Jazz 120, Timberwolves 103
First of all, congratulations to my Northwestern Wildcats, who beat Indiana in Bloomington for the first time since 1968. As in 41 years. As in 35 straight games. I don't care if Indiana is 6-21, I wish I had been there. I once covered an NU team that went 0-16 in the Big Ten.
Sharing the huge news with Deron Williams after the Jazz's victory, Williams told me he'd lost once to the Cats during his time at Illinois. "I was mad as [blank]," Williams said. He did admit that covering T.J. Parker - - Tony's brother - - in the Princeton offense wasn't easy.
As for the Jazz, after beating the Timberwolves, they can - - no, will - - close out a 10-1 February with a victory Saturday against Sacramento. Assuming they do, you'd have to imagine Williams and Jerry Sloan are in line for some honors.
With five consecutive games of 30-point scoring and 50-percent shooting, Williams will be a strong candidate for Western Conference Player of the Month. Same thing for Sloan as the conference's Coach of the Month.
Of course, Williams and Sloan might lose out to Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. If they close out February with back-to-back victories against Phoenix and Denver, the Lakers will have gone 12-1 in the month, beating both Boston and Cleveland on the road.
Bryant had his defining 61-point game at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 2 and has scored 36, 39, 37, 34 and 36 points in games this month. He's averaging 32.4 points in the month, which is going to make it tough for Williams.
Then again, the Jazz did hand the Lakers their only loss this month. Williams is averaging 24 points, 10.9 assists and shooting 51.7 percent (79 of 153) in February. He's still got one more game to make his case.
* * *
With the funeral for Jazz owner Larry Miller set for Saturday at noon, Sloan has decided to hold practice Friday, followed by a shootaround for that game, so his players and assistant coaches will be able to attend the services.
Not sure whether the players and coaches will go home afterward, then come back to EnergySolutions Arena a couple of hours later, or just kill time before the game.
"The biggest thing today," Carlos Boozer said, "is that we won on the road and we can take that home and we'll get ready for honoring Larry this weekend, which will be the most important thing that we do."
* * *
A couple of numbers from Wednesday's game: The Jazz got 41 points out of C.J. Miles, Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver on 16 of 29 shooting. The Jazz's bench players also outscored Minnesota's 35-10.
The Timberwolves watched Kevin Ollie go 0-for-4 off the bench, Jason Collins go 0-for-1, Rodney Carney go 1-for-4, Bobby Brown go 0-for-1, Craig Smith go 2-for-2 and Brian Cardinal go 0-for-2. That's 3-for-14, which is a big reason why they lost.
* * *
Credit Korver for awakening the Jazz in the first quarter. He came in off the bench, hit two jumpers and earned two trips to the free-throw line by getting fouled as he cut to get open. Korver had eight points in 2:48 as the Jazz closed the quarter on an 11-2 run.
While Korver was in the game for 12:37 in the first half, the Jazz outscored Minnesota 36-23. Even though Korver was 0-for-4 in the second half, he still finished with an incredible plus-33 for the night.
* * *
Got to love Mehmet Okur for hitting those two three-pointers in the final minute with the Jazz already owning a comfortable double-digit lead. It gave the Jazz a 37-point fourth quarter and Okur team-high scoring honors with 25 points.
If you were wondering, the Jazz did have a 40-point fourth quarter, coming against the Nets on their pre-Christmas trip, and Ronnie Brewer's 16 points in the fourth quarter were not the more in a single quarter by a Jazz player this season.
Okur holds that mark, with his 18-point third quarter as part of his 43-point game against Indiana last month.
* * *
The visiting locker room at Target Center is so small, Kosta Koufos and Kyrylo Fesenko had to share a locker. I'm pretty sure Minnesota is the only NBA stop where there aren't a full 15 lockers available for the visitors.
* * *
We had a conversation with Jazz coach Jerry Sloan at Wednesday's pregame shootaround that covered Days Inns, senior discounts, Long John Silver's, Subway, McDonald's and McLeansboro. Needless to say, it was priceless.
* * *
The Boston Celtics are expected to drop their affiliation with the Utah Flash next season and partner with an NBA Development League expansion team in Portland, Maine.
The Jazz had been waiting to see how Carlos Boozer would hold up in his first two games back, but it will be interesting to see if they send down Koufos, Fesenko or Morris Almond to the Flash for this weekend's games in Idaho. Even if they want to send all three, they can assign no more than two at a time.
