Jazz 103, Nuggets 87
The replacement referees were competent. Carlos Boozer heard cheers from the crowd. Those were the two things to take away from the Jazz's preseason opener Thursday, a game that should best be forgotten by lunch Friday.
With overseas trips, the Jazz and the Nuggets played their first preseason game less than a week after opening training camp. Neither Kenyon Martin nor J.R. Smith played for Denver, so be careful about putting too much stock in the Jazz's victory.
Some observations from the game:
--Not even three minutes in, Mehmet Okur hit a running hook against top shotblocker Chris Andersen. It's the shot Okur has talked about adding in the off-season. Okur then nailed a three-pointer a minute later and had 10 points and seven rebounds in 19 minutes.
--C.J. Miles got off to a fast start and drew a three-shot foul just before halftime on the way to scoring 16 points. Miles hit one three-pointer after Denver had come out in a zone defense following a first quarter timeout. He went 5-for-7 for the night.
--The Jazz outscored Denver a combined 61-43 in the first and third quarters. The Jazz mixed and matched lineups during that time, but both teams had their best players in the game those two quarters. The Jazz used 16 players, all of whom scored in the game.
--Deron Williams took over in the third quarter, scoring 14 of his 16 points. That included two three-pointers, the first of which was anything but a preseason shot. Williams brought the ball up court and buried a three over Chauncey Billups with 19 on the shot clock. His shot bumped the Jazz's lead back up from seven to 10.
--Paul Millsap has talked about expanding his game, especially if he's going to play small forward, and showed some range on his jumper in hitting an 18-footer in the third quarter. The story of the preseason might be how much small forward Millsap ends up playing.
--Kosta Koufos really struggled in going 1-for-8 overall and 1-for-7 in the fourth quarter. Most notable was Koufos difficulty in timing rebound attempts and other plays around the basket.
--Eric Maynor had four points and an assist in his Jazz debut, even hitting the type of runner in the fourth quarter that eluded him throughout summer-league play. For what it's worth, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan used Ronnie Price as his first point guard off the bench.
* * *
It was such a rough game for Koufos that Utah Flash owner Brandt Andersen, who was seated courtside, sent the following Tweet in the fourth quarter: "Please welcome Kosta back. He is having a tough night."
One preseason game and Koufos is already ticketed for the D-League? It's worth noting that the Jazz only have 12 healthy players under contract right now, which means they're going to need Koufos in uniform for the sake of numbers alone.
* * *
By my count, the replacement referees called two delay of game warnings, one lane violation and several offensive fouls. It took 2 hours, 34 minutes to play a regulation preseason game, with the two teams combining to shoot 88 free throws.
They whistled four fouls in the last minute of the fourth quarter with the Jazz leading by 15. And they made the kind of call you almost never see at the end of the first half, whistling a blocking foul on Goran Suton against Renaldo Balkman with 0.1 seconds left.
At least in the Jazz's locker room, though, the sentiment was that Tre Maddox, Deldre Carr and C.J. Washington did a commendable job.
"I'm going to be honest, I was impressed with the referees," Boozer said. "They did a good job and they called a fair game on both sides. They were unintimidated. They were great. I was impressed."
Added Deron Williams: "The officials were good. I thought they did a good job. They didn't look like replacements to me."
Most remarkable was how little was said between the players and replacement referees. You hardly ever see a game without a running dialogue between the players and refs.
"I don't know their names," Williams said. "I'm trying to not talk to refs as much. I'm trying to just play and let coach talk to the refs. I want to save my money this year."
* * *
The Jazz's attendance is going to be closely watched this season, but they had to be happy with the numbers from their first exhibition game. The Jazz announced a crowd of 18,114, which is comparable to their first home preseason games in 2008 (18,761) and 2007 (18,707).
* * *
Deron Williams isn't going to have any problem complying with the league's new Twitter policy, but he did admit Thursday that he might have texted from the bench when he was out last season with a sprained ankle. You could see Williams, in fact, send messages a couple of times from the back of the Jazz's huddle during timeouts. In his own defense, Williams noted that he was never caught on camera doing so, as Carlos Boozer was last season.
