Thunder 114, Jazz 93
You can argue that Wednesday's game would have been a different story for the Jazz had Paul Millsap not been out injured, had C.J. Miles not been out injured, had Carlos Boozer - - and I know this is going back a ways - - not been out injured.
I'm not so sure, though. What was most galling about the Jazz's loss to the 6-33 Thunder was that they were given a reprieve after being outplayed to start the game. Instead of taking advantage, they responded with a lifeless third quarter.
How much difference would Millsap, Miles and Boozer have made? The final score probably wouldn't have been 114-93, but the result likely would have been the same, which says something about the Jazz and the depth of their road woes.
The Jazz are now 7-12 and have dropped five straight on the road after resolving to be better this season. They're 12 games under .500 on the road the last two seasons, leaving coach Jerry Sloan to question his team's identity.
"Maybe that's who we are," Sloan said. "I can't change that. I can't change the personality of the player. He has to change that to make it work.
"We can beg them to do things and ask them to do things and give them a little direction there, but they have to do the work.
"And by the looks of their body, I would say they probably weren't too prepared to do the work, the way they played and the way they ran the floor."
The Jazz aren't going to go far when Mehmet Okur is following up 43-point games with nine-point, four-foul ones or when Ronnie Brewer is accounting for two points and two turnovers or when Ronnie Price is the subject of laughable mismatches on both ends.
With Miles missing his third game with a sprained right ankle, Price started and matched up against Desmond Mason. The Thunder had 6-foot-9 Kevin Durant chase Price on the other end. No surprise that Price picked up four fouls in 15 minutes.
The Jazz fell behind by 10 in the first quarter, but stayed in the game thanks to Kyle Korver and Matt Harpring, who combined to score 20 in the first half. Korver hit a big three-pointer at the first quarter buzzer to make it 27-22 Thunder.
As Deron Williams came alive the last three minutes of the first half, the Jazz tied the game before going into halftime down 50-48. It looked as if they'd dodged a bullet, that they'd be able to take control in the second half.
Instead, the opposite happened. The Jazz started the third quarter meekly, with Mason posting up Price for a basket, Okur missing in the lane and Nick Collison rattling in a jumper to put Oklahoma City ahead 54-48.
After Kirilenko missed two free throws with 7:57 left, the Jazz imploded. Kevin Durant and Jeff Green hit three-pointers. Russell Westbrook took over. The Jazz started launching jumpers. The Thunder shot 16 free throws in the quarter and 31 through three quarters.
The Jazz went into the fourth quarter trailing 86-71 and couldn't get within single digits the rest of the way. There was a moment midway through the fourth when every player on the Oklahoma City bench was on his feet, the enthusiasm overflowing.
You could see this one coming, though, as I know at least one Jazz blogger (ahem, ahem) noted a couple days ago. The Thunder had beaten New York and Chicago and suffered close losses to Houston and New Jersey. They were due a breakthrough.
But the Jazz weren't necessarily due a disaster. There was no other way to describe what happened Wednesday.
* * *
Maybe you could excuse away a loss like Wednesday's if it happened in Miami and the Jazz showed up to the arena looking like they'd just come from South Beach. Same thing in New York, Los Angeles or Chicago. But Oklahoma City?
As much as I like walking around Bricktown, as moving as the Oklahoma City bombing memorial is, as convenient as it is to stay at a hotel adjacent to Ford Center, there's really nothing here if you're an NBA player.
There's pretty much no place with fewer distractions in the entire league. Matt Harpring touched on the distraction issue after the game - - he said the Jazz weren't a stay-out-all-night crew - - and his quote's in my game story.
* * *
The good news for the Jazz? You'd probably be worried about pretty much any game after this one except Memphis. The Jazz have beaten the Grizzlies seven straight times, including twice this season and have won their last five games in Memphis.
Then again, they'd better win Friday since they opted to cancel practice Thursday in Oklahoma City to try to save their legs with a back-to-back this weekend.
* * *
Anybody care to disagree that the Jazz's four victories during their last homestand might just have had a little something to do with three of those teams playing the second game of a back-to-back set in Utah?
* * *
Paul Millsap blames the media for jinxing him this season. He notes that first his consecutive games played streak came to an end after we started writing about it. Then his double-double streak came to an end after we started writing about it.
Now Millsap's injured and joking about not talking to us the rest of the season. I promised not to mention his contract possibilities around him, so as not to jinx the millions he's looking at making after this season.
* * *
Had to laugh when Sloan mentioned at shootaround that he used to coach a team called the Thunder. That would be the old Evansville (Ind.) Thunder in the CBA. Which tells you all you need to know about whether Thunder is an NBA-quality name.
* * *
Most amazing thing at Wednesday's game: The Thunder honored three fans who punched the most All-Star ballots. The winner, a woman named Kathy Kuck, punched more than 22,000 ballots, which was more than the combined total of the second- and third-place finishers.
There's been about two months of All-Star voting, so Kuck was casting in the neighborhood of 400 ballots a day. For her efforts, the Thunder gave her a luxury box to use for an upcoming game. The other two guys got floor seats.
