They've got guys that, in the absence of all their players, can step out there and be effective.
"It's the people that back them up that don't have the experience to play as much. You're talking about younger guys replacing older guys and that's always a tough thing to do."
The Suns had no answer for the Jazz inside and lost the points in the paint battle 52-28. Their only hope in the game was to rain three-pointers, but they went just 10-for-32 for the game. Marcus Banks started at guard and went 3-for-11 overall in 38 minutes.
* * *
If not for their collapse against a zone defense to start the second quarter, the Jazz could have put together a pretty complete 48-minute victory.
They went 1-for-15 with four turnovers to start the quarter, but I'm convinced things would have been different had Kyle Korver gotten just one shot to fall. Korver was 0-for-5 in the quarter and missed all four three-pointers he took.
The last two games, Korver has gone 5-for-11 and 5-for-14 and a combined 2-for-12 from three-point range. Korver said afterward he would forget about Thursday's game as soon as he got back in the gym Friday.
"I haven't gotten that many good looks in a long time," Korver said. "I was probably a little bit anxious, shot them a little bit quick maybe. I haven't shot the ball well the last couple games, but we had blowout wins.
"If you're going to pick a game to not shoot the ball well, you want it to be those games. I just take it as a positive and get ready tomorrow."
* * *
Would love to know what Jason Hart's conversion rate is this season for shots taken at the end of a quarter. The Jazz held for shots at the end of the second and third quarters Thursday and Hart opted to keep the ball for his own shot both times.
He missed a 22-footer the first time and a three-pointer the next. It was part of a 1-for-7 night for Hart, who finished with two points. It seems as if he gets at least one jumper every game off a high screen with the quarter winding down.
Yet Hart is shooting just 31.8 percent this season after Thursday's game.
* * *
Two interesting things from Mehmet Okur's 22-point, 17-rebound game Thursday. Deron Williams said he thought Okur was starting to get his legs back after missing seven games in December with a shoulder injury. The Jazz only can hope so.
Okur, meanwhile, talked about how he got himself going in the game. He got to the foul line for two early free throws, scored off an offensive rebound and later nailed a three-pointer. Okur remarked that he should start every game by building confidence that way.
I'm not sure I've seen Okur make two better post moves this season than the dunk and the reverse layup he had against Amare Stoudemire in the first half. It just goes to show you that he has it in him.
--Ross Siler
1:35 AM
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4 Comments:
I think the Harprings should go with:
Rush Glenn Walker (W.) Harpring
Thank you, Siler, for noticing the Hart at the end of the quarter issue! I yell about this to my friends, wife, and co-workers during and after every game. He can't hit that shot coming off the pick and roll! And he waits to get moving for that last shot until there's 5-6 seconds on the clock, so it's either that or a long jumper by Millsap or whichever big man they have on the high screen. If it's not Deron in the game, they need to start moving with 10-11 seconds on the clock so there's time for another pass. It's not so much that Hart is a bad shooter as it is that he's a bad shooter when he's moving. We'd be better with the ball in someone else's hands with the possibility to get Hart on the set shot. It's killing me!
Even a better option is this, don't play for the last shot. It's bad basketball. Take your chances getting a good shot and then make them take a forced last second shot. The odds are much better that way.
I agree with Mathew for the most part. The only part I don't agree with is that Hart really is a bad shooter. Look no farther than his field goal percentage of 31.8%. He would be better off shooting nothing but threes (not that I want to see that either) because he shoots 37% from there.
"They went 1-for-15 with four turnovers to start the quarter, but I'm convinced things would have been different had Kyle Korver gotten just one shot to fall."
You're convinced they would have had a better quarter if they would have made more shots? Wow - that's expert analysis there.
And yes - Hart is completely horrible. I would trade him to the flash for Kevin Krueger and a first round pick.
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