This topic contains 6 replies, has 4 voices, and was last updated by CodySLC 13 years, 4 months ago.
- AuthorPosts
- Posted on: Sun, 11/14/2010 - 7:34am #23144
sammybuckeye13ParticipantAs someone who has watched every Jazz game this year I just feel compelled to write something. This isn’t a Here’s How They’re Doing It ESPN-type deal, just some stream-of-consciousness notes that might help get to the bottom of this very puzzling team’s success.
– Deron Williams has been unstoppable in the second half of games, bullying his way to the basket, knocking down threes of all difficulties and masterfully managing Utah’s complex offense. He’s now 2nd in NBA.com’s MVP race standings, and for good reason: in Utah’s 5-game comeback streak he’s averaging 24.8, 10.8 assists and 4.8 rebounds. Which brings me to a point I’d like to make. When people say Rondo might be the best point guard in the league, consider this: could Williams, one of the league’s very best distributors, potentially average 15 assists with that loaded Celtics offense? Sure. Could Rondo, who imposing PG’s allow about 4 feet of space on defense because they know he can’t routinely knock down open 15-footers, average 25 ppg on the road, knocking down shots from everywhere and willing his team to victory? No way in hell. Williams is currently the most dynamic and dominant PG in the league, no ifs, ands or whats about it.
– With a solid veteran in Raja Bell added to the starting lineup and a couple solid backup guards (Miles and Watson), the Jazz’s fate looked to be decided with big men, with so many question marks. How will Al Jefferson mesh with Paul Millsap? How will Al Jefferson play in general? How will Millsap handle a starting role and pressure that he might have indefinitely? How will they perform without Okur, whose spacing they so often rely upon? Will AK ever return to form? Everyone knows that Paul Millsap is playing like an animal and Jefferson is for the most part getting his, but what’s so amazing is how hard they’ve all been going. At 6-10 and 6-8 (generous), Big Al and Millsap are almost always smaller than their opponents, yet they’re both averaging at least 9 rebounds and are shooting a combined 54.1% from the field. They’re busting their asses every possession, and the fact that both can consistently knock down 14-19 footers makes them nearly unguardable as a tandem when they’re on the floor together (which is often). Kirilenko, meanwhile, has been a great glue guy, and while he still is in no way playing up to his contract, he is playing his best ball in years and is shooting the 3-ball more consistently than ever.
– The Jazz’s mantra though all this has been staying calm, and when they’re calm, they’re a joy to watch. Down 12-22 points in the second half during this run, Williams would say they would try to get the lead, say, down from 20 to 10, then work from there. Couldn’t be said better. When they’re down by a seemingly insurmountable margin – on the road to a playoff team, as has been the case – they’ve played just as they would in a tight game, taking good shots and not trying to play outside of themselves. Just as Williams has been typically impressive keeping the Jazz grounded and making sure they get the most out of every possession, Kirilenko has proven to be very valuable; he’s great at catching the ball near the top of the key and making entry passes that even Deron can’t make due to AK’s size. Lots of what Kirilenko does in this respect will not show up on paper, but believe that he is certainly this team’s third most valuable player and should be for the rest of the year. He is finally maximizing the potential of his length on defense again and is still one of the most constantly active players in the league.
That said, not everything about this Jazz team is positive; there’s a reason they’re seemingly always down by 15 points. But then again, there’s a reason they’re coming back.
– There are certain not-so-flattering statements about this team that simply cannot be denied, such as, they only have one real "shooter" or "marksman" on the team right now (Miles; Bell is shooting 28% from 3), they cannot for the life of them block a shot (Jefferson is leading them at 1.4, next best is averaging 0.7), their post defense (along those lines) is on the wrong side of mediocre, their bench is remarkably shallow (only one backup playing more than 11 minutes), and they don’t care as much to put their hands in the face of three point shooters. Some of these problems will solve themselves when Okur comes back, though they will still play poor interior D and will be relying a great deal on their starters, some of whom are very injury prone. Al Jefferson looks to be out of his comfort zone on offense too often, two of their key "veteran" free agent acquisitions, Watson and Elson, are combining to average 3.3 ppg, Bell has been terrible, and Hayward has been expectedly useless thus far as he continues to learn.
