Utah Jazz

[FF]

jazz win against the spurs as memo scores eight points in the final minutes of the game! guess he's earning the new nick his teammates have given him ... M-O-N-E-Y !

 

now let's see them do it against the ( gulp ! ) suns !

[clubber_lang]

This would be a good game. Both teams want to make a statement...

 

The Jazz wants to prove they belong in the Top 4.

 

The Suns want to prove they can beat the Jazz this season.

[FF]

This would be a good game. Both teams want to make a statement...

 

The Jazz wants to prove they belong in the Top 4.

 

The Suns want to prove they can beat the Jazz this season.

 

dude ... the suns can beat anybody this season. the only thing going utah's way is that they are 2-0 against the suns this season. ( but natch .. you knew this even before your post right ? )

 

in this duel ... tama ka. gigil ang jazz to prove that they are western contenders. with boozer out ... millsap and the jazz bigs like collins and araujo need to step up. sloan's boyz have to slow the game down and defend against the three against which they are very vulnerable.

 

anyway ... here's hoping for a jazz W.

[FF]

dude ... the suns can beat anybody this season. the only thing going utah's way is that they are 2-0 against the suns this season. ( but natch .. you knew this even before your post right ? )

 

in this duel ... tama ka. gigil ang jazz to prove that they are western contenders. with boozer out ... millsap and the jazz bigs like collins and araujo need to step up. sloan's boyz have to slow the game down and defend against the three against which they are very vulnerable.

 

anyway ... here's hoping for a jazz W.

 

hope springs eternal ! jazz win IN phoenix ... snapping the suns home streak at 10 . more importantly ... the win makes the suns 0-3 against the jazz which gives utah the tiebreaker in case they end up with identical records ( waitaminit before i get flamed ... HOPE springs eternal.... right ).

 

the suns spotted the jazz leads of up to 15 points but had a chance at the end. after a 15 footer by memo "money" okur .. the Suns had a chance to tie when Boris Diaw was fouled by Derek Fisher with 2.1 seconds remaining. But Diaw missed both free throws and Okur pulled down the rebound and was fouled immediately.

 

Okur made the first free throw to give Utah a 108-105 lead but missed the second and the Suns secured the rebound with 1.1 seconds left. Andrei Kirilenko deflected Leandro Barbosa's inbound attempt out of bounds with 0.3 seconds remaining and Phoenix was unable to attempt a tying shot.

 

memo and dwill came up big with double doubles for the both with 29 points and 12 board for okur and 28 points and 10 assists for deron.

 

key stat : jazz made 16 of 18 free throws while the suns just shot 19-27.

[FF]

today's game against chicago really looks interesting between two of the league's better teams.

 

the jazz ( 31-17 ) go up against the bulls ( 28-20 ) with both teams having won two straight and have gone 7-3 over the past 10 games.

 

while the latest victory over the suns make the jazz 6-2 over dallas, phoenix and san antonio ; they have been less convincing over the east ( 11-7)

 

the jazz are 17-6 at home but have been beatable at home with nj and memphis both escaping with last second W's.

 

the bulls also have been better on the road ... winning 7 of 13 away from the united center. boosting the bull's chances is hat boozer is out for the jazz while the bulls are coming in at full strength.

 

best of all ... we can all watch it live at 10 am on BTV. :cool:

Edited February 5, 2007 by fellatio.flores

[FF]

lemme say that again : Memo is spelled M-O-N-E-Y ! Mehmet Okur scored twelve of the Jazz 14 points in the fourth quarter as the Jazz held off the Bulls the Bulls 100-95.

 

okur's pointmaking enabled the jazz to withstand a pair of late three's by chris duhon as well as a three from ben wallace in the dying seconds.

 

deron williams came up big again for the jazz ( though he missed four consecutive free throws that left the door open for a bull's comeback ) with 18 points and 13 rebounds. also taking up the slack was fisher ( 19 pts ) , harpring (13 pts) and giricek ( 12 pts).

 

ak 47 provided the all around hustle with 8 rebounds, 2 steals , 3 blocks and 5 points.

 

after chicago ... new york , (hot)- lanta , and cleveland are slated to visit as the jazz enjoy a break in their schedule with only three games in nine days .

 

key stat of the game : jazz out-assist the bulls 24-15 .

[clubber_lang]

The Jazz are playing impressively lately!

 

Kudos to Okur who is making a case for himself for ASG consideration from the Commissioner...

[FF]

If they win two of the next three, that would be a blessing...

 

you know what clubber ... you're were on the money with this one though i wouldn't have bet on the jazz losing to the nets and winning against the suns and spurs.

 

re okur ... it there was an all clutch ASG team ... he would most definitely be in. but looks like melo and and josh howard are locks on the team to replace boozer and yao ming.

[xxio]

Like I said in the Most Improved Player thread 2 months ago. It will be Okur.

Too many clutch plays.

 

Arenas is in the same boat, Arenas has already being an All Star working agaisnt him in the Most Improved Player category.

[boibastos]

For those of you who ever wondered why this guy was a bit soft under the basket.