--Ross Siler
I'm not so sure, though. What was most galling about the Jazz's loss to the 6-33 Thunder was that they were given a reprieve after being outplayed to start the game. Instead of taking advantage, they responded with a lifeless third quarter.
How much difference would Millsap, Miles and Boozer have made? The final score probably wouldn't have been 114-93, but the result likely would have been the same, which says something about the Jazz and the depth of their road woes.
The Jazz are now 7-12 and have dropped five straight on the road after resolving to be better this season. They're 12 games under .500 on the road the last two seasons, leaving coach Jerry Sloan to question his team's identity.
"Maybe that's who we are," Sloan said. "I can't change that. I can't change the personality of the player. He has to change that to make it work.
"We can beg them to do things and ask them to do things and give them a little direction there, but they have to do the work.
"And by the looks of their body, I would say they probably weren't too prepared to do the work, the way they played and the way they ran the floor."
The Jazz aren't going to go far when Mehmet Okur is following up 43-point games with nine-point, four-foul ones or when Ronnie Brewer is accounting for two points and two turnovers or when Ronnie Price is the subject of laughable mismatches on both ends.
With Miles missing his third game with a sprained right ankle, Price started and matched up against Desmond Mason. The Thunder had 6-foot-9 Kevin Durant chase Price on the other end. No surprise that Price picked up four fouls in 15 minutes.
The Jazz fell behind by 10 in the first quarter, but stayed in the game thanks to Kyle Korver and Matt Harpring, who combined to score 20 in the first half. Korver hit a big three-pointer at the first quarter buzzer to make it 27-22 Thunder.
As Deron Williams came alive the last three minutes of the first half, the Jazz tied the game before going into halftime down 50-48. It looked as if they'd dodged a bullet, that they'd be able to take control in the second half.
Instead, the opposite happened. The Jazz started the third quarter meekly, with Mason posting up Price for a basket, Okur missing in the lane and Nick Collison rattling in a jumper to put Oklahoma City ahead 54-48.
After Kirilenko missed two free throws with 7:57 left, the Jazz imploded. Kevin Durant and Jeff Green hit three-pointers. Russell Westbrook took over. The Jazz started launching jumpers. The Thunder shot 16 free throws in the quarter and 31 through three quarters.
The Jazz went into the fourth quarter trailing 86-71 and couldn't get within single digits the rest of the way. There was a moment midway through the fourth when every player on the Oklahoma City bench was on his feet, the enthusiasm overflowing.
You could see this one coming, though, as I know at least one Jazz blogger (ahem, ahem) noted a couple days ago. The Thunder had beaten New York and Chicago and suffered close losses to Houston and New Jersey. They were due a breakthrough.
But the Jazz weren't necessarily due a disaster. There was no other way to describe what happened Wednesday.
* * *
Maybe you could excuse away a loss like Wednesday's if it happened in Miami and the Jazz showed up to the arena looking like they'd just come from South Beach. Same thing in New York, Los Angeles or Chicago. But Oklahoma City?
As much as I like walking around Bricktown, as moving as the Oklahoma City bombing memorial is, as convenient as it is to stay at a hotel adjacent to Ford Center, there's really nothing here if you're an NBA player.
There's pretty much no place with fewer distractions in the entire league. Matt Harpring touched on the distraction issue after the game - - he said the Jazz weren't a stay-out-all-night crew - - and his quote's in my game story.
* * *
The good news for the Jazz? You'd probably be worried about pretty much any game after this one except Memphis. The Jazz have beaten the Grizzlies seven straight times, including twice this season and have won their last five games in Memphis.
Then again, they'd better win Friday since they opted to cancel practice Thursday in Oklahoma City to try to save their legs with a back-to-back this weekend.
* * *
Anybody care to disagree that the Jazz's four victories during their last homestand might just have had a little something to do with three of those teams playing the second game of a back-to-back set in Utah?
* * *
Paul Millsap blames the media for jinxing him this season. He notes that first his consecutive games played streak came to an end after we started writing about it. Then his double-double streak came to an end after we started writing about it.
Now Millsap's injured and joking about not talking to us the rest of the season. I promised not to mention his contract possibilities around him, so as not to jinx the millions he's looking at making after this season.
* * *
Had to laugh when Sloan mentioned at shootaround that he used to coach a team called the Thunder. That would be the old Evansville (Ind.) Thunder in the CBA. Which tells you all you need to know about whether Thunder is an NBA-quality name.
* * *
Most amazing thing at Wednesday's game: The Thunder honored three fans who punched the most All-Star ballots. The winner, a woman named Kathy Kuck, punched more than 22,000 ballots, which was more than the combined total of the second- and third-place finishers.
There's been about two months of All-Star voting, so Kuck was casting in the neighborhood of 400 ballots a day. For her efforts, the Thunder gave her a luxury box to use for an upcoming game. The other two guys got floor seats.
--Ross Siler
12:22 AM
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1 Comments:
Does it seem like D-Will doesn't push the ball up the court on the road like he typically would at home? No Boozer or Millsap really hurts the cause...but the Jazz should still be able to run. This road thing is so in their head that it's going to keep them out of the playoffs if they can't get it together. The road mentality is what truly seperates Chris Paul from D-Will.
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