So here’s the overall evaluation, I guess.
– This team can be very good; that is to say, they can play like have the last 5 games for the rest of the season, and ridiculous as this might sounds, they are only going to get better (keep in mind they’ve played 7 of their 10 games on the road). Their three most skilled players (DWill, Millsap, Jefferson) are all doing what they should, but the shooters are only scratching the surface of their potential, with Williams shooting 33% from range, Miles at 30%, Bell at 28%, Price at 30% and Hayward at 14.3%. Those guys will NOT keep up those numbers all year, and this is w/o their best spot-up shooter (Okur) on the floor. When those shooters get going they will naturally only improve offensively.
As far as their potential goes, I don’t know if they’re capable of beating a Laker team with healthy Gasol/Bynum on the floor (skilled 7-0/7-0 is simply too hard to defend when you’re 6-10/6-8), but if it’s Gasol and Odom, that makes it more manageable. Bell is an elite man-to-man defender (i.e., he won’t be shitting on C.J. Miles or rookie Wes Matthews again), and while they’ll give up points to Gasol no matter what, they’re a much more efficient team and can now neutralize matchup difficulties more easily. Once they get going from beyond the arc, seeing as how great they’re running the flex offense, it’s hard to imagine how they could be consistently stopped, as they’re 7-3 and averaging 102 points despite going just 5 for14.4 from 3 per game on average. With Portland perpetually battling injuries and the Nuggets struggling as some expected I think they will battle it out with the Thunder for the division crown but ultimately winning, considering how much room they have to improve while OKC has been inexcusably struggling in a lot of areas at times.
No matter what, though, it’ll certainly be interesting to see how this team plays the rest of the season lol, as they’ve been amazing to follow thus far.
0 - Posted on: Sun, 11/14/2010 - 7:51am #434345
BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipantThe Jazz really have had an incredible week. If you look at four games in the southeast in five nights, a split would have been a success. To sweep it is tremendous, particularly when they had to come from behind every time. At some point, they are going to need to give Deron Williams more than a few minutes of rest per game. They can’t win a title in November, and they’ll need him for 40+ in May.
0 - Posted on: Sun, 11/14/2010 - 7:51am #434350
BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipantThe Jazz really have had an incredible week. If you look at four games in the southeast in five nights, a split would have been a success. To sweep it is tremendous, particularly when they had to come from behind every time. At some point, they are going to need to give Deron Williams more than a few minutes of rest per game. They can’t win a title in November, and they’ll need him for 40+ in May.
0 - Posted on: Sun, 11/14/2010 - 8:54am #434372
RUDEBOY_ParticipantThat win against the Heat was mostly a mental break down by Heat coach..He sit Lebron and Wade down when they were ahead with only seconds remaining…The Heat thought the game was over…But the Jazz never stopped fighting..
0 - Posted on: Sun, 11/14/2010 - 8:54am #434375
RUDEBOY_ParticipantThat win against the Heat was mostly a mental break down by Heat coach..He sit Lebron and Wade down when they were ahead with only seconds remaining…The Heat thought the game was over…But the Jazz never stopped fighting..
0 - Posted on: Sun, 11/14/2010 - 1:52pm #434580
CodySLCParticipantTheir 7 and 3. But they have won 5 in a row, all double digit come backs on the road. They really need more production outta Bell and Miles at the 2. Paul Millsap and Deron Williams are playing like all stars, A.K. is playing great D and hitting outside shots. Jefferson’s production should improve as he gets used to the Utah system.
0 - Posted on: Sun, 11/14/2010 - 1:52pm #434583
CodySLCParticipantTheir 7 and 3. But they have won 5 in a row, all double digit come backs on the road. They really need more production outta Bell and Miles at the 2. Paul Millsap and Deron Williams are playing like all stars, A.K. is playing great D and hitting outside shots. Jefferson’s production should improve as he gets used to the Utah system.
0 - AuthorPosts
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. | Login |