--Ross Siler
With overseas trips, the Jazz and the Nuggets played their first preseason game less than a week after opening training camp. Neither Kenyon Martin nor J.R. Smith played for Denver, so be careful about putting too much stock in the Jazz's victory.
Some observations from the game:
--Not even three minutes in, Mehmet Okur hit a running hook against top shotblocker Chris Andersen. It's the shot Okur has talked about adding in the off-season. Okur then nailed a three-pointer a minute later and had 10 points and seven rebounds in 19 minutes.
--C.J. Miles got off to a fast start and drew a three-shot foul just before halftime on the way to scoring 16 points. Miles hit one three-pointer after Denver had come out in a zone defense following a first quarter timeout. He went 5-for-7 for the night.
--The Jazz outscored Denver a combined 61-43 in the first and third quarters. The Jazz mixed and matched lineups during that time, but both teams had their best players in the game those two quarters. The Jazz used 16 players, all of whom scored in the game.
--Deron Williams took over in the third quarter, scoring 14 of his 16 points. That included two three-pointers, the first of which was anything but a preseason shot. Williams brought the ball up court and buried a three over Chauncey Billups with 19 on the shot clock. His shot bumped the Jazz's lead back up from seven to 10.
--Paul Millsap has talked about expanding his game, especially if he's going to play small forward, and showed some range on his jumper in hitting an 18-footer in the third quarter. The story of the preseason might be how much small forward Millsap ends up playing.
--Kosta Koufos really struggled in going 1-for-8 overall and 1-for-7 in the fourth quarter. Most notable was Koufos difficulty in timing rebound attempts and other plays around the basket.
--Eric Maynor had four points and an assist in his Jazz debut, even hitting the type of runner in the fourth quarter that eluded him throughout summer-league play. For what it's worth, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan used Ronnie Price as his first point guard off the bench.
* * *
It was such a rough game for Koufos that Utah Flash owner Brandt Andersen, who was seated courtside, sent the following Tweet in the fourth quarter: "Please welcome Kosta back. He is having a tough night."
One preseason game and Koufos is already ticketed for the D-League? It's worth noting that the Jazz only have 12 healthy players under contract right now, which means they're going to need Koufos in uniform for the sake of numbers alone.
* * *
By my count, the replacement referees called two delay of game warnings, one lane violation and several offensive fouls. It took 2 hours, 34 minutes to play a regulation preseason game, with the two teams combining to shoot 88 free throws.
They whistled four fouls in the last minute of the fourth quarter with the Jazz leading by 15. And they made the kind of call you almost never see at the end of the first half, whistling a blocking foul on Goran Suton against Renaldo Balkman with 0.1 seconds left.
At least in the Jazz's locker room, though, the sentiment was that Tre Maddox, Deldre Carr and C.J. Washington did a commendable job.
"I'm going to be honest, I was impressed with the referees," Boozer said. "They did a good job and they called a fair game on both sides. They were unintimidated. They were great. I was impressed."
Added Deron Williams: "The officials were good. I thought they did a good job. They didn't look like replacements to me."
Most remarkable was how little was said between the players and replacement referees. You hardly ever see a game without a running dialogue between the players and refs.
"I don't know their names," Williams said. "I'm trying to not talk to refs as much. I'm trying to just play and let coach talk to the refs. I want to save my money this year."
* * *
The Jazz's attendance is going to be closely watched this season, but they had to be happy with the numbers from their first exhibition game. The Jazz announced a crowd of 18,114, which is comparable to their first home preseason games in 2008 (18,761) and 2007 (18,707).
* * *
Deron Williams isn't going to have any problem complying with the league's new Twitter policy, but he did admit Thursday that he might have texted from the bench when he was out last season with a sprained ankle. You could see Williams, in fact, send messages a couple of times from the back of the Jazz's huddle during timeouts. In his own defense, Williams noted that he was never caught on camera doing so, as Carlos Boozer was last season.
--Ross Siler
12:43 AM
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