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Paul Millsap, PF 26 MIN | 4-9 FG | 2-2 FT | 8 REB | 1 AST | 10 PTS | -1A solid/decent game from Paul, despite the slow start. Luckily, Omer Asik provided lots of room for the Jazz bigs to move around. |  |
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Derrick Favors, PF 23 MIN | 2-7 FG | 4-4 FT | 8 REB | 0 AST | 8 PTS | +10Favors- Not a great offensive play and needs to stay out of foul trouble early, but his defense was great; He blocked shots but there were many more contested shots that forced misses. A- |  |
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Al Jefferson, C 27 MIN | 4-12 FG | 6-7 FT | 16 REB | 2 AST | 14 PTS | 0Monstar [intended Space Jam spelling] game on the boards, which made up for an unimpressive offensive game. | |
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Randy Foye, PG 24 MIN | 4-11 FG | 2-2 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 14 PTS | -5Foye has impeccable timing with is 3s and always keeps the team and the fans happy. The calls for Burks are quieting with every solid performance by Foye. |  |
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Mo Williams, PG 27 MIN | 4-11 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 7 AST | 8 PTS | -3Mo Williams is really fast. |  |
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Marvin Williams, PF 25 MIN | 4-9 FG | 1-2 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 12 PTS | +18Marvin gets an “A” for admitting to the media that he was in the bathroom at tip-off and was caught off guard when he had to replace Favors, who picked up two quick fouls in the first minute of the game. | |
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Jeremy Evans, SF 5 MIN | 1-1 FG | 0-1 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS | -8“A” for getting in the game. | |
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DeMarre Carroll, SF 13 MIN | 4-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 3 AST | 8 PTS | +11Another game where he is the highlight of the second team. His hustle D created turnovers and great fast breaks. | |
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Enes Kanter, C 21 MIN | 3-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 8 REB | 3 AST | 6 PTS | +11Kanter deserves credit for an amazingly athletic alley-oop finish and it doesn’t matter what he did the rest of the game. Also gets points for being the best turk on the floor. | |
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Jamaal Tinsley, PG 21 MIN | 1-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 5 REB | 11 AST | 3 PTS | +14The “Jamaal Tinsley hasn’t scored since…” meme was pretty funny, but I’m on board for the passing and stay for the playground handle. He’s not a shooter, but it’s a pleasure to watch a true pass-first point guard do his thing. It’s worth every turnover. | |
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Alec Burks, PG 5 MIN | 0-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 PTS | -8“A” for getting in the game. | |
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Kevin Murphy, SG 4 MIN | 1-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS | -8“A” for getting in the game. | |
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Gordon Hayward, SG 19 MIN | 5-12 FG | 4-5 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 15 PTS | +24Let history remember this as the night Gordon Hayward threw down a spicy behind-the-head dunk. Some nice moments from G-Time leading the second unit after the first unit again came out flat. | |
Archives For 2012-13
The Jazz missed a perfect chance to steal a win in Boston last night, but failed to take advantage after Rajon Rondo left with an injury. Also, someday I’d like to replay the final few minutes and maybe not have Mo Williams take every shot, but that’s how it went.
There were still several things to like, however. My favorite this was the play featured in the accompanying video clips. Gordon Hayward stepped up after some lame taunting from Kevin Garnett (and Jason Terry, pitching in from the bench) and hit a big shot over the top. David Locke had a great call on the radio–dropping a little Ludacris for emphasis. On the TV side, Matt Harpring was clearly offended in proxy by Garnett’s antics and emphatically approved of Hayward’s response.
Now it’s on to Philadelphia for a Friday matchup with the Sixers. The Jazz are at 4-5, so after the Sixers game we’ll look back at the first 10 games and check in with our oddsmaker Geoff Beckstrom for a prognosis for the next 10.
Photo by matthewryan
It’s a little late, but I wanted to preserve a few things for posterity. The third quarter of this game was a thing of beauty–may all teams coming into Salt Lake be on the second night of a back-to-back. Regardless of a worn-out opponent, there were a lot of things to like. I’ve included a few of them below:
It was a night for the newcomers: Marvin and Mo Williams each scored 21 points and hit two 3s, Randy Foye hit two of his own, and rookie Kevin Murphy scored his first NBA points. Jerry Sloan was in the crowd and all seemed right with the world on a warm Halloween night.
