Jazz 93, Trail Blazers 80
Not that anybody back in Salt Lake City would have seen it since there was no KJZZ broadcast, but there were more people at Sunday afternoon's game in Portland than any preseason game I've ever covered.
The Blazers announced a sellout crowd of 19,980 and there were probably 17,000 people in the building. A Blazers official said the Rose Garden was even closer to capacity for the first home preseason game last week.
It's obvious just how excited people are about Greg Oden and the rest of the young stars the Blazers have around him. Too bad Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Rudy Fernandez all sat out and Oden went 1-for-5 and scored six points.
The big story from the Jazz's perspective was Andrei Kirilenko's play off the bench. Even with Carlos Boozer back, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan opted to start C.J. Miles and have Kirilenko serve as the team's sixth man.
I wouldn't read too much into plus/minus in the preseason, when the lineups on the floor are unconventional to say the least, but Kirilenko's numbers were darn impressive. The Jazz outscored Portland 52-39 in the 24:31 Kirilenko played Sunday.
They were especially strong when it came to closing out quarters. The Jazz outscored Portland 10-6 to end the first after Kirilenko checked in with 4:34 left and 10-2 in the third quarter after Kirilenko checked in with 1:52 remaining.
Kirilenko was all the difference in the first quarter - - he factored into all five of the Jazz's scoring possessions - - and came along for the ride in the third - - when Kyle Korver's three-pointer and Deron Williams three-point play drove the Jazz.
The biggest thing that can be said about Kirilenko was he even made Kyrylo Fesenko look good. Fesenko and Kirilenko have lockers next to each other and Kirilenko made a point of looking for Fesenko whenever he drove the lane.
Fesenko had a 10-point, 10-rebound performance, which Sloan said afterward was the game of his life. Another interesting thing was how much Kirilenko's postgame comments suggested that he was truly thinking about the game as he sat on the bench.
Kirilenko said he wanted to spark the Jazz in the first quarter by getting inside and trying to throw some quick passes around the basket. He also talked to Brevin Knight about taking advantage of the Blazers' overplaying defense and got two backdoor alley-oop dunks.
There's still four preseason games left, but I think Kirilenko is destined to start the season as the Jazz's sixth man.
It should be noted that what the Jazz are doing is remarkable. They're taking their highest-paid player and choosing to bring him off the bench. Only two bench players in the entire league, in fact, would be paid more than Kirilenko ($15.1 million) this season.
One is Stephon Marbury, who's apparently going to cash $20.8 million in checks from the Knicks while Chris Duhon starts ahead of him. The other is Steve Francis, who had his contract bought out by Portland before signing with Houston.
Aside from Marbury and New York, you can say that no team will be paying a player as much to come off the bench as the Jazz will with Kirilenko.
* * *
If you watched Sunday's game, you'd probably have left thinking Kosta Koufos was destined to start the season in the NBA Development League and Kyrylo Fesenko would be a regular in the rotation.
Koufos couldn't have looked more like a 19-year-old in the second quarter. He was 0-for-5, with one shot blocked by Nicolas Batum, another shot an airball, a missed layup and a missed runner. Koufos also got dunked on by Greg Oden and was called for charging.
Before the game, Sloan had some fun when he was asked about Koufos having a green light to launch jumpers. Koufos had hit shots with confidence during the Jazz's public scrimmage and first preseason game.
"He's got a green light to go rebound," Sloan said. "He's got a green light to pick up loose balls and all those things that a young guy should do when they step out on the floor. I've never criticized a guy for rebounding too much."
"He can shoot the ball and that's been one of his strengths. When he's open, he's probably been told to shoot it. But we'd like for him to fake to the other guys once in a while to let them know they're in the same game."
* * *
Was a little surprised at Monta Ellis' suspension in Golden State. To put a 30-game suspension in perspective, consider that Stephen Jackson was suspended that long for his role in the brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Vladimir Radmanovic also was fined $500,000 (not $3 million like Ellis) after he suffered a shoulder injury snowboarding in violation of his contract over the All-Star break and then lied to the Lakers about it.
* * *
Some notes from this afternoon's game:
We got to see two Duke Blue Devils (Carlos Boozer and Shavlik Randolph) match up as well as two Ohio State Buckeyes (Koufos and Oden).....Mehmet Okur picked up three fouls (two defensive, one offensive) against Oden in 5:07 of the first quarter. . . . The Jazz were in the penalty not even six minutes into the game. Sloan is going to have to preach even more about not needlessly fouling. . . .Williams thought Fesenko wasn't strong enough in following up a miss in the first quarter and told him so. Fesenko hauled in the rebound after Williams missed a three-pointer and spun all the way around before missing a follow hook. After the admonition, Fesenko went on to finish with a double-double. . . .Ronnie Brewer hit a jumper in the second quarter after missing two in the first . . . .Sloan was not happy with the two jumpers C.J. Miles launched to start the second half. Miles hadn't attempted a shot in the first half and Sloan thought he was guility of trying to force things out of halftime. . . . Miles is going to have to step up the last four preseason games. Sloan said he would consider starting Kyle Korver. . . . In case you missed it, Korver's averaging 13 points and has hit 15 of 27 shots (55.6 percent) in the preseason.....Morris Almond didn't get into the game until the last 5:55, along with Gerry McNamara and Gabe Muoneke.
