Jazz 108, Hawks 89
One of my colleagues got tickets to Monday's game for his 12-year-old son as a birthday present. I bring this up because I was the same age the last time the Jazz lost to the Hawks in Utah, back on Feb. 13, 1993. That was seventh grade, this is now.
The Hawks now have lost 15 consecutive games to the Jazz at the Delta Center/EnergySolutions Arena. The difference Monday was the Jazz's bench, which is going to be a huge boost now that Carlos Boozer is back.
For the second consecutive game, the Jazz made their push to start the second quarter with Deron Williams on the bench. They outscored the Hawks 17-8, building a 19-point lead, before Williams returned for Brevin Knight.
The Jazz's bench outscored the starters 58-50 Monday. They came up one point shy of their season-high in bench points, set against Phoenix back in November. Kyle Korver and Paul Millsap both had 16 points Monday while Matt Harpring had 15.
Korver finally broke out of his shooting slump, going 5 of 5 in the first half with three three-pointers. He said after the game that he had finally overcome wrist and elbow injuries from earlier this season and was starting to get his rhythm back.
The Jazz now will travel to play Minnesota, where the Jazz will have an opportunity to stretch their winning streak to a season-high six games and set the tone for the rest of the season, with 13 of 24 games in March and April on the road.
If the game is close down the stretch, pay particular attention to Mehmet Okur. His go-ahead jumper with 1.7 seconds left in December gave the Jazz a victory over the Timberwolves. Okur also hit two key late three-pointers for another win last month.
* * *
Atlanta coach Mike Woodson didn't hold his tongue after Monday's loss, saying for starters, "The results of this game were an embarrassment."
"This team plays hard and they're very physical and if you don't meet them head on, they will beat you by 20 points," Woodson added. "We just have to go back and we have to regroup. We just gave up 108 points and that hasn't gotten us our 32 wins that we have."
The Hawks trailed 31-24 at the end of the first quarter and could have been even closer had Josh Smith not missed all six - - yes, six - - free throws he attempted. Mike Bibby was under the weather, according to Woodson, and went scoreless in 15 minutes.
Every time I see Marvin Williams, I also ask just what Atlanta was thinking drafting him ahead of Deron Williams and Chris Paul. Marvin Williams had seven points, six rebounds and four turnovers in 27 minutes Monday, going 3 of 8.
* * *
The Jazz now trail New Orleans and Dallas by mere percentage points for sixth in the Western Conference. They have the tiebreaker against the Hornets and lead the season series against Dallas 2-1. Having gone 23-11 against the West, the Jazz are likely to have the tiebreaker edge even if the Mavericks win in Dallas in April.
Everybody asks where the Jazz want to be going into the playoffs. I think they would be best served as the No. 6 seed as long as Denver is No. 3. If the Jazz could get out of that series, they could hope that San Antonio gets upset in the first round, leaving a path to the conference finals and the Lakers.
* * *
Hard to tell what kind of reception Boozer got in his first game back. It sounded to me as if there were definite boos, mixed with the usual ''Booz" cheers.
* * *
The last two months, the Jazz have beaten New Orleans (twice), Detroit, Indiana, Dallas and the L.A. Lakers. All six victories have come with the visiting team arriving in Utah to play the second game of a back-to-back set, as Jazz coach Jerry Sloan has noticed.
"We've probably caught more teams coming in here off of back-to-backs than any time since I've been here," Sloan said. "You get a false sense of satisfaction having those things happen. When you play four games in five nights, we'll see who we are."
* * *
For the past three summers, the Jazz have been sending players to work out at the Peak Performance Project in Santa Barbara, Calif., with Marcus Elliott, a Harvard Medical School-educated physiologist.
Elliott's face been all over the Internet in recent weeks, with ads promoting his FRS energy drink appearing on ESPN.com and NBA.com. Kyle Korver said he called up Elliott and "gave him a hard time" about the publicity.
"It's a great product, obviously," Korver said. "Anything that he's behind, I would believe in. I'm sure it's going to do really well."
