Jazz 118 – Heat 89

I hope you didn’t miss this game. It’s because of games like these that Jazz fans get so frustrated when the team plays poorly, because tonight the Jazz were playing beautiful basketball. It’s amazing what this team can do when they pass the ball, and tonight there was plenty of everything. Almost every trip down the court was a highlight-worthy play:

• Ferocious Booze dunking on Udonis Haslam and taking a minute to stare before shooting his free throw.
• Deron Williams going for 23 and 10 on a sore wrist.
• Wesley Matthews showing no fear and racking up 18 points in just 18 minutes, including giving Dwyane Wade a taste of his own medicine by luring Wade into a foul near midcourt on a desperation heave to end the quarter.
• Memo Okur hitting conscienceless threes and blocking shots with reckless abandon.
• Kirilenko finishing all kinds of plays in transition and cleaning up missed shots with authority.
• Sundiata Gaines taking advantage of the DNP by Ronnie Price (shoulder) and making the Morgan Jeweler DPOD with a nice/lucky make on a drive to the hoop while being fouled.

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Rumor mill from ESPN’s Chris Broussard:

+ Having lost 13 straight games, the perimeter-heavy Detroit Pistons would like to get their hands on Carlos Boozer. A Boozer-for-Rip Hamilton trade works, but Utah doesn’t want to take back the three years, $38 million remaining on Hamilton’s contract, even though he’d made a sweet backcourt mate for Deron Williams.

Boozer for Tayshaun Prince also works financially, but Prince has one more season after this one at $11 million, and the Jazz aren’t looking to add salary for next season.

Utah coach Jerry Sloan wants to keep Boozer, who will be a free agent next summer, for the rest of the season, and perhaps beyond. To that end, the Jazz are shopping Andrei Kirilenko with all their might. But good luck with that one. Kirilenko won’t have any takers until next season when he’s in the last year of his deal.

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ESPN Recap