Jazz 101, Thunder 94
The Jazz are no different from a lot of companies in handing out Employee of the Month awards to those who go above and beyond. For several of the recent honorees, however, there was more involved than just a $500 bonus in their paychecks.
Team president Randy Rigby arranged so that some of them - - four was the number I think I heard - - could make the trip to Oklahoma City along with the Jazz. They flew on the charter, had dinner at Mickey Mantle's and went to Friday's game at Ford Center.
Kind of a cool experience, if you think about it. There's also a chance it will happen again next year with the Jazz taking care of business and beating the Thunder 101-94 and keeping pace on a night Dallas, New Orleans, Houston and Denver all won.
Mehmet Okur left the game in the second quarter after getting hit in the right eye and experiencing double vision. He did not return in the second half and had his eye shut when we first approached him in the locker room afterward.
What was funny was that as we talked to Okur, the eye kept opening a little bit more. His eye was a little swollen and bloody, his vision was said to have improved by the time he left the arena and he was believed to have suffered no serious damage.
Deron Williams admitted that his third quarter - - 12 points, 6-for-6 shooting, four layups - - came in response to a presumptuous first half by Oklahoma City rookie Russell Westbrook. The 24-year-old Williams even called the 20-year-old Westbrook "young fella."
The Jazz took an 11-point lead into the fourth quarter, let Oklahoma City close within six, but kept them at bay. There were no repeats of the collapse the Jazz suffered at the end of regulation and the first overtime last weekend in Miami.
Williams did his part, hitting an 18-footer and driving for a layup in the fourth quarter. Williams abused Westbrook so badly in the third quarter that the Thunder switched the 6-foot-7 Thabo Sefolosha on him in the third and fourth quarters.
The Jazz did get some laughs out of Kyle Korver's heave in the final minute of regulation. After Jeff Green missed a three-pointer, Korver came down with the rebound but was trapped along the baseline with nowhere to go.
He ended up hurling the ball to the other end of the floor, where Green hauled it in as if he were a free safety. You could hear Jazz coach Jerry Sloan yelling at Korver, asking why he didn't call timeout.
It was a seven-point game at the time and Korver did redeem himself by hitting four free throws in the final minute to hold off the Thunder. Even so, when we were let in the locker room, Brevin Knight was imitating Korver's heave to Williams' amusement.
"Ultimately, we closed out the game pretty well aside from Kyle throwing it to Jeff Green in the end zone," Williams said.
* * *
Some random musings from the game: C.J. Miles had nine points on 3-for-3 shooting in the first quarter, yet ended up playing only 19 minutes for the game. Since he was injured in January, Tuesday was Miles' first game back to Oklahoma City after signing an offer sheet with the Thunder last summer.
The Thunder committed 10 turnovers in the second quarter, including three offensive fouls. After Westbrook coughed up the ball midway through the quarter, Williams passed on his own layup and gave the ball to Ronnie Brewer for a windmill dunk on a three-on-none fast break.
I've read a lot about the changing nature of statistics teams track. The one I'm most curious about is what I would call the free-throw assist. In other words, it's the uncredited assist that nevertheless helps earn a player a trip to the foul line. Williams threw a sweet pass to Paul Millsap in the third quarter, but Millsap ended up missing both free throws.
Williams was impressed by the Thunder, saying, "This is a tough team. I think their coach is doing a great job over there. This time of year, young teams [fade] but they're playing great. They're playing like playoff teams. They're dangerous. This team is well-coached. They have some great players, some young stars, and they'll be a threat in a couple years."
* * *
I just saw a release from the Utah Flash's 103-91 victory Friday over Erie (Pa.). Morris Almond officially scored his 1,000th-point in the D-League in the game. Almond has scored 105 points total in two years with the Jazz.
* * *
It was hard enough for Carlos Boozer to watch as President Barack Obama picked Pittsburgh to the Final Four instead of Duke. Then Boozer watched as Obama picked North Carolina, the Blue Devils' archrival, to win the championship in his ESPN bracket.
Boozer, who met Obama last summer at a campaign event in Miami, got in touch with his former Duke teammate Reggie Love, who serves as Obama's personal assistant, and had some questions about the president's picks.
"I said, 'Reggie, what's up with President Barack picking the Tar Heels to win the whole thing?"' Boozer said. "He said, 'I know. He stabbed us both in the back on national TV.'"
