Jazz 119, Magic 115
Are the Jazz back?
That's the question you'll probably have to wait to answer, at least until they go on the road for what's shaping up as a huge game Thursday at Denver. For now, the Jazz have won five of their last six games, yet still aren't in the Western Conference's top eight.
They will head into Sunday outside of playoff position, trailing Golden State by a half-game. All five of their recent victories, it also must be noted, have come at EnergySolutions Arena, where the Jazz are 15-3 this season.
Just ask around the locker room if the Jazz are back on the right track and you get some interesting opinions:
Jerry Sloan: "Well, I don't know. Some of these games are kind of fool's gold, you might say. We've caught teams that's been shorthanded. But we had to win, we had to figure out some way to win. Fortunately, we won some games."
Carlos Boozer: "As long as we take care of our business, it'll take care of itself. We can't really watch the standings right now. We've still got a lot of basketball to be played, other teams have a lot of basketball to be played. All we can do is continue to improve ourselves and hopefully in April we'll look up and be in there."
Deron Williams: "We've had success at home. I'm interested to see how we do when we've got to go on the road. But we'll make the most of these home games. We've got to win them over here. We've got a long homestand, we've got a lot of home games this month and we've got to take advantage of that. But also, when we go on the road, we've got to turn that around as well."
The Jazz are only three victories off last season's pace through 38 games. They were 24-14 last season (21-17 this season) on the way to finishing 51-31. The Jazz now are 4-1 in January with Mehmet Okur averaging 19.0 points this month.
* * *
In a game decided by four points, every basket is critical, so give credit to Jason Hart for two plays at the end of the third quarter. Hart slid the ball to Paul Millsap for a 16-footer as the Jazz ran down the clock. Hart also nailed a 31-foot three-pointer at the buzzer.
Hart didn't even play a full 10 minutes in the game, yet finished with five points and four assists. I also liked the way he pressured Keyon Dooling on the first possession of the fourth. The Magic didn't even get into their offense for 14 seconds.
* * *
Tough night for C.J. Miles. He went from starting with Andrei Kirilenko out with a back injury to not getting off the bench Saturday. Jazz coach Jerry Sloan used Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver exclusively as his two-guards in the game. Brewer played 27 minutes and Korver 21. Brewer finished with 11 points and Korver with seven.
The last three games, for what it's worth, Korver has gone 11-for-30 overall (36.7 percent) and 2-for-14 (14.3 percent) on three-pointers. Korver did hit four free throws in the final minute Saturday, including two after the Magic had closed within four points.
* * *
The Jazz are expecting guard Ronnie Price to miss a couple more days with a sprained left ankle. Whether that's two days, four days or six days is anybody's guess. Price tested the ankle in practice Friday but said it flared up on him at the end.
He woke up Saturday with the ankle sore, the swelling back and said he had a tough time getting through shootaround. He said before the game: "I got too anxious, too excited to play."
--Ross Siler
That's the question you'll probably have to wait to answer, at least until they go on the road for what's shaping up as a huge game Thursday at Denver. For now, the Jazz have won five of their last six games, yet still aren't in the Western Conference's top eight.
They will head into Sunday outside of playoff position, trailing Golden State by a half-game. All five of their recent victories, it also must be noted, have come at EnergySolutions Arena, where the Jazz are 15-3 this season.
Just ask around the locker room if the Jazz are back on the right track and you get some interesting opinions:
Jerry Sloan: "Well, I don't know. Some of these games are kind of fool's gold, you might say. We've caught teams that's been shorthanded. But we had to win, we had to figure out some way to win. Fortunately, we won some games."
Carlos Boozer: "As long as we take care of our business, it'll take care of itself. We can't really watch the standings right now. We've still got a lot of basketball to be played, other teams have a lot of basketball to be played. All we can do is continue to improve ourselves and hopefully in April we'll look up and be in there."
Deron Williams: "We've had success at home. I'm interested to see how we do when we've got to go on the road. But we'll make the most of these home games. We've got to win them over here. We've got a long homestand, we've got a lot of home games this month and we've got to take advantage of that. But also, when we go on the road, we've got to turn that around as well."
The Jazz are only three victories off last season's pace through 38 games. They were 24-14 last season (21-17 this season) on the way to finishing 51-31. The Jazz now are 4-1 in January with Mehmet Okur averaging 19.0 points this month.
* * *
In a game decided by four points, every basket is critical, so give credit to Jason Hart for two plays at the end of the third quarter. Hart slid the ball to Paul Millsap for a 16-footer as the Jazz ran down the clock. Hart also nailed a 31-foot three-pointer at the buzzer.
Hart didn't even play a full 10 minutes in the game, yet finished with five points and four assists. I also liked the way he pressured Keyon Dooling on the first possession of the fourth. The Magic didn't even get into their offense for 14 seconds.
* * *
Tough night for C.J. Miles. He went from starting with Andrei Kirilenko out with a back injury to not getting off the bench Saturday. Jazz coach Jerry Sloan used Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver exclusively as his two-guards in the game. Brewer played 27 minutes and Korver 21. Brewer finished with 11 points and Korver with seven.
The last three games, for what it's worth, Korver has gone 11-for-30 overall (36.7 percent) and 2-for-14 (14.3 percent) on three-pointers. Korver did hit four free throws in the final minute Saturday, including two after the Magic had closed within four points.
* * *
The Jazz are expecting guard Ronnie Price to miss a couple more days with a sprained left ankle. Whether that's two days, four days or six days is anybody's guess. Price tested the ankle in practice Friday but said it flared up on him at the end.
He woke up Saturday with the ankle sore, the swelling back and said he had a tough time getting through shootaround. He said before the game: "I got too anxious, too excited to play."
--Ross Siler
1:19 AM
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