Jazz 103, Wizards 88
That was a brutal game, especially if you were once a kid who grew up in the Washington area raised on Bullets/Wizards basketball, as I was. The Wizards looked every bit like a team destined to land the No. 1 overall pick in the draft lottery.
They went 5 of 24 in the first quarter, with several misses of the layups/dunks/short jumpers variety. They got a combined four points for the game out of their starting backcourt (Dominic McGuire and Mike James), a total I've never seen before.
They had a lineup of Juan Dixon, Nick Young, Antawn Jamison, JaVale McGee and Darius Songaila on the floor during the Jazz's third-quarter run. Their leading scorer in the second half with 13 was Oleksiy Pecherov, who had 69 points all season before Tuesday.
Then again, the Wizards might be in position for a quick turnaround if they can land a top draft pick to go with Caron Butler and Jamison plus the return of a healthy Gilbert Arenas after undergoing knee surgery.
There was some talk in the Jazz locker room about Arenas returning before the end of the season. There also were a number of reenactments of the shot Arenas hit over Deron Williams to win a January 2007 game in Washington.
* * *
We should have known how ugly Tuesday's game would be when the Jazz and Wizards combined for three turnovers in the first 13 seconds. That's the fastest three turnovers have happened in any NBA game this season, with the previous record being 31 seconds in a Golden State/L.A. Clippers game on Nov. 13.
"It wasn't the prettiest game," Carlos Boozer said. "It was a little ugly. For us, we'll take a win after a three-game slide. We did what we had to do to win the game. That third quarter we broke it open. We got rebounds, ran, finished on our offensive end, played good enough defense and finished the game off strong. It wasn't pretty. At this point, every game is important and every win is important."
* * *
If they can beat Houston next Tuesday, the Jazz will have a good chance of running the table at home the rest of the season. That would give them an 18-game home winning streak heading into the playoffs, one shy of the franchise record tied last season.
There's a handful of games that will go a long way in determining where the Jazz will finish, and that Houston game is one. As long as the Lakers are fighting with Cleveland and Boston for the NBA's best record, however, it's unlikely they'll sit their starters for the last game of the season against the Jazz on April 14 at Staples Center.
Not that they were at all expected to lose to Washington, but the Jazz's victory kept them from giving up ground to Portland and Denver (which both won Monday) as well as eighth-place Dallas, which beat Detroit 103-101 on Tuesday.
* * *
Brevin Knight might have been the only Jazz player to exceed expectations in Tuesday's game. He was one of the unsung heroes, which is why you'll see him quoted twice in the game story in Wednesday's paper. Knight had four points, two steals and an assist in 20 minutes.
More than that, he made a couple of nice plays. In the first quarter, Knight ripped away the ball from Javaris Crittenton for a steal, pushed it upcourt and hit Paul Millsap for a layup. In the fourth quarter, Knight hit two jumpers when it looked like the Jazz might have to bring back Deron Williams just to close out things.
Williams played only 28 minutes, which has to be considered a good thing after he played 123 minutes combined in the losses to Atlanta, Miami and Orlando. Knight, meanwhile, got in a good rhythm playing close to double the minutes he's averaged this season.
''When you get a chance to just be out there for an extended time, you kind of get a feel for what's going on the court," Knight said. "When it's short segements like that, you've kind of got to rush into it. It felt good to just get a feel for the game. We had fun. That's all I like to do."
* * *
I've never seen as many signs - - at least two dozen - - as there were in the crowd Tuesday wishing Kyle Korver a Happy Birthday. Korver turned 28 but remains unchallenged among Jazz players as far as the affection of teenage girls.
* * *
The Jazz didn't wear any special uniforms for St. Patrick's Day, but there is some talk that they might next season.
* * *
Not only did Korver play at Creighton, his younger brother Kaleb does, too. He watched Sunday as Creighton was one of the last teams shut out of the NCAA Tournament, despite a 26-win season.
On the bright side, Creighton did receive a No. 1 seed in the NIT bracket and would host Kentucky in a second-round game, which as Korver said is a "pretty big deal for Creighton," which is located in Omaha, Neb.
"I think they're all pretty disappointed, but at the same time, it's postseason play," Korver said. "I think Creighton's gone 13 years in a row now, which is a Missouri Valley Conference record. It's something to be proud of, but it's definitely not where they wanted to be."
* * *
Talking to him about Jerry Sloan's ejection 2:12 into Sunday's game at Orlando, Steve believes that Frank Layden once got tossed in the opening minute of a game at Denver. He also remembers Thurl Bailey scoring a career-high 41 points in the game.
Sure enough, Bailey's career-high was 41 in a March 14, 1988 game at Denver. I saw him in the tunnel before Tuesday's game and Bailey said he also thought that Layden was ejected in the first minute, along with Karl Malone in the first quarter.
Our computer archives don't go back that far, but I will look up the game story from that night and see just how early Layden was ejected.
--Ross Siler
They went 5 of 24 in the first quarter, with several misses of the layups/dunks/short jumpers variety. They got a combined four points for the game out of their starting backcourt (Dominic McGuire and Mike James), a total I've never seen before.
They had a lineup of Juan Dixon, Nick Young, Antawn Jamison, JaVale McGee and Darius Songaila on the floor during the Jazz's third-quarter run. Their leading scorer in the second half with 13 was Oleksiy Pecherov, who had 69 points all season before Tuesday.
Then again, the Wizards might be in position for a quick turnaround if they can land a top draft pick to go with Caron Butler and Jamison plus the return of a healthy Gilbert Arenas after undergoing knee surgery.
There was some talk in the Jazz locker room about Arenas returning before the end of the season. There also were a number of reenactments of the shot Arenas hit over Deron Williams to win a January 2007 game in Washington.
* * *
We should have known how ugly Tuesday's game would be when the Jazz and Wizards combined for three turnovers in the first 13 seconds. That's the fastest three turnovers have happened in any NBA game this season, with the previous record being 31 seconds in a Golden State/L.A. Clippers game on Nov. 13.
"It wasn't the prettiest game," Carlos Boozer said. "It was a little ugly. For us, we'll take a win after a three-game slide. We did what we had to do to win the game. That third quarter we broke it open. We got rebounds, ran, finished on our offensive end, played good enough defense and finished the game off strong. It wasn't pretty. At this point, every game is important and every win is important."
* * *
If they can beat Houston next Tuesday, the Jazz will have a good chance of running the table at home the rest of the season. That would give them an 18-game home winning streak heading into the playoffs, one shy of the franchise record tied last season.
There's a handful of games that will go a long way in determining where the Jazz will finish, and that Houston game is one. As long as the Lakers are fighting with Cleveland and Boston for the NBA's best record, however, it's unlikely they'll sit their starters for the last game of the season against the Jazz on April 14 at Staples Center.
Not that they were at all expected to lose to Washington, but the Jazz's victory kept them from giving up ground to Portland and Denver (which both won Monday) as well as eighth-place Dallas, which beat Detroit 103-101 on Tuesday.
* * *
Brevin Knight might have been the only Jazz player to exceed expectations in Tuesday's game. He was one of the unsung heroes, which is why you'll see him quoted twice in the game story in Wednesday's paper. Knight had four points, two steals and an assist in 20 minutes.
More than that, he made a couple of nice plays. In the first quarter, Knight ripped away the ball from Javaris Crittenton for a steal, pushed it upcourt and hit Paul Millsap for a layup. In the fourth quarter, Knight hit two jumpers when it looked like the Jazz might have to bring back Deron Williams just to close out things.
Williams played only 28 minutes, which has to be considered a good thing after he played 123 minutes combined in the losses to Atlanta, Miami and Orlando. Knight, meanwhile, got in a good rhythm playing close to double the minutes he's averaged this season.
''When you get a chance to just be out there for an extended time, you kind of get a feel for what's going on the court," Knight said. "When it's short segements like that, you've kind of got to rush into it. It felt good to just get a feel for the game. We had fun. That's all I like to do."
* * *
I've never seen as many signs - - at least two dozen - - as there were in the crowd Tuesday wishing Kyle Korver a Happy Birthday. Korver turned 28 but remains unchallenged among Jazz players as far as the affection of teenage girls.
* * *
The Jazz didn't wear any special uniforms for St. Patrick's Day, but there is some talk that they might next season.
* * *
Not only did Korver play at Creighton, his younger brother Kaleb does, too. He watched Sunday as Creighton was one of the last teams shut out of the NCAA Tournament, despite a 26-win season.
On the bright side, Creighton did receive a No. 1 seed in the NIT bracket and would host Kentucky in a second-round game, which as Korver said is a "pretty big deal for Creighton," which is located in Omaha, Neb.
"I think they're all pretty disappointed, but at the same time, it's postseason play," Korver said. "I think Creighton's gone 13 years in a row now, which is a Missouri Valley Conference record. It's something to be proud of, but it's definitely not where they wanted to be."
* * *
Talking to him about Jerry Sloan's ejection 2:12 into Sunday's game at Orlando, Steve believes that Frank Layden once got tossed in the opening minute of a game at Denver. He also remembers Thurl Bailey scoring a career-high 41 points in the game.
Sure enough, Bailey's career-high was 41 in a March 14, 1988 game at Denver. I saw him in the tunnel before Tuesday's game and Bailey said he also thought that Layden was ejected in the first minute, along with Karl Malone in the first quarter.
Our computer archives don't go back that far, but I will look up the game story from that night and see just how early Layden was ejected.
--Ross Siler
12:27 AM
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2 Comments:
I actually hope the Wizards (or another Eastern team) get the No. 1 pick. It would be nice for the Jazz to still have some bad teams like Sac or OKC stuck in medocricy next season.
I think the Jazz should wear the old school green Jazz jerseys they had with the yellow lettering.
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