Boozer wasn't willing to go as far as Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who suggested Obama spend more time worrying about the economy and less on his tournament bracket.
"He's got a lot to do in office," Boozer said, "but every once in a while the president has to watch a little college basketball."
* * *
Williams heard some grief after Illinois' loss to Western Kentucky in the first round of the tournament. "All I'm going to say is it messed up a lot of brackets," Boozer said.
Once the television cameras were turned off at shootaround, Kosta Koufos sang "Happy Birthday" to Brewer with a little folk dancing mixed in. "I liked it," said Brewer, who turns 24 today. "Kosta always seems to impress me. He always breaks out something new. He always makes us laugh."
* * *
My friend Howard Beck at the New York Times sent a link to the Twitter feed somebody has set up in Jerry Sloan's honor. It's at http://twitter.com/jerrysloan and is very well done. I told Sloan somebody was now imitating him on Twitter and he asked if it had something to do with farming.
Just for the record, the purported Kyle Korver feed is not Korver's. He has steered clear from MySpace, Facebook and everything else.
* * *
I wrote for Saturday's paper about the possibility of Ronnie Brewer signing an extension to stay with the Jazz. The economy is going to play a role in the decision, to be sure, but it's hard to look at the 2006 draft class and find many more deserving players than Brewer.
For comparisons sake, Jason Maxiell averaged 7.9 points and played 1,768 minutes last season for Detroit and signed a four-year, $20 million extension. Martell Webster averaged 10.7 points and played 2,132 minutes and signed for four years and $20.1 million.
Using those two contracts as benchmarks, Brewer could be in for an even bigger payday. He is averaging 13.8 points and has played 2,191 minutes for the Jazz this season, numbers that compare favorably to both Maxiell and Webster.
* * *
There's currently a 15,000-person convention that has taken over Oklahoma City for Pre-Paid Legal services. It turns out the company has quite a few entries over at Ripoff Report.
--Ross Siler
Team president Randy Rigby arranged so that some of them - - four was the number I think I heard - - could make the trip to Oklahoma City along with the Jazz. They flew on the charter, had dinner at Mickey Mantle's and went to Friday's game at Ford Center.
Kind of a cool experience, if you think about it. There's also a chance it will happen again next year with the Jazz taking care of business and beating the Thunder 101-94 and keeping pace on a night Dallas, New Orleans, Houston and Denver all won.
Mehmet Okur left the game in the second quarter after getting hit in the right eye and experiencing double vision. He did not return in the second half and had his eye shut when we first approached him in the locker room afterward.
What was funny was that as we talked to Okur, the eye kept opening a little bit more. His eye was a little swollen and bloody, his vision was said to have improved by the time he left the arena and he was believed to have suffered no serious damage.
Deron Williams admitted that his third quarter - - 12 points, 6-for-6 shooting, four layups - - came in response to a presumptuous first half by Oklahoma City rookie Russell Westbrook. The 24-year-old Williams even called the 20-year-old Westbrook "young fella."
The Jazz took an 11-point lead into the fourth quarter, let Oklahoma City close within six, but kept them at bay. There were no repeats of the collapse the Jazz suffered at the end of regulation and the first overtime last weekend in Miami.
Williams did his part, hitting an 18-footer and driving for a layup in the fourth quarter. Williams abused Westbrook so badly in the third quarter that the Thunder switched the 6-foot-7 Thabo Sefolosha on him in the third and fourth quarters.
The Jazz did get some laughs out of Kyle Korver's heave in the final minute of regulation. After Jeff Green missed a three-pointer, Korver came down with the rebound but was trapped along the baseline with nowhere to go.
He ended up hurling the ball to the other end of the floor, where Green hauled it in as if he were a free safety. You could hear Jazz coach Jerry Sloan yelling at Korver, asking why he didn't call timeout.
It was a seven-point game at the time and Korver did redeem himself by hitting four free throws in the final minute to hold off the Thunder. Even so, when we were let in the locker room, Brevin Knight was imitating Korver's heave to Williams' amusement.
"Ultimately, we closed out the game pretty well aside from Kyle throwing it to Jeff Green in the end zone," Williams said.
* * *
Some random musings from the game: C.J. Miles had nine points on 3-for-3 shooting in the first quarter, yet ended up playing only 19 minutes for the game. Since he was injured in January, Tuesday was Miles' first game back to Oklahoma City after signing an offer sheet with the Thunder last summer.
