Jazz 125 – Raptors 108: Utah’s Home Opener Do-Over

This is what Gr8ness looks like.

According to Craig Bolerjack, last night was a home opener do-over for the Jazz, and he’s dead on.  The Jazz were in control of this game from beginning to end.  Only 3:45 minutes into the game the Jazz had built a 15-2 lead over Toronto and the rest of the game was like one long layup drill.  The Jazz had 25 layups, tip-ins, and dunks for the game.  That’s 50 points alone in the paint (not including and-1s).  To say the Jazz were executing their offense last night would be an understatement.

Miles after he hits a huge 3. (Ravell Call, Deseret News)

The Jazz looked like a team making a statement & atoning for their 20 point loss at home.  This was their mea culpa.  There were some phenomenal plays: the outlet pass to Kirilenko that was tipped to Ronnie Price for a dunk that ended the 1st half… or the 3 pointer that CJ banked in while floating to his left to end the 3rd quarter (granted, this shot was made possible thanks to DeRozan stepping out of bounds in an attempt to put up a 3/4 quarter court shot.  Which leads me to ask: when you have the entire court to find spacing for a full court heave, how do you step out of bounds?).

Williams stood at the helm of the Jazz machine.  He was amazing.  Falling two rebounds short of a triple double,  he finished with 22 points, 8 rebounds, 14 assists, and 2 steals.

There was a scare during the game with Millsap going down on his ankle and limping off the court.  He was immediately attended to and took a quick trip to the locker room, but ultimately returned to finish the game because, well, that is what Millsap does (I dare say that not even a big bag hiding in a dark room could stop Millsap).

Speaking of gym bags…  good costume idea for Halloween next year for you and a +1: One of you dress up like Boozer and the other as a gym bag.  Your Jazz friends will love you.

Once again Jeffer-Sap (1 Jefferson + 1 Millsap  = 1 Jeffer-Sap) was a “beast.”  They finished with 43 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists, and 1 block.  Jeffer-Sap could have had more rebounds but D-Will was doing what D-Will usually does: he was dominating.

CJ Miles once again came off the bench as a big 6th man scorer.  CJ had 19 including 5-6 from 3 point range.  It seems that as long as CJ stays out of foul trouble he is a dependable scoring threat.  He’s shooting a ridiculous 57.1% from 3 point range.  There’s no way that’ll keep up but if he can stay in the 40% range then the Jazz will have found a dependable deep threat.  Add a healthy Okur off the bench and the Jazz will be fine in the outside shooting department.

The Jazz will travel to bay area this Friday to take on the Golden State Warriors.  Tipoff is at 10:30 PM eastern time.

[Update]

Enjoy Ronnie Price’s Left Hand Hammer: