Jazz @ Team Rocket Tues. 2/16 6:30 MT FSN UT

[Reckless]

Fortunate to win on the road when we commit 20 turnovers. That worries me because Houston is not a team that get's a lot of steals and you look at the box score and everyone on Houston that played got at least 1 steal tonight. We had some really sloppy stretches where it seemed like we were just handing them the ball.

Houston's not playing it's best basketball right now, they are coming off their worst game of the season and they struggled for the most part in this game(it was the 3 ball that kept them going, but you live by the 3 and you die by it).

So to me the jazz really have to play a heck of a lot better if they want to consistently win on the road. Jazz have got to have better ball security.

[Bradford]

Add that to the audio problems that I had on LP broadband tonight, had to watch the last three quarters on mute!

yeah, same here. I thought it was on my end so I reloaded it but nope, sound ahead by about 20 seconds of the picture, so I had to mute it also. Not as enjoyable but oh well!

[carrottop12]

Didn't watch it but it sounds pretty much exactly like what you'd expect in the first game back from the All-Star break against the Houston Rockets. Ugly, choppy, grind it out game. That is how Houston is playing right now, but any win on the road against a team with a +.500 record is a very good win imo.

[HammerDunk]

This game was a blast to watch, even with the many many turnovers. Both teams were giving a TON of effort out there. I'm really glad we won it, because I think they will be dog tired tomorrow in nawlins.

Anyway, it was a great way to start the second "half" of the season. Sap was beastin, AK was disrupting, DWill was dishin, and Memo was scoring. Boozer seemed to still be in Cabo. It's very good that we can beat a scrappy team like Houston with Boozer being nonexistent.

See you guys tomorrow!

[Soul Patch]

I expect Brewer and Boozer to carry us in tomorrow's game.

[HolyToledo]

I was impressed with the players confidence in that a big run by Houston didnt deter the Jazz from running their offense. Memo plays like this rest of the year then we might have a shot at doing something.

CJ was horrible. Matthews had one of his bad games for the season. Korver needs more time. Brewer had an ok game but his poor outside shooting becoming a serious problem.

It is clear that the Jazz 2 biggest problems are Brewer's outside shooting and Memo's inconsistent play.

[StocktonShorts]

For a game in which the opponent shot 11-26 from 3-point range it seems strange to say that this game was a vindication of Sloan's 3pt-shot philosophy; but that's exactly what I saw. I quite often find myself doubting whether Sloan realizes that threes are worth more than twos, and I'm pretty sure the concept of effective field goal percentage is lost on him --- but the guy has coached a lot of basketball, and I'm sure games like last night inform his 3pt philosophy.

The Rockets lived by the three and then died by it. Here's the play by play log for the last meaningful stretch of the game:

4:41 90-93 David Andersen makes 25-foot three point jumper (Aaron Brooks assists)
4:22 Paul Millsap makes layup (Kyle Korver assists) 92-93
4:01 92-93 Chase Budinger misses 26-foot three point jumper
4:01 Andrei Kirilenko defensive rebound 92-93
3:47 Paul Millsap offensive foul (Aaron Brooks draws the foul) 92-93
3:47 Paul Millsap turnover 92-93
3:47 92-93 Trevor Ariza enters the game for Chase Budinger
3:26 92-93 Shane Battier misses 24-foot three point jumper
3:24 92-93 David Andersen misses tip shot
3:24 92-93 David Andersen offensive rebound
3:23 92-93 David Andersen offensive rebound
3:21 92-93 David Andersen misses layup
3:19 Paul Millsap defensive rebound 92-93
3:04 Kyle Korver makes two point shot 94-93
2:46 94-93 Carl Landry turnover
2:46 Utah full timeout
2:46 94-93 Luis Scola enters the game for Carl Landry
2:26 Deron Williams bad pass (Luis Scola steals) 94-93
2:09 94-93 David Andersen bad pass (Andrei Kirilenko steals)
2:05 Andrei Kirilenko makes slam dunk 96-93
1:51 Deron Williams jump ball 96-93
1:46 96-93 Aaron Brooks misses 27-foot three point jumper
1:45 96-93 Houston defensive rebound
1:23 Andrei Kirilenko offensive goaltending 96-93
1:04 96-93 David Andersen misses 19-foot jumper
1:02 Andrei Kirilenko defensive rebound 96-93
0:43 Carlos Boozer lost ball (David Andersen steals) 96-93
0:35 96-93 Aaron Brooks misses 26-foot three point jumper
0:34 96-93 Trevor Ariza offensive rebound
0:31 96-93 Trevor Ariza misses 25-foot three point jumper
0:30 96-93 Shane Battier offensive rebound
0:26 96-93 Aaron Brooks misses driving layup

They went 1-6 from three during that stretch, including five misses in a row. Why didn't Brooks attack the basket instead of taking either of those threes? Why didn't Trevor Ariza attack the rim?

I guess it's fair to counter "but if they'd made one or two of those then we're bitching today about how Sloan doesn't defend the three" -- but the point is that they did miss them, and given their shooting percentage on the season you would expect them to miss most of them.