Jazz 114, Raptors 87 - - Turkish robes edition
We'll see whether my theory holds up after Saturday's game at Phoenix, but one of the reasons I think the Jazz rolled to their most one-sided victory of the season Friday over Toronto was the Turkish robes.
Huh?
You have to go back to the pregame shootaround. Mehmet Okur, who is Muslim and doesn't celebrate Christmas, nevertheless got in the holiday spirit by giving robes as present to all of his teammates plus the Jazz coaches and training staff.
"We don't celebrate Christmas, so I just wanted to get some stuff for my teammates, coaches and stuff," Okur said. "New Year's stuff, not Christmas. That's a big difference for me."
A couple of Okur's teammates said they weren't exactly robe guys, but they appreciated the gesture nevertheless. It was pretty funny to see Deron Williams and Jerry Sloan walking out of the locker room with large white boxes with Hamam robes inside.
Best robes in the world? "Should be," Okur replied. What about the beat writers? "Should be on the way." My guess is the closest I'll get to having one of those robes is if we ever go to Turkey for the preseason.
* * *
Deron Williams had 10 points and hit 5 of 6 shots in the first quarter of Friday's game, which was pretty impressive considering he spent an hour in traffic on Interstate 15 just trying to get to EnergySolutions Arena.
Williams said the traffic was like nothing he'd seen in Utah before and reminded him of Dallas. He arrived about an hour and 15 minutes before the game - - yes, there were some folks getting nervous - - and earned the one-night nickname of "A.I." from his teammates.
* * *
Here's one change the NBA needs to institute when it comes to scheduling: If a team plays a late game on national television, it shouldn't have to then play the second game of a back-to-back set the next night on the road.
There's no problem with a team coming home, as well as playing the second game of the back-to-back for television, but the Jazz's team plane (according to FlightAware.com) left for Phoenix at 12:34 a.m. and is due to land at 1:52 a.m.
Which means the team is going to get in to its hotel sometime around 2:30 a.m. It's such a competitive disadvantage even before the game starts, especially against a Phoenix team that didn't play Friday.
We'll see how the Jazz fare in the second game of the back-to-back against a Phoenix team that has lost four straight. The Jazz are only 1-4 in the second game of back-to-backs, with their only victory coming at Memphis.
* * *
Jay Triano certainly didn't get any favors having to take over as Toronto coach before Friday's game at Utah rather than after it. The Raptors followed their 39-point loss to Denver with a 27-point loss to the Jazz.
Paul Millsap did a great job against Chris Bosh - - he even tried to answer a Bosh dunk on him in the second quarter with one at the other end - - and the Jazz did a nice job on collapsing on Bosh every time he put the ball on the floor.
Jermaine O'Neal had this to say about getting blown out on national television: "Whether it's on ESPN or the alphabet channel, whatever it is, you want to play. It was a tough challenge coming into this building with a new system."
* * *
From the bench department: Jazz coach Jerry Sloan used Brevin Knight as his first point guard off the bench instead of Ronnie Price. Knight hadn't played in his first two games since returning from a finger injury. Kosta Koufos also had 10 points, three rebounds and went 5-for-5 from the field in six minutes of garbage time.
* * *
Me to Sloan after Matt Harpring's 14-point performance off the bench: "Ever seen a guy come back from an epidural like Matt did?"
Sloan: "Myself. I've had about eight of them. I come back every day. Matt's not that tough."
Earlier this week, Harpring described the epidural as less of an injection and more of a tube that they snake up your tailbone into the affected areas of the back.
"We're glad to have him back," Sloan said. "He's a tough guy, he competes hard. The young guys who are sitting on the bench on our team should be able to watch him, watch how he attacks people with his body, instead of standing you up and you've got to step back outside. . . .He's had a tremendous impact on our team the way he plays and the way he attacks people on the offensive end of the floor."
--Ross Siler
Huh?
You have to go back to the pregame shootaround. Mehmet Okur, who is Muslim and doesn't celebrate Christmas, nevertheless got in the holiday spirit by giving robes as present to all of his teammates plus the Jazz coaches and training staff.
"We don't celebrate Christmas, so I just wanted to get some stuff for my teammates, coaches and stuff," Okur said. "New Year's stuff, not Christmas. That's a big difference for me."
A couple of Okur's teammates said they weren't exactly robe guys, but they appreciated the gesture nevertheless. It was pretty funny to see Deron Williams and Jerry Sloan walking out of the locker room with large white boxes with Hamam robes inside.
Best robes in the world? "Should be," Okur replied. What about the beat writers? "Should be on the way." My guess is the closest I'll get to having one of those robes is if we ever go to Turkey for the preseason.
* * *
Deron Williams had 10 points and hit 5 of 6 shots in the first quarter of Friday's game, which was pretty impressive considering he spent an hour in traffic on Interstate 15 just trying to get to EnergySolutions Arena.
Williams said the traffic was like nothing he'd seen in Utah before and reminded him of Dallas. He arrived about an hour and 15 minutes before the game - - yes, there were some folks getting nervous - - and earned the one-night nickname of "A.I." from his teammates.
* * *
Here's one change the NBA needs to institute when it comes to scheduling: If a team plays a late game on national television, it shouldn't have to then play the second game of a back-to-back set the next night on the road.
There's no problem with a team coming home, as well as playing the second game of the back-to-back for television, but the Jazz's team plane (according to FlightAware.com) left for Phoenix at 12:34 a.m. and is due to land at 1:52 a.m.
Which means the team is going to get in to its hotel sometime around 2:30 a.m. It's such a competitive disadvantage even before the game starts, especially against a Phoenix team that didn't play Friday.
We'll see how the Jazz fare in the second game of the back-to-back against a Phoenix team that has lost four straight. The Jazz are only 1-4 in the second game of back-to-backs, with their only victory coming at Memphis.
* * *
Jay Triano certainly didn't get any favors having to take over as Toronto coach before Friday's game at Utah rather than after it. The Raptors followed their 39-point loss to Denver with a 27-point loss to the Jazz.
Paul Millsap did a great job against Chris Bosh - - he even tried to answer a Bosh dunk on him in the second quarter with one at the other end - - and the Jazz did a nice job on collapsing on Bosh every time he put the ball on the floor.
Jermaine O'Neal had this to say about getting blown out on national television: "Whether it's on ESPN or the alphabet channel, whatever it is, you want to play. It was a tough challenge coming into this building with a new system."
* * *
From the bench department: Jazz coach Jerry Sloan used Brevin Knight as his first point guard off the bench instead of Ronnie Price. Knight hadn't played in his first two games since returning from a finger injury. Kosta Koufos also had 10 points, three rebounds and went 5-for-5 from the field in six minutes of garbage time.
* * *
Me to Sloan after Matt Harpring's 14-point performance off the bench: "Ever seen a guy come back from an epidural like Matt did?"
Sloan: "Myself. I've had about eight of them. I come back every day. Matt's not that tough."
Earlier this week, Harpring described the epidural as less of an injection and more of a tube that they snake up your tailbone into the affected areas of the back.
"We're glad to have him back," Sloan said. "He's a tough guy, he competes hard. The young guys who are sitting on the bench on our team should be able to watch him, watch how he attacks people with his body, instead of standing you up and you've got to step back outside. . . .He's had a tremendous impact on our team the way he plays and the way he attacks people on the offensive end of the floor."
--Ross Siler
1:32 AM
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