--Ross Siler
The Blazers announced a sellout crowd of 19,980 and there were probably 17,000 people in the building. A Blazers official said the Rose Garden was even closer to capacity for the first home preseason game last week.
It's obvious just how excited people are about Greg Oden and the rest of the young stars the Blazers have around him. Too bad Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Rudy Fernandez all sat out and Oden went 1-for-5 and scored six points.
The big story from the Jazz's perspective was Andrei Kirilenko's play off the bench. Even with Carlos Boozer back, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan opted to start C.J. Miles and have Kirilenko serve as the team's sixth man.
I wouldn't read too much into plus/minus in the preseason, when the lineups on the floor are unconventional to say the least, but Kirilenko's numbers were darn impressive. The Jazz outscored Portland 52-39 in the 24:31 Kirilenko played Sunday.
They were especially strong when it came to closing out quarters. The Jazz outscored Portland 10-6 to end the first after Kirilenko checked in with 4:34 left and 10-2 in the third quarter after Kirilenko checked in with 1:52 remaining.
Kirilenko was all the difference in the first quarter - - he factored into all five of the Jazz's scoring possessions - - and came along for the ride in the third - - when Kyle Korver's three-pointer and Deron Williams three-point play drove the Jazz.
The biggest thing that can be said about Kirilenko was he even made Kyrylo Fesenko look good. Fesenko and Kirilenko have lockers next to each other and Kirilenko made a point of looking for Fesenko whenever he drove the lane.
Fesenko had a 10-point, 10-rebound performance, which Sloan said afterward was the game of his life. Another interesting thing was how much Kirilenko's postgame comments suggested that he was truly thinking about the game as he sat on the bench.
Kirilenko said he wanted to spark the Jazz in the first quarter by getting inside and trying to throw some quick passes around the basket. He also talked to Brevin Knight about taking advantage of the Blazers' overplaying defense and got two backdoor alley-oop dunks.
There's still four preseason games left, but I think Kirilenko is destined to start the season as the Jazz's sixth man.
It should be noted that what the Jazz are doing is remarkable. They're taking their highest-paid player and choosing to bring him off the bench. Only two bench players in the entire league, in fact, would be paid more than Kirilenko ($15.1 million) this season.
One is Stephon Marbury, who's apparently going to cash $20.8 million in checks from the Knicks while Chris Duhon starts ahead of him. The other is Steve Francis, who had his contract bought out by Portland before signing with Houston.
Aside from Marbury and New York, you can say that no team will be paying a player as much to come off the bench as the Jazz will with Kirilenko.
* * *
If you watched Sunday's game, you'd probably have left thinking Kosta Koufos was destined to start the season in the NBA Development League and Kyrylo Fesenko would be a regular in the rotation.
Koufos couldn't have looked more like a 19-year-old in the second quarter. He was 0-for-5, with one shot blocked by Nicolas Batum, another shot an airball, a missed layup and a missed runner. Koufos also got dunked on by Greg Oden and was called for charging.
Before the game, Sloan had some fun when he was asked about Koufos having a green light to launch jumpers. Koufos had hit shots with confidence during the Jazz's public scrimmage and first preseason game.
"He's got a green light to go rebound," Sloan said. "He's got a green light to pick up loose balls and all those things that a young guy should do when they step out on the floor. I've never criticized a guy for rebounding too much."
"He can shoot the ball and that's been one of his strengths. When he's open, he's probably been told to shoot it. But we'd like for him to fake to the other guys once in a while to let them know they're in the same game."
* * *
Was a little surprised at Monta Ellis' suspension in Golden State. To put a 30-game suspension in perspective, consider that Stephen Jackson was suspended that long for his role in the brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Vladimir Radmanovic also was fined $500,000 (not $3 million like Ellis) after he suffered a shoulder injury snowboarding in violation of his contract over the All-Star break and then lied to the Lakers about it.
* * *
Some notes from this afternoon's game:
We got to see two Duke Blue Devils (Carlos Boozer and Shavlik Randolph) match up as well as two Ohio State Buckeyes (Koufos and Oden).....Mehmet Okur picked up three fouls (two defensive, one offensive) against Oden in 5:07 of the first quarter. . . . The Jazz were in the penalty not even six minutes into the game. Sloan is going to have to preach even more about not needlessly fouling. . . .Williams thought Fesenko wasn't strong enough in following up a miss in the first quarter and told him so. Fesenko hauled in the rebound after Williams missed a three-pointer and spun all the way around before missing a follow hook. After the admonition, Fesenko went on to finish with a double-double. . . .Ronnie Brewer hit a jumper in the second quarter after missing two in the first . . . .Sloan was not happy with the two jumpers C.J. Miles launched to start the second half. Miles hadn't attempted a shot in the first half and Sloan thought he was guility of trying to force things out of halftime. . . . Miles is going to have to step up the last four preseason games. Sloan said he would consider starting Kyle Korver. . . . In case you missed it, Korver's averaging 13 points and has hit 15 of 27 shots (55.6 percent) in the preseason.....Morris Almond didn't get into the game until the last 5:55, along with Gerry McNamara and Gabe Muoneke.
--Ross Siler
11:38 PM
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2 Comments:
Andrei will excel with a flurry as an all star once again as top 6th man in the NBA.
Excellent reporting on this game, Ross (a minor alleviation of KJZZ's idiocy). Good work.
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