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Marvin Williams, PF 30 MIN | 7-13 FG | 5-5 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 21 PTS | +9 | |
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Paul Millsap, PF 33 MIN | 5-12 FG | 3-4 FT | 15 REB | 3 AST | 13 PTS | +18 | |
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Gordon Hayward, SF 24 MIN | 4-10 FG | 3-5 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 11 PTS | +1 | |
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Al Jefferson, C 29 MIN | 4-11 FG | 4-4 FT | 14 REB | 2 AST | 12 PTS | +8 | |
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Mo Williams, PG 30 MIN | 7-16 FG | 5-5 FT | 2 REB | 6 AST | 21 PTS | +19 | |
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Kevin Murphy, SG 2 MIN | 1-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS | -1
It was very cool to hear Kevin Murphy describe how it felt to score his first points in a real NBA game: “I’ve been dreaming about this day since I was six.” |
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With the first game of the 2012-13 season only a few hours away, it’s time to go on record with predictions. This season we’ll be using a clever breakdown by Geoff Beckstrom (@vegasstats) that shows what games are must-win for the Jazz to finish with a certain number of wins. We’ll check in with Geoff every ten games for a progress update and a preview of the next ten.
Here’s how it works:
The Jazz play every team in the Eastern Conference twice–once at home and once on the road. They play every team in the Western Conference four times, except the Lakers, San Antonio, Dallas, and Golden State, which they only play three times (indicated by black boxes in the chart below). The chart shows the games the Jazz must win in order to finish the season with at least 45 wins (indicated in yellow). Historically, the 8th seed in the West must win at least 46 games to qualify for the playoffs. Geoff breaks down which games the Jazz will have to win to stay on pace to beat that mark.
As we move into the top 10 of JazzRank, we start to see the biases of bloggers show forth. If bloggers are simultaneously fans and writers who make no effort to distinguish between those two roles, then we have a right to eschew objectivity and praise the good name of DeMarre Carroll to our hearts content. After all, if there’s one skill you can see every time you turn on a basketball game, it’s drive, and Carroll has that in spades. As the man himself says, hard work is a talent, and at least in that department, there may not be a more talented player on the Jazz roster.
Offseason Accomplishments: Jazz chose to retain him; shattered the records for most tweets from an NBA player with the hashtags #staypositive and #blessed (an impressive feat); started his own T-shirt line (even using the #blessed hashtag on some of those T-shirts); lost the title for most entertaining Jazz-related twitter feed to Enes Kanter, but still maintains a vice grip on the number two position;
Patronus: Junkyard Dog. He chose this one. Not us. I know this probably isn’t what DeMarre had in mind, but I couldn’t help myself.
Stat to Watch: True Shooting Percentage. Frankly, DeMarre Carroll’s straight field goal percentage was mediocre at best last season, but even when accounting for threes and free throws as True Shooting Percentage does, it was still wallowing in the Josh Howard dungeon. Shockingly, that’s actually unfair to Josh Howard. In order to deserve an increase in minutes, Carroll cannot be such an offensive liability. To play the three, Carroll will have to either get to the line more, hone his jump-shooting, or preferably do both. I love DeMarre Carroll if for no other reason than he always cares more than every other player on the floor, but Rudy only played one throwaway series at the end of a blow-out, and unless Carroll wants to get the same kind of playing time for the Jazz that Rudy got for the Irish, he will need more than pure effort. He will need an improved offensive skill set.
Three Outcomes for the Season
1. Carroll improves his perimeter defense and his shooting enough to warrant legitimate playing time at the three and at the four in small line-ups. The best part about this scenario is that it might warrant some re-examination and editing on his typo-ridden ESPN profile that can be found here.
2. Carroll plays himself out of the NBA. This is a real possibility, considering how little interest he garnered at the beginning of the lockout-shortened season. He has played hard and well in limited minutes with the Jazz, and there’s no reason he couldn’t do the same on another team, but players like Carroll get aced out of positions on NBA rosters all the time. Just ask Jordan Farmar. And sadly, Blake Ahearn.