--Ross Siler
The Hawks now have lost 15 consecutive games to the Jazz at the Delta Center/EnergySolutions Arena. The difference Monday was the Jazz's bench, which is going to be a huge boost now that Carlos Boozer is back.
For the second consecutive game, the Jazz made their push to start the second quarter with Deron Williams on the bench. They outscored the Hawks 17-8, building a 19-point lead, before Williams returned for Brevin Knight.
The Jazz's bench outscored the starters 58-50 Monday. They came up one point shy of their season-high in bench points, set against Phoenix back in November. Kyle Korver and Paul Millsap both had 16 points Monday while Matt Harpring had 15.
Korver finally broke out of his shooting slump, going 5 of 5 in the first half with three three-pointers. He said after the game that he had finally overcome wrist and elbow injuries from earlier this season and was starting to get his rhythm back.
The Jazz now will travel to play Minnesota, where the Jazz will have an opportunity to stretch their winning streak to a season-high six games and set the tone for the rest of the season, with 13 of 24 games in March and April on the road.
If the game is close down the stretch, pay particular attention to Mehmet Okur. His go-ahead jumper with 1.7 seconds left in December gave the Jazz a victory over the Timberwolves. Okur also hit two key late three-pointers for another win last month.
* * *
Atlanta coach Mike Woodson didn't hold his tongue after Monday's loss, saying for starters, "The results of this game were an embarrassment."
"This team plays hard and they're very physical and if you don't meet them head on, they will beat you by 20 points," Woodson added. "We just have to go back and we have to regroup. We just gave up 108 points and that hasn't gotten us our 32 wins that we have."
The Hawks trailed 31-24 at the end of the first quarter and could have been even closer had Josh Smith not missed all six - - yes, six - - free throws he attempted. Mike Bibby was under the weather, according to Woodson, and went scoreless in 15 minutes.
Every time I see Marvin Williams, I also ask just what Atlanta was thinking drafting him ahead of Deron Williams and Chris Paul. Marvin Williams had seven points, six rebounds and four turnovers in 27 minutes Monday, going 3 of 8.
* * *
The Jazz now trail New Orleans and Dallas by mere percentage points for sixth in the Western Conference. They have the tiebreaker against the Hornets and lead the season series against Dallas 2-1. Having gone 23-11 against the West, the Jazz are likely to have the tiebreaker edge even if the Mavericks win in Dallas in April.
Everybody asks where the Jazz want to be going into the playoffs. I think they would be best served as the No. 6 seed as long as Denver is No. 3. If the Jazz could get out of that series, they could hope that San Antonio gets upset in the first round, leaving a path to the conference finals and the Lakers.
* * *
Hard to tell what kind of reception Boozer got in his first game back. It sounded to me as if there were definite boos, mixed with the usual ''Booz" cheers.
* * *
The last two months, the Jazz have beaten New Orleans (twice), Detroit, Indiana, Dallas and the L.A. Lakers. All six victories have come with the visiting team arriving in Utah to play the second game of a back-to-back set, as Jazz coach Jerry Sloan has noticed.
"We've probably caught more teams coming in here off of back-to-backs than any time since I've been here," Sloan said. "You get a false sense of satisfaction having those things happen. When you play four games in five nights, we'll see who we are."
* * *
For the past three summers, the Jazz have been sending players to work out at the Peak Performance Project in Santa Barbara, Calif., with Marcus Elliott, a Harvard Medical School-educated physiologist.
Elliott's face been all over the Internet in recent weeks, with ads promoting his FRS energy drink appearing on ESPN.com and NBA.com. Kyle Korver said he called up Elliott and "gave him a hard time" about the publicity.
"It's a great product, obviously," Korver said. "Anything that he's behind, I would believe in. I'm sure it's going to do really well."
--Ross Siler
12:38 AM
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1 Comments:
Definitely a few "boos" for Booze in the upper deck (and also idiots talking about how much he sucks), but even more Boozer jerseys.
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