The Thunder committed 10 turnovers in the second quarter, including three offensive fouls. After Westbrook coughed up the ball midway through the quarter, Williams passed on his own layup and gave the ball to Ronnie Brewer for a windmill dunk on a three-on-none fast break.
I've read a lot about the changing nature of statistics teams track. The one I'm most curious about is what I would call the free-throw assist. In other words, it's the uncredited assist that nevertheless helps earn a player a trip to the foul line. Williams threw a sweet pass to Paul Millsap in the third quarter, but Millsap ended up missing both free throws.
Williams was impressed by the Thunder, saying, "This is a tough team. I think their coach is doing a great job over there. This time of year, young teams [fade] but they're playing great. They're playing like playoff teams. They're dangerous. This team is well-coached. They have some great players, some young stars, and they'll be a threat in a couple years."
* * *
I just saw a release from the Utah Flash's 103-91 victory Friday over Erie (Pa.). Morris Almond officially scored his 1,000th-point in the D-League in the game. Almond has scored 105 points total in two years with the Jazz.
* * *
It was hard enough for Carlos Boozer to watch as President Barack Obama picked Pittsburgh to the Final Four instead of Duke. Then Boozer watched as Obama picked North Carolina, the Blue Devils' archrival, to win the championship in his ESPN bracket.
Boozer, who met Obama last summer at a campaign event in Miami, got in touch with his former Duke teammate Reggie Love, who serves as Obama's personal assistant, and had some questions about the president's picks.
"I said, 'Reggie, what's up with President Barack picking the Tar Heels to win the whole thing?"' Boozer said. "He said, 'I know. He stabbed us both in the back on national TV.'"
Boozer wasn't willing to go as far as Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who suggested Obama spend more time worrying about the economy and less on his tournament bracket.
"He's got a lot to do in office," Boozer said, "but every once in a while the president has to watch a little college basketball."
* * *
Williams heard some grief after Illinois' loss to Western Kentucky in the first round of the tournament. "All I'm going to say is it messed up a lot of brackets," Boozer said.
Once the television cameras were turned off at shootaround, Kosta Koufos sang "Happy Birthday" to Brewer with a little folk dancing mixed in. "I liked it," said Brewer, who turns 24 today. "Kosta always seems to impress me. He always breaks out something new. He always makes us laugh."
* * *
My friend Howard Beck at the New York Times sent a link to the Twitter feed somebody has set up in Jerry Sloan's honor. It's at http://twitter.com/jerrysloan and is very well done. I told Sloan somebody was now imitating him on Twitter and he asked if it had something to do with farming.
Just for the record, the purported Kyle Korver feed is not Korver's. He has steered clear from MySpace, Facebook and everything else.
* * *
I wrote for Saturday's paper about the possibility of Ronnie Brewer signing an extension to stay with the Jazz. The economy is going to play a role in the decision, to be sure, but it's hard to look at the 2006 draft class and find many more deserving players than Brewer.
For comparisons sake, Jason Maxiell averaged 7.9 points and played 1,768 minutes last season for Detroit and signed a four-year, $20 million extension. Martell Webster averaged 10.7 points and played 2,132 minutes and signed for four years and $20.1 million.
Using those two contracts as benchmarks, Brewer could be in for an even bigger payday. He is averaging 13.8 points and has played 2,191 minutes for the Jazz this season, numbers that compare favorably to both Maxiell and Webster.
* * *
There's currently a 15,000-person convention that has taken over Oklahoma City for Pre-Paid Legal services. It turns out the company has quite a few entries over at Ripoff Report.
--Ross Siler
12:05 AM
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5 Comments:
Boozer complaining about stabbing in the back.... I bet the cavs are doubled over in irony
I was one of the lucky ones that got to fly with the team, it was an amazing experience, one I will never forget!
Ross, did you get any hostility from OKC this time around? http://blogs.sltrib.com/jazz/2009/01/oklahoma-city-standing-up-for-itself.htm
Kyle's Twitter feed says you're wrong (as expected) anyway to get official confirmation?
I hope that someday you guys will put together a book about the wisdom of Jerry Sloan. Maybe just a collection of favorite stories, both funny and serious, from former players, writers, broadcasters, etc. While his little quips like "is it about farming" make me laugh out loud, you have to understand the man to appreciate what he says. He's a treasure.
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