Bucks 94, Jazz 86
When you come down to it, Paul Millsap is a third-year player making the minimum with an earnings potential of possibly $50 million as a free agent this summer. You just hope he made the right decision coming back in the second half of Tuesday's loss.
Millsap suffered a pretty scary looking left knee injury in the first quarter against the Bucks. Without Millsap, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan had to play Andrei Kirilenko at center and Matt Harpring and Ronnie Brewer at power forward in the first half.
That's how short-handed the Jazz are with Carlos Boozer (long-term) and Mehmet Okur (short-term) both out injured. Millsap came back to play the entire second half, but said afterward it felt like he was doing so on one leg.
"If you like to play, you like to play," Sloan said. "You get up and play. If you're banged up and can't play, that's understandable, life goes on. The other team has to deal with that sort of thing.
"But the other guys have got to step up and play. If you're just going to call it in, which I thought we did to a certain extent. Defensively, they set screens and did a great job getting their guys open and we had no resistance at all. Forgot all about what we were doing."
Sloan also wasn't too happy with Kyrylo Fesenko, whom he described as not being ready to play, and Kosta Koufos, who went 3-for-10 and left Sloan with the impression he was more interested in shooting than anything else.
It was a pretty wretched night all the way around. Deron Williams and Andrei Kirilenko each had seven turnovers on a night the Jazz totaled 24 as a team. The Jazz shot a season-worst 38.8 percent and saw their eight-game winning streak against the Bucks snapped.
Williams picked up an early offensive foul and actually stayed on the court to argue the call with referee Monty McCutchen while the rest of the Jazz were in their timeout huddle. Williams made it back about halfway through.
Whether he was distracted early by that call or bothered by his injured right calf, Williams went 5-for-16 and 1-for-7 from three-point range. The seven turnovers were a season-high for Williams.
With the early injury to Millsap, Sloan had to play some pretty unusual lineups. The Jazz opened the second quarter with Brevin Knight, Ronnie Price, Morris Almond, Matt Harpring and Kirilenko on the floor.
They finished the quarter with Williams, Almond, Price (giving up six-plus inches to Richard Jefferson), Brewer and Koufos.
* * *
It seems pretty evident to me that the Jazz need to pick up another big man if Carlos Boozer is going to miss significant more time. Okur, Kirilenko and Millsap can hold things down for only so long.
Koufos and Fesenko appear alternately overmatched and confused. There's no counting on Jarron Collins as long as he's out with an injured right elbow. It's not as easy as just signing a big man, since the Jazz already have 15 players under contract.
Seeing that Jordan Farmar is going to miss four to eight weeks to undergo knee surgery and the Lakers are in the market for a small but quick point guard, maybe the Jazz could swing a deal with their Western Conference rival.
The Jazz have two point guards who fit the bill in Knight and Price while the Lakers have three big men in Chris Mihm, D.J. Mbenga and Josh Powell who might be able to benefit the Jazz.
This is just speculation on my part, I haven't talked to anybody from the Jazz about it. The Jazz also would have to sign a third point guard, which would require them to release a player with a guaranteed contract if they made a 1-for-1 trade.
* * *
You're going to be in Steve Luhm's hands for the next week while I spend Christmas with my wife and her family and generally try to forget about this road trip. It snowed in four of the five stops we made. The 20-degree weather tonight in Milwaukee felt almost balmy compared with what we've had the last three days in Chicago and here.
--Ross Siler
Millsap suffered a pretty scary looking left knee injury in the first quarter against the Bucks. Without Millsap, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan had to play Andrei Kirilenko at center and Matt Harpring and Ronnie Brewer at power forward in the first half.
That's how short-handed the Jazz are with Carlos Boozer (long-term) and Mehmet Okur (short-term) both out injured. Millsap came back to play the entire second half, but said afterward it felt like he was doing so on one leg.
"If you like to play, you like to play," Sloan said. "You get up and play. If you're banged up and can't play, that's understandable, life goes on. The other team has to deal with that sort of thing.
"But the other guys have got to step up and play. If you're just going to call it in, which I thought we did to a certain extent. Defensively, they set screens and did a great job getting their guys open and we had no resistance at all. Forgot all about what we were doing."
Sloan also wasn't too happy with Kyrylo Fesenko, whom he described as not being ready to play, and Kosta Koufos, who went 3-for-10 and left Sloan with the impression he was more interested in shooting than anything else.
It was a pretty wretched night all the way around. Deron Williams and Andrei Kirilenko each had seven turnovers on a night the Jazz totaled 24 as a team. The Jazz shot a season-worst 38.8 percent and saw their eight-game winning streak against the Bucks snapped.
Williams picked up an early offensive foul and actually stayed on the court to argue the call with referee Monty McCutchen while the rest of the Jazz were in their timeout huddle. Williams made it back about halfway through.
Whether he was distracted early by that call or bothered by his injured right calf, Williams went 5-for-16 and 1-for-7 from three-point range. The seven turnovers were a season-high for Williams.
With the early injury to Millsap, Sloan had to play some pretty unusual lineups. The Jazz opened the second quarter with Brevin Knight, Ronnie Price, Morris Almond, Matt Harpring and Kirilenko on the floor.
They finished the quarter with Williams, Almond, Price (giving up six-plus inches to Richard Jefferson), Brewer and Koufos.
* * *
It seems pretty evident to me that the Jazz need to pick up another big man if Carlos Boozer is going to miss significant more time. Okur, Kirilenko and Millsap can hold things down for only so long.
Koufos and Fesenko appear alternately overmatched and confused. There's no counting on Jarron Collins as long as he's out with an injured right elbow. It's not as easy as just signing a big man, since the Jazz already have 15 players under contract.
Seeing that Jordan Farmar is going to miss four to eight weeks to undergo knee surgery and the Lakers are in the market for a small but quick point guard, maybe the Jazz could swing a deal with their Western Conference rival.
The Jazz have two point guards who fit the bill in Knight and Price while the Lakers have three big men in Chris Mihm, D.J. Mbenga and Josh Powell who might be able to benefit the Jazz.
This is just speculation on my part, I haven't talked to anybody from the Jazz about it. The Jazz also would have to sign a third point guard, which would require them to release a player with a guaranteed contract if they made a 1-for-1 trade.
* * *
You're going to be in Steve Luhm's hands for the next week while I spend Christmas with my wife and her family and generally try to forget about this road trip. It snowed in four of the five stops we made. The 20-degree weather tonight in Milwaukee felt almost balmy compared with what we've had the last three days in Chicago and here.
--Ross Siler
12:14 AM
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