Jazz 107 – NJ Nets 94

January 14th, 2012 | by Spencer Hall

Copyright 2012 NBAE (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images) Devin Harris; Deron Williams

New Jersey Nets 94 Final

Recap | Box Score

107 Utah Jazz
Paul Millsap, PF

28 MIN | 6-13 FG | 6-6 FT | 12 REB | 3 AST | 18 PTS | +15

Paul Millsap is playing fantastic basketball. The Jazz outscored the Nets by a brutal 64-26, with Millsap and Jefferson doing most of that heavy lifting. The ferocity of Millsap’s dunks is back, and I like it.

Gordon Hayward, SG

23 MIN | 3-5 FG | 2-2 FT | 2 REB | 3 AST | 10 PTS | +13

Hayward threw a pretty, pretty bounce pass through traffic on a fast break that was a thing of beauty. He should probably get an “A” just for that.

Al Jefferson, C

23 MIN | 9-16 FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 20 PTS | +15

Another solid game from Jefferson, who finally went up-and-under instead of relying solely on his shot-put shot. Also had a beautifully unnecessary piroette on a scoring move.

Raja Bell, SG

22 MIN | 5-6 FG | 1-1 FT | 1 REB | 3 AST | 12 PTS | +9

A visit from Bell’s muse Kobe Bryant earlier in the week seems to be the secret to awakening his inner NBA starter. For the second straight game he got out to a fast start and played well the entire game.

As @djjazzyjody tweeted a great quote from Gordon Hayward after the game: “It was a lot of fun. When Raja’s getting ‘and-one’ dunks, you know you’re having a good time.”

Devin Harris, PG

24 MIN | 1-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 6 AST | 2 PTS | +12

A quiet night for Harris, but he did a nice job harassing Deron Williams into poor shooting.

C.J. Miles, SF

18 MIN | 6-8 FG | 5-5 FT | 6 REB | 2 AST | 17 PTS | +5

CJ finally had a big game, notching a season high in points and rebounds.

Derrick Favors, FC

27 MIN | 2-7 FG | 2-5 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 6 PTS | +4

Not really an “A” game for Favors, but he gets the “A” for picking up his first assist of the season. Favors has faded from the spotlight a bit lately, but the team effort tonight was tremendous. His poor free throw percentage (56%-ish) seems to be in his head a bit, making him try to avoid going to the line.

Enes Kanter, F

19 MIN | 3-6 FG | 1-2 FT | 8 REB | 0 AST | 7 PTS | -8

Kanter is second only to Dwight Howard in rebounds per 48 minutes and made great use of his time again tonight. He tied his career high of 7 points, too.

Five Things We Saw

  1. Nice to see so many people track down Mehmet Okur after the game to say hello and offer their best wishes.
  2. “Boo-gate” was the topic of conversation during the first half as Deron Williams was booed every time he touched the ball. Interestingly, the reaction seemed to grow as fans seemed to pick up on the trend. There was a definite feel of “Oh, wait, we’re booing D-Will? I had no idea, but ok.” Thankfully the game got out of hand and the boo-ers got bored. As I tweeted during the game, I’m anti-booing regardless of the situation. I’m also convinced that D-Will was more “straw that broke the camel’s back” rather than “guy who forced a Hall of Fame coach to retire mid-season.” Jerry Sloan is tough enough to handle one guy; there’s a lot more to that story than just D-Will.
  3. Tonight is the two-year anniversary of the incredible Sundiata Game against Lebron and Cavs, but Sundiata Gaines didn’t really want to dwell on it after the game. “That was two years ago,” he said. So sentimental!
  4. There were moments in the game when the Nets had four former Jazz players on the floor and missed a great opportunity to create the illusion of an intrasquad game. Thanks a lot, Avery.
  5. I did not expect Kris Humphries to be the best ex-Jazz player for the Nets.

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