 

http://www.towleroad.com/2007/02/former_nba_play.html

[FF]

For those of you who ever wondered why this guy was a bit soft under the basket.

 

http://www.towleroad.com/2007/02/former_nba_play.html

 

yup ... john amaechi was one of the long line of ineffective ( read as soft ) jazz centers that came into town. single exception was a nasty one named olden polynice who was thought to be too "dirty" a player even for sloan.

 

trivia : seattle drafted a player named scottie pippen then traded him even up to chicago for "golden" olden. smart move eh ?

[clubber_lang]

I think this team would remain on top of their division until the end of the regular season. Just playing good basketball together...

[FF]

I think this team would remain on top of their division until the end of the regular season. Just playing good basketball together...

 

in the northwest , injuries will play a key role on who's going to win the division. the jazz continue to find a way to win despite the loss of boozer while denver is struggling ( 1-6 over their past seven games; eight games behind the jazz ) without AI ( ankle sprain ) and camby ( strained left groin ). the nugs are leading 56-51 at the half against the hornets in today's game.

[FF]

in the northwest , injuries will play a key role on who's going to win the division. the jazz continue to find a way to win despite the loss of boozer while denver is struggling ( 1-6 over their past seven games; eight games behind the jazz ) without AI ( ankle sprain ) and camby ( strained left groin ). the nugs are leading 56-51 at the half against the hornets in today's game.

 

jazz expand lead over nuggets to 8.5 games as denver loses a 114-112 heartbreaker to the hornets on desmond mason's buzzer-beating followup off chris paul's blocked shot .

[FF]

just the team is winning and gaining the grudging admiration of the league ... ex jazzman john amaechi steals the spotlight by outing himself.

 

for those who have absolutely no idea on who the guy is ... here's an excerpt from the salt lake tribune describing amaechi as one of the worst jazz players ever ...

 

Let's be clear about one thing.

 

This isn't about John Amaechi's sexual orientation or his decision to write about being a gay man in the NBA in a soon-to-be-released book.

 

This is about John Amaechi, basketball player with the Utah Jazz from 2001-03 . Because it is, there's little to tell.

That's because John Amaechi remains one of the worst players in franchise history.I'm not Amaechi-bashing here. I'm just stating a fact

After the 2000-01 season, the Jazz were desperately looking for help at center and power forward.Aging free agent Danny Manning was about to sign with Dallas and Utah had finally given up on baggage-toting Olden Polynice, whose contract expired.

 

So on July 19, 2001, the Jazz signed Amaechi to a four-year, $12 million contract.

 

Over the next two seasons - before being traded - the young Brit redefined the cliche, "Take the money and run."Amaechi took about $6 million of Larry Miller's money and didn't run . . . didn't shoot . . . didn't rebound. Looking back, the price tag for his astonishingly unproductive layover in Utah is mind-boggling.Amaechi ended up being paid $5,660 for every minute played, $21,879 for every point scored and $32,258 for every rebound he ever grabbed for the Jazz.

 

In 104 regular-season games, Amaechi averaged 2.6 points, 1.8 rebounds and shot 32 percent from the field.

 

Among Jazz players who have participated in at least 100 games, the only ones who come close to those unhappy numbers are John Duren, Kris Humphries and Quincy Lewis. Duren averaged 2.9 points, 1 rebound and shot 41.7 percent. Humphries averaged 3.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and shot 39.4 percent. Lewis averaged 3.8 points, 1.4 rebounds and shot 39.9 percent.

 

So you judge .Is it harsh to suggest Amaechi is one of the worst players in Jazz history? I don't think so.

 

To make matters worse, Amaechi's running feud with coach Jerry Sloan made weekly headlines, it seemed.

During his second season, Amaechi became a member of rebellious clique that also included Mark Jackson and DeShawn Stevenson.

 

They all were unhappy with the roles, and their discontent fractured a locker room that John Stockton and Karl Malone had run relatively smoothly for 15 years. Although Stockton never said anything to me, others insist that the off-the-court turmoil contributed to his decision to retire after the Jazz were eliminated from the 2003 playoffs.

 

In his book, Amaechi blames Sloan's demand for focus and effort for their troubled relationship.

 

"I respect the game of pro basketball," he wrote. "I just don't think it's all that important. I wasn't going to be embarrassed by Jerry Sloan because basketball had a proper role in my balanced life and I didn't blindly worship a game he made pretty much the entirety of his existence."

 

Oddly, Amaechi suggests the Jazz should have known his level of play might drop after he secured his first big-money million-dollar contract.

 

Why does the performance of so many players decline after they sign multiyear guaranteed deals?" he wrote. "It's a little thing called human nature. Plenty of guys - Karl Malone and John Stockton are the obvious examples - play hard no matter how much they make. Other guys lack the discipline. Predicting which player falls into which category is the key to scouting."

 

A few paragraphs later, Amaechi explained: "The problem was not my commitment to the game. I was working as hard, with what I had, as anyone on the team. The truth is Sloan and Jazz management hadn't done their research - otherwise known as scouting. They could tell you all my court tendencies, how I played the game and why I should fit into the system. But they knew nothing of my character."