Game 39: Utah Jazz (19-19) vs Miami Heat (18-18)

Post #1 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 3:38 pm

If we lose we're dropping under .500. I wonder at what point the FO decides to switch things up.

Post #2 » by **FJS** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 4:29 pm

Frankly... I begin to not care about this team.
And they are funny to watch, because his offensive power is beauty, but I can't stand this putrid defense.

No matter how bad our rival is playing, they are going to score 30 per quarter. And this is more than I can watch game after game.

Post #3 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 5:06 pm

FJS wrote:Frankly... I begin to not care about this team.
And they are funny to watch, because his offensive power is beauty, but I can't stand this putrid defense.

No matter how bad our rival is playing, they are going to score 30 per quarter. And this is more than I can watch game after game.

You just proved why we should have been tanking all along. Like I said in the beginning of the season, the novelty of a new team will wear off, and what fans will be left with is a mediocre team but at that point it would be too late to tank effectively. In the beginning of the season we all were excited about all the new players and the unexpected wins but now we are faced with the reality of this team being a .500 team or thereabouts, and that brings with it a real possibility of missing the playoffs and also getting a low draft picks and very small odds for the #1 and #2 picks.

This is why you suck it up and tank properly from the beginning.

Post #4 » by **FJS** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 5:45 pm

I don't know, Iñigo... I think not to suck is a nice way to bring some value from some players.

I think some young players are showing promise, and they do it when we win. If we lose game after game maybe our player leave them to go, and they don't improve a bit.

I would keep most of them... but... we need to know how to defend... because it's comic. Our offense is as good as the better of this league. Our problem is our defense. I think Hardy has to mix better their pieces.

Still, Twolves draft pick seems to be as good or better than ours, so I'm not worried at all about our own draft pick or tank.

Post #5 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 7:51 pm

FJS wrote:I don't know, Iñigo... I think not to suck is a nice way to bring some value from some players.

I think some young players are showing promise, and they do it when we win. If we lose game after game maybe our player leave them to go, and they don't improve a bit.

I would keep most of them... but... we need to know how to defend... because it's comic. Our offense is as good as the better of this league. Our problem is our defense. I think Hardy has to mix better their pieces.

Still, Twolves draft pick seems to be as good or better than ours, so I'm not worried at all about our own draft pick or tank.

I don't think we can get a franchise player in return for the players we have, other than Markkanen who I think we should keep.

Regarding young players showing promise, I don't think one year of tanking should change all that much. We can develop young talent while losing games. Many players we have on the roster will not be here when the Jazz are good and ready to compete anyway, and I doubt that one year of tanking will trump the rest of the seasons of trying to win afterwards. Look at the Spurs--are their players not developing even though they are tanking?

The main point is that we are halfway through the season and even you--a diehard Jazz fan--say you're losing interest in this team. If that's the case we might as well have tanked from the start of the season if as it stands now fans are losing interest in the team and we are only halfway into the season.

As for the Wolves draft pick, we can't only rely on other teams. We should make our own luck. And our chances of getting the #1 pick would have been much better if we tanked and also had the Wolves pick. That's how you maximize your chances to hit in the lottery.

FranchisePlayer · Post #