Suns 96, Jazz 89
Too bad Jazz fans won't get to see their team again at EnergySolutions Arena until Oct. 23. That'll be the Jazz's last preseason game, and they'd definitely like to make a better impression than they did in Thursday's 96-89 loss to Phoenix.
The Jazz shot 42.5 percent, were outrebounded 45-35 and missed 14 of 36 free throws. Thankfully Kyrylo Fesenko got to match up against childhood idol Shaquille O'Neal in the second quarter, otherwise there wouldn't have been anything worth writing about.
Rather than looking inside to start the game, C.J. Miles and Ronnie Brewer both missed jumpers. It was that kind of night. Miles was in the starting lineup again but went 1-for-5 from the field and missed 4 of 6 free throws in 12:38.
Mehmet Okur was the only starter to offer a performance of note. Okur looked pretty good in hitting a jumper off a pick-and-roll play with Deron Williams and also posting up Robin Lopez for a basket soon after the rookie checked in.
Okur had 12 points and eight rebounds in 20 minutes. The Jazz had one nice sequence as well in the first quarter as Andrei Kirilenko missed a shot, Paul Millsap grabbed the offensive rebound and Williams hit Morris Almond for a layup.
The Jazz led 20-11 after that play, but it was all downhill the rest of the quarter. We now know Williams/Almond/Kyle Korver/Kirilenko/Millsap isn't a great lineup combination after watching Phoenix outscore the Jazz 8-1 to close the first.
We got to see Fesenko and O'Neal in the second quarter as well as more of the Brevin Knight/Ronnie Price backcourt. Jerry Sloan also played Price and Williams together for the last 6:37 of the third quarter.
It was hard to get a feel of what those pairings could do, although Price did not back down when he was matched up against Raja Bell in the third. Bell's one of the more physical guards in the NBA; Price definitely answered the call.
Jarron Collins checked in for the first time to start the fourth quarter along with Almond, Korver, Knight and Millsap. Although he's played for Sloan for eight seasons, it's looking like Collins will have a hard time even getting the 10 minutes he did last season.
Collins had a rough time, committing three fouls in 6:32 of action, missing a baseline jumper, having a rebound taken from him by Alando Tucker and missing two free throws. The Jazz finished the game with Kevin Lyde, Gerry McNamara and Gabe Muoneke all on the floor.
Knight had six assists in 18 minutes plus a couple of steals. He's actually a worse career shooter than Jason Hart (41.5 percent vs. 42.3 percent) but Knight seems to inspire a lot more confidence with his jumper. He hit a nice jumper in the second quarter Thursday.
* * *
If you looked at the box score, you'd probably think Almond had a pretty good gave. He scored 10 points and hit 5 of 10 shots in 19 minutes. Only Okur and Korver scored more. But Sloan was not happy, judging from his postgame comments.
"Well, he scored points, but I'm disappointed with the way he runs the floor," Sloan said. "He looks like he's not concerned about running the floor and helping defensively. We can't afford to have that, especially out of our mid-sized people.
"I mean, everybody likes to score. But if that's all you're going to do, then it's hard to play to win. Numbers are one thing, but you can win with less numbers and more effort on the other side.
"He's got to rebound the ball, pass the basketball, learn to do some other things, rather than just being a one-dimensional player."
* * *
The Jazz didn't have a great game defensively in their preseason opener, but they still held the Lakers to 90 points. Kobe Bryant had eight points on 2-for-6 shooting with four turnovers in the two quarters he played.
But Sloan has made defense the focus this season and put his players on notice that they will be held accountable. Brewer said the same thing Sloan was telling reporters at the pregame shootaround was the same thing he'd already told his players.
"We've got a lot of offensive thinkers on our team and somebody needs to step the front from the defensive end of the floor," Sloan said. "Not to talk, but to give us some leadership out on the floor. Everybody needs that, I think."
Sloan repeated something he said in training camp, namely that he had a deeper team this season than in the past and wouldn't be afraid of sitting a player who's defense wasn't up to standard.
* * *
We had our annual briefing with NBA referees before the game, in which they go over the points of emphasis and answer some of our questions.
They will be paying particular attention to blocking/charging calls - - the defender must beat an offensive player to a spot - - as well as inbounds plays at the end of quarters to stop defenders from grabbing the jerseys of offensive players.
If that happens, referees won't hesitate in calling an away-from-the-play foul immediately, which results in a free throw plus the ball for the offensive team. They also talked about marginal versus illegal contact when a defender rises vertically to contest a shot or drive.
In addition, referees will be closely watching to see if an offensive player dislodges a defender as he tries to back him down while dribbling. That's an offensive foul that you'll see called more this season.
They also won't be calling automatic technical fouls if a player bounces the ball of the stanchion in frustration this season. Instead, referees will have to judge whether the player has any ill intent in doing so.
We saw a couple examples of flagrant foul 1s vs. 2s, along with a clip of Dwyane Wade staring down and standing over an opponent after a play (an automatic technical), an illegal leg kick offensive foul by a shooter and an example of legal post defense.
--Ross Siler
The Jazz shot 42.5 percent, were outrebounded 45-35 and missed 14 of 36 free throws. Thankfully Kyrylo Fesenko got to match up against childhood idol Shaquille O'Neal in the second quarter, otherwise there wouldn't have been anything worth writing about.
Rather than looking inside to start the game, C.J. Miles and Ronnie Brewer both missed jumpers. It was that kind of night. Miles was in the starting lineup again but went 1-for-5 from the field and missed 4 of 6 free throws in 12:38.
Mehmet Okur was the only starter to offer a performance of note. Okur looked pretty good in hitting a jumper off a pick-and-roll play with Deron Williams and also posting up Robin Lopez for a basket soon after the rookie checked in.
Okur had 12 points and eight rebounds in 20 minutes. The Jazz had one nice sequence as well in the first quarter as Andrei Kirilenko missed a shot, Paul Millsap grabbed the offensive rebound and Williams hit Morris Almond for a layup.
The Jazz led 20-11 after that play, but it was all downhill the rest of the quarter. We now know Williams/Almond/Kyle Korver/Kirilenko/Millsap isn't a great lineup combination after watching Phoenix outscore the Jazz 8-1 to close the first.
We got to see Fesenko and O'Neal in the second quarter as well as more of the Brevin Knight/Ronnie Price backcourt. Jerry Sloan also played Price and Williams together for the last 6:37 of the third quarter.
It was hard to get a feel of what those pairings could do, although Price did not back down when he was matched up against Raja Bell in the third. Bell's one of the more physical guards in the NBA; Price definitely answered the call.
Jarron Collins checked in for the first time to start the fourth quarter along with Almond, Korver, Knight and Millsap. Although he's played for Sloan for eight seasons, it's looking like Collins will have a hard time even getting the 10 minutes he did last season.
Collins had a rough time, committing three fouls in 6:32 of action, missing a baseline jumper, having a rebound taken from him by Alando Tucker and missing two free throws. The Jazz finished the game with Kevin Lyde, Gerry McNamara and Gabe Muoneke all on the floor.
Knight had six assists in 18 minutes plus a couple of steals. He's actually a worse career shooter than Jason Hart (41.5 percent vs. 42.3 percent) but Knight seems to inspire a lot more confidence with his jumper. He hit a nice jumper in the second quarter Thursday.
* * *
If you looked at the box score, you'd probably think Almond had a pretty good gave. He scored 10 points and hit 5 of 10 shots in 19 minutes. Only Okur and Korver scored more. But Sloan was not happy, judging from his postgame comments.
"Well, he scored points, but I'm disappointed with the way he runs the floor," Sloan said. "He looks like he's not concerned about running the floor and helping defensively. We can't afford to have that, especially out of our mid-sized people.
"I mean, everybody likes to score. But if that's all you're going to do, then it's hard to play to win. Numbers are one thing, but you can win with less numbers and more effort on the other side.
"He's got to rebound the ball, pass the basketball, learn to do some other things, rather than just being a one-dimensional player."
* * *
The Jazz didn't have a great game defensively in their preseason opener, but they still held the Lakers to 90 points. Kobe Bryant had eight points on 2-for-6 shooting with four turnovers in the two quarters he played.
But Sloan has made defense the focus this season and put his players on notice that they will be held accountable. Brewer said the same thing Sloan was telling reporters at the pregame shootaround was the same thing he'd already told his players.
"We've got a lot of offensive thinkers on our team and somebody needs to step the front from the defensive end of the floor," Sloan said. "Not to talk, but to give us some leadership out on the floor. Everybody needs that, I think."
Sloan repeated something he said in training camp, namely that he had a deeper team this season than in the past and wouldn't be afraid of sitting a player who's defense wasn't up to standard.
* * *
We had our annual briefing with NBA referees before the game, in which they go over the points of emphasis and answer some of our questions.
They will be paying particular attention to blocking/charging calls - - the defender must beat an offensive player to a spot - - as well as inbounds plays at the end of quarters to stop defenders from grabbing the jerseys of offensive players.
If that happens, referees won't hesitate in calling an away-from-the-play foul immediately, which results in a free throw plus the ball for the offensive team. They also talked about marginal versus illegal contact when a defender rises vertically to contest a shot or drive.
In addition, referees will be closely watching to see if an offensive player dislodges a defender as he tries to back him down while dribbling. That's an offensive foul that you'll see called more this season.
They also won't be calling automatic technical fouls if a player bounces the ball of the stanchion in frustration this season. Instead, referees will have to judge whether the player has any ill intent in doing so.
We saw a couple examples of flagrant foul 1s vs. 2s, along with a clip of Dwyane Wade staring down and standing over an opponent after a play (an automatic technical), an illegal leg kick offensive foul by a shooter and an example of legal post defense.
--Ross Siler
12:05 AM
| 
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home