Free Jazz

Originally posted in Tuesday’s Daily Dime at ESPN.com.

The Utah Jazz have gone crazy over the last few weeks with rookie Eric Maynor teaming up with Deron Williams for a two-point-guard approach. How crazy? Against the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night the Jazz won their sixth game in the last seven and very nearly finished with 60 percent shooting for the third straight game. The night ended with double-digit scoring from seven of the nine Jazz players who saw court time. And one of those wasn’t even Mehmet Okur.

If I knew anything about football I’d say the tandem point guard approach might be the NBA answer to the NFL’s wildcat. I do know that I enjoy watching Ronnie Brewer filling up the basket with a variety of absurdly acrobatic dunks and layups. His 25 points in the 120-93 win were one point short of a career high, but if the shot value were weighted for degree of difficulty, he would have been in Wilt-esque territory.

Meanwhile, the elephant in the room is the beastly play of Carlos Boozer. After making himself persona non grata with his trade talk this summer, Booz is playing his way into All-Star caliber form and forcing disaffected Jazz fans into coming to grips with a world in which the erstwhile malingerer is now the most dependable and exciting player on the floor. The haters can remind everyone that he’s in a contract year, but I don’t care. Rather than criticize the circumstances, let’s celebrate the chance to watch a motivated, and coincidentally healthy, Booz play superb ambidextrous ball and enjoy it while it lasts.

The bottom line is that the Jazz are rolling and now have four days off to relax at home before the Pacers come to town on Friday. Let’s enjoy the good times while they last.