Saturday Report
Item: Charlotte coach Larry Brown, who has become famous for moving from team to team, told an amusing story prior to the Bobcats' 104-96 victory about Jerry Sloan, the longest tenured coach on pro sports.
In 1992, Sloan and the Jazz played Brown and the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the playoffs.
Utah, which had lost in the first round in 1989 and 1990 and the second round in 1991, won the first two games. But the Clippers won Games 3 and 4 in a series that was delayed for four days because of the riots in L.A. that followed the Rodney King verdict.
The Jazz faced another early exit from the playoffs if they could not win Game 5 back in Utah and, according to Brown, Sloan told him before tipoff that he expected to be fired if Utah lost.
The Jazz scored a 98-89 victory, however, and eventually advanced all the way to the conference finals. Sloan's job status was never an issue again.
---
Item: The Jazz were constantly beaten off the dribble against Charlotte, which was the major reason the Bobcats enjoyed a 38-24 advantage in free-throw attempts.
Ronnie Price, Brevin Knight and Ronnie Brewer had an excruciatingly difficult time keeping Charlotte point guards Raymond Felton and D.J. Augustin away from the basket. Felton and Augustin shot 14 free throws, including 12 in the fourth quarter.
Said Sloan: "I thought our technique of trying to guards guys -- keeping them in front of us -- was one of the problems we had because we ended up fouling too much. We committed 30 fouls. That's way too many fouls to try and win."
---
Item: The Jazz also committed 20 turnovers, but Carlos Boozer did not want to blame the mix-and-match lineups Sloan had to put on the floor because of injuries to Deron Williams and Andrei Kirilenko and the continuing absence of Memo Okur.
Said Boozer: "We're not used to some of the lineups that are out there, but we have to adjust. That's what basketball is all about. The same thing isn't going to happen every night. ... At this level, we should be able to adjust to anything."
At one point, the Jazz had Kosta Koufos, Paul Millsap, Brewer, Price and Knight on the floor at the same time.
---
Item: Koufos, the 19-year-old rookie, continues to be a force as Okur's replacement in the starting lineup. Against Charlotte, he finished with nine points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots.
"I thought he played pretty well," Sloan said. "He hustled hard. He played hard. It's tough to take him out of the ballgame because he gives us a little size."
Without Okur and Kirilenko, the mini-Jazz were outrebounded by the Bobcats, 38-24. Three times during the course of the game, Charlotte rebounded one of its own missed free throws and converted it into points.
"... We just have to concentrate a little harder and take care of the ball as a team, get better defensively and start knocking down some shots," said Brewer.
-- Steve Luhm
In 1992, Sloan and the Jazz played Brown and the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the playoffs.
Utah, which had lost in the first round in 1989 and 1990 and the second round in 1991, won the first two games. But the Clippers won Games 3 and 4 in a series that was delayed for four days because of the riots in L.A. that followed the Rodney King verdict.
The Jazz faced another early exit from the playoffs if they could not win Game 5 back in Utah and, according to Brown, Sloan told him before tipoff that he expected to be fired if Utah lost.
The Jazz scored a 98-89 victory, however, and eventually advanced all the way to the conference finals. Sloan's job status was never an issue again.
---
Item: The Jazz were constantly beaten off the dribble against Charlotte, which was the major reason the Bobcats enjoyed a 38-24 advantage in free-throw attempts.
Ronnie Price, Brevin Knight and Ronnie Brewer had an excruciatingly difficult time keeping Charlotte point guards Raymond Felton and D.J. Augustin away from the basket. Felton and Augustin shot 14 free throws, including 12 in the fourth quarter.
Said Sloan: "I thought our technique of trying to guards guys -- keeping them in front of us -- was one of the problems we had because we ended up fouling too much. We committed 30 fouls. That's way too many fouls to try and win."
---
Item: The Jazz also committed 20 turnovers, but Carlos Boozer did not want to blame the mix-and-match lineups Sloan had to put on the floor because of injuries to Deron Williams and Andrei Kirilenko and the continuing absence of Memo Okur.
Said Boozer: "We're not used to some of the lineups that are out there, but we have to adjust. That's what basketball is all about. The same thing isn't going to happen every night. ... At this level, we should be able to adjust to anything."
At one point, the Jazz had Kosta Koufos, Paul Millsap, Brewer, Price and Knight on the floor at the same time.
---
Item: Koufos, the 19-year-old rookie, continues to be a force as Okur's replacement in the starting lineup. Against Charlotte, he finished with nine points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots.
"I thought he played pretty well," Sloan said. "He hustled hard. He played hard. It's tough to take him out of the ballgame because he gives us a little size."
Without Okur and Kirilenko, the mini-Jazz were outrebounded by the Bobcats, 38-24. Three times during the course of the game, Charlotte rebounded one of its own missed free throws and converted it into points.
"... We just have to concentrate a little harder and take care of the ball as a team, get better defensively and start knocking down some shots," said Brewer.
-- Steve Luhm
1:03 AM
| 
1 Comments:
Ross,
What's up with Luhm writing all the Jazz stories this weekend? I hope everything is ok. Hope you're back soon...
Post a Comment
<< Home