3. Carroll continues to play well enough to warrant a roster spot but remains an end-of-the-bench, wave-the-towel player. This would not be so bad. As a Jazz fan, I feel better just knowing that a player who works as hard as Carroll is in every practice. In fact, I think more teams should consider signing on guys like DeMarre, just to amp up the intensity of the practices and make sure the starts don’t get complacent. Can somebody please find a roster spot for Blake Ahearn?
It’s a testament to the Jazz’s depth this year that the team’s back-up point guard has been knocked down to #12 (perhaps unfairly) by the voting bloggers. Still, no one would deny Watson’s emotional impact on the team. Earl Watson has had a quiet offseason, and with the addition of Randy Foye as a possibility at backup point guard, his on-court presence with the Jazz will almost certainly be more limited this year than last. That said, don’t confuse on-court presence with on-court influence, because if you can guarantee anything with Earl Watson, it’s that his voice will be heard by both his teammates, the referees, and the opponents. “Intangibles” may be a useless word to describe basketball skills, but in terms of non-basketball skills that still affect basketball games, Earl Watson has all the intangibles. So here are my top 3 favorite Earl Watson non-basketball plays:
3. One time, he said this: “I hate losing more than I like making money.” Then, there was this whole interview. In that two minute clip, Earl Watson demonstrates his whole arsenal of non-basketball intangibles: he never deigns to “media speak,” he makes no excuses, he takes losses on the chin and he lets the anger motivate him.
2. The Three-Salute. This is the combination of one of my favorite basketball Earl moments with one of my favorite non-basketball Earl moments. After drilling a back-breaking three against the Lakers, Earl turned to the crowd, and saluted them with three fingers. There was much debate last year over who had the best three-point celebration (the Russell Westbrook guns-in-the-holster, and Derek Fisher’s three-hatchet), but this one didn’t get nearly enough run.
1. The ball-slap. Against the Mavericks last year, Dirk Nowitzki, upset with a call, slapped the ball out of Derrick Favors hands, and an intimidated Derrick Favors (may I never have to utter that phrase again) did nothing to retaliate. Earl Watson (listed at 6’1”) angrily stepped forward and got in the face of Dirk Nowitzki (listed at 7′ and a German to boot). He slapped the ball out of Dirk’s hands, delivered some choice words, and subsequently got T’d up. Watch the whole thing yourself, but do so with the warning that Favors’ timidity might distress you more than a little.
Offseason Accomplishments: Led the team in Retweets; became Enes Kanter’s quasi-Public Relations representative; appeared on Better Kansas City working a classy jacket and an edgy shirt-tie combo.
Patronus: Raccoon. Not a bulldog.
Stat to watch: Defensive Win Shares. The only definitive advantage Watson has over Tinsley is on defense. Watson, a veteran, is younger than Tinsley and holds up better over long stretches, but with the addition of Foye, neither Tinsley nor Watson is going to be playing for that long, which means that the only thing Watson can bring that Tinsley can’t is tough perimeter defense. If Foye is injured, or if Corbin wants to play him at the 2 (admittedly, a stretch), Watson can act as a temporary solution for what is one of the Jazz’s biggest weaknesses: defending athletic point guards.
Three Potential Outcomes of the Season
1. Because of injuries, because of his defense, or because he fits the system better than Tinsley, Watson becomes the go-to back-up point guard. While I would certainly have complaints about this turn of events, it would probably mean that the Jazz were moving to an uptempo offensive system, and Watson is a perfect point guard to lead the Jazz’s bench in a revamped, fast break offense.
2. Because of an injury to him or because of Corbin’s rotation decisions, Watson plays out the season primarily as a garbage time reliever for Tinsley and Foye. The possibility of this scenario hinges on whether Corbin believes Foye can play at the two. If he doesn’t, Watson may be aced out of playing time.
3. The Jazz trade him. This is highly unlikely, but with an overload at the point guard position and Watson’s contract expiring at the end of the season, it’s at least a possibility. A sad possibility though to be sure, because even if he’s not playing consistently, Jazz fans are collectively happier with Watson on the roster, and if the team is ever locked in a dicey, slugfest with the Lakers, I think we can all agree that Watson has earned the right to be there.
No grades from this game, even though I was thoroughly entertained. The only thing that needs to be remembered for posterity is the Jeremy Evans Block/Dunk/Steal end-to-end-to-end play shown above.
The boxscore shows that the Jazz missed a lot of free throws (20-31) and missed a lot of open shots (33-81) and probably only stayed in the game due to hitting eight threes (shoutout to John Hollinger). Randy Foye lead the team in scoring with with 17 in his return to Staples, and Enes Kanter again lead the team in rebounds with nine. Check the nice writeup by Kevin Arnovitz.
Even though the Clippers were fresh off a big trip to China, it looked like the Jazz were the jet-lagged team. Lots of fumbled catches, poor passes, silly turnovers, and defensive lapses. In other words, it was a very preseasony preseason game from an execution standpoint. What I liked, however, was the chippy vibe. It may have been a meaningless exhibition, but I liked the way Blake Griffin and Paul Millsap were going at each other like it was a playoff game. I’ve been saying for a minute that the Clippers are more unlikable than the Lakers, and Wednesday’s game seemed to show that the Jazz players feel similarly. With all the Griffin faces and complaining and whining, it’s remarkable that no one just walks up and slaps him, just to tell him to snap out of it.
That’s not to say I don’t enjoy watching Griffin and Chris Paul do their thing–I just don’t think anyone wants to watch Griffin transform his on-court persona into a horrible amalgamation of the worst parts of Tim Duncan’s incredulous stare, Kevin Garnett’s intimidation tactics and bullying, and Chris Paul’s victim playing and flopping. Come on, Blake. You’re better than this.
The only upside to his nonsense is the budding rivalry between the two teams. Luckily for us, the two teams meet again on Saturday in Salt Lake. Can’t wait.
I loved everything about this game. I don’t even care that it’s the preseason. Anytime the Jazz can win by 34 points and the home fans still get to watch a vintage Kobe performance, everybody wins. It was a great night to have Karl Malone visiting the NBA TV studio, too.
These grades are admittedly ridiculous, but with 11 players scoring at least 8 points, it was a rare exhibition of near perfection for the last three quarters from the Jazz. The new up-tempo style looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun to watch, if this game is any indication. With such a deep bench, the fast speed might be the key to getting more players involved. The Jazz may not have a superstar, but they have a ton of players waiting to get some run. I’m hoping for some breakneck speed and five-man line changes.
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Marvin Williams, F 22 MIN | 3-8 FG | 2-2 FT | 3 REB | 3 AST | 10 PTS | +17
Beautiful |
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Paul Millsap, F 22 MIN | 3-8 FG | 2-2 FT | 7 REB | 1 AST | 8 PTS | +11
Amazing |
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Gordon Hayward, F 19 MIN | 4-8 FG | 3-3 FT | 1 REB | 3 AST | 13 PTS | +10
Brilliant |
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Al Jefferson, C 22 MIN | 3-6 FG | 6-6 FT | 7 REB | 2 AST | 12 PTS | +14
Spectacular |
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Jamaal Tinsley, G 22 MIN | 3-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 8 PTS | +14
Awesome |
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Derrick Favors, F 22 MIN | 3-3 FG | 4-5 FT | 5 REB | 4 AST | 10 PTS | +24
Fantastic |
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DeMarre Carroll, F 17 MIN | 4-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 4 AST | 8 PTS | +21
Beautiful |
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Enes Kanter, C 19 MIN | 4-5 FG | 2-3 FT | 6 REB | 1 AST | 10 PTS | +25
Beautiful |
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Alec Burks, G 23 MIN | 4-4 FG | 3-6 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 12 PTS | +20
Genius |
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Kevin Murphy, G 12 MIN | 3-4 FG | 2-2 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 8 PTS | +1
Awesome |
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Randy Foye, G 18 MIN | 4-9 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 3 AST | 10 PTS | +25
Awesome |
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UTAH JAZZ (1-1) vs. LOS ANGELES LAKERS (0-2)
Preseason Game #3 • AWAY Game #2 • STAPLES Center • Los Angeles
October 13, 2012 • 8:30 p.m. (MT) • TV: None
RADIO: 1280 AM/97.5 FM
Coming off a nice win at home last night against Kevin Durant and the OKC Thunder, the Jazz get their first look at the new Laker superteam. Kobe is questionable for the game with a shoulder injury and Dwight Howard is still recovering from back surgery and won’t play. The two teams will play again on Tuesday in Anaheim.
Once again Paul Millsap will be away from the team while he is with his family following the death of his grandmother. All our best to him and his family. Earl Watson is still out while he rehaps his left knee. Jamaal Tinsley is back with the team after missing Friday’s game for personal reasons.
The Lakers are winless in the preseason, with losses to Golden State and Portland. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the third quarter is the LA achilles heel:
Leading by seven at halftime of their first preseason contest against Golden State and tied with Portland through two quarters in their second preseason outing, the Lakers were outscored 37-10 by the Warriors and 29-18 by the Trail Blazers in the third quarter; a 66-28 overall total for the two third quarters combined (38 point margin). For sake of comparison, during the 2011-12 season, the Lakers also outscored their opponent in the opening half 48.9 to 47.7 points on average but were also outscored in the third quarter, albeit by a quite slimmer margin (23.6 points for the Lakers to 23.7 points for all opponents).
Not that you care, but the Lakers and Jazz have played each other 14 times in the preseason, with games also played in Provo, Honolulu, Ogden, Anaheim and Fresno.
Some interesting stuff about Coach Corbin in the game notes:
With a basketball career spanning 30 years, Corbin has both played and coached under some of basketball’s best. In addition to seven seasons working as an assistant under Jerry Sloan and another three seasons playing for him, Corbin also played for Rick Adelman, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Pat Riley and Lenny Wilkens over 16 seasons as a player. In fact, Corbin is tied for the second-most NBA playing experience among all current NBA head coaches, trailing only Golden State’s Mark Jackson (17 seasons) by one season.
The game won’t be televised, sadly. In the meantime, here are some highlights of Gordon Hayward’s great performance against the Lakers in April of 2011, just for fun:
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Marvin Williams, F 23 MIN | 3-6 FG | 3-4 FT | 4 REB | 2 AST | 10 PTS | +13
A nice, if unremarkable showing in his home debut. |
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Gordon Hayward, F 21 MIN | 3-10 FG | 7-8 FT | 7 REB | 2 AST | 13 PTS | +12
Poor shooting again from Hayward, but it’s clear |
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Derrick Favors, F 18 MIN | 0-5 FG | 1-2 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 1 PTS | +5
Favors posted his second straight disappearing act. One possible explanation for Favors’ struggles? Maybe his confidence has been shot by seeing Enes’ abs every day in the locker room. |
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Al Jefferson, C 21 MIN | 6-10 FG | 0-0 FT | 7 REB | 3 AST | 12 PTS | +12
Jefferson looks much quicker on his feet than I’ve ever seen. His strong baseline dunk was a beautiful change from the man who once said dunking wasn’t his game. |
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Mo Williams, G 23 MIN | 6-7 FG | 1-2 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 15 PTS | +13
A nice little showing in Mo’s home return. |
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Jeremy Evans, F 16 MIN | 1-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS | -5
It’s hard to come up with a scenario that opens up more playing time for Evans. In the meantime, he’s going to have to take advantage of the lobs and out-of-bounds set plays that give him chances to use his freaky athleticism. |
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Enes Kanter, C 18 MIN | 5-9 FG | 2-2 FT | 12 REB | 1 AST | 12 PTS | +8
The nasty baseline dunk shown above was all I needed to see to finally go all-in on the new Kanter Era. He’s still awkward at times, but he gobbles up rebounds and plays with infectious energy. He’s also showing off some new range with that little 15-ft jumper. I like what I’m seeing from Kanter. |
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Alec Burks, G 18 MIN | 4-6 FG | 3-7 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 11 PTS | +7
It looks like Burks and Randy Foye will probably share a lot of time at the backup point guard spot. Burks makes things happen whenever he’s on the floor, so it’ll be interesting to see how the coaches find time for him to shine. |
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Ohh yeahh look at those abs baby lol, That pic is funny haha what was l thinking!! twitter.com/Enes_Kanter/st…
— Enes Kanter (@Enes_Kanter) October 13, 2012