--Ross Siler
Sharing the huge news with Deron Williams after the Jazz's victory, Williams told me he'd lost once to the Cats during his time at Illinois. "I was mad as [blank]," Williams said. He did admit that covering T.J. Parker - - Tony's brother - - in the Princeton offense wasn't easy.
As for the Jazz, after beating the Timberwolves, they can - - no, will - - close out a 10-1 February with a victory Saturday against Sacramento. Assuming they do, you'd have to imagine Williams and Jerry Sloan are in line for some honors.
With five consecutive games of 30-point scoring and 50-percent shooting, Williams will be a strong candidate for Western Conference Player of the Month. Same thing for Sloan as the conference's Coach of the Month.
Of course, Williams and Sloan might lose out to Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. If they close out February with back-to-back victories against Phoenix and Denver, the Lakers will have gone 12-1 in the month, beating both Boston and Cleveland on the road.
Bryant had his defining 61-point game at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 2 and has scored 36, 39, 37, 34 and 36 points in games this month. He's averaging 32.4 points in the month, which is going to make it tough for Williams.
Then again, the Jazz did hand the Lakers their only loss this month. Williams is averaging 24 points, 10.9 assists and shooting 51.7 percent (79 of 153) in February. He's still got one more game to make his case.
* * *
With the funeral for Jazz owner Larry Miller set for Saturday at noon, Sloan has decided to hold practice Friday, followed by a shootaround for that game, so his players and assistant coaches will be able to attend the services.
Not sure whether the players and coaches will go home afterward, then come back to EnergySolutions Arena a couple of hours later, or just kill time before the game.
"The biggest thing today," Carlos Boozer said, "is that we won on the road and we can take that home and we'll get ready for honoring Larry this weekend, which will be the most important thing that we do."
* * *
A couple of numbers from Wednesday's game: The Jazz got 41 points out of C.J. Miles, Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver on 16 of 29 shooting. The Jazz's bench players also outscored Minnesota's 35-10.
The Timberwolves watched Kevin Ollie go 0-for-4 off the bench, Jason Collins go 0-for-1, Rodney Carney go 1-for-4, Bobby Brown go 0-for-1, Craig Smith go 2-for-2 and Brian Cardinal go 0-for-2. That's 3-for-14, which is a big reason why they lost.
* * *
Credit Korver for awakening the Jazz in the first quarter. He came in off the bench, hit two jumpers and earned two trips to the free-throw line by getting fouled as he cut to get open. Korver had eight points in 2:48 as the Jazz closed the quarter on an 11-2 run.
While Korver was in the game for 12:37 in the first half, the Jazz outscored Minnesota 36-23. Even though Korver was 0-for-4 in the second half, he still finished with an incredible plus-33 for the night.
* * *
Got to love Mehmet Okur for hitting those two three-pointers in the final minute with the Jazz already owning a comfortable double-digit lead. It gave the Jazz a 37-point fourth quarter and Okur team-high scoring honors with 25 points.
If you were wondering, the Jazz did have a 40-point fourth quarter, coming against the Nets on their pre-Christmas trip, and Ronnie Brewer's 16 points in the fourth quarter were not the more in a single quarter by a Jazz player this season.
Okur holds that mark, with his 18-point third quarter as part of his 43-point game against Indiana last month.
* * *
The visiting locker room at Target Center is so small, Kosta Koufos and Kyrylo Fesenko had to share a locker. I'm pretty sure Minnesota is the only NBA stop where there aren't a full 15 lockers available for the visitors.
* * *
We had a conversation with Jazz coach Jerry Sloan at Wednesday's pregame shootaround that covered Days Inns, senior discounts, Long John Silver's, Subway, McDonald's and McLeansboro. Needless to say, it was priceless.
* * *
The Boston Celtics are expected to drop their affiliation with the Utah Flash next season and partner with an NBA Development League expansion team in Portland, Maine.
The Jazz had been waiting to see how Carlos Boozer would hold up in his first two games back, but it will be interesting to see if they send down Koufos, Fesenko or Morris Almond to the Flash for this weekend's games in Idaho. Even if they want to send all three, they can assign no more than two at a time.
--Ross Siler
12:04 AM
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1 Comments:
Ok, so you had a 'priceless' conversation with Sloan. Are you going to share any of that or are we just supposed to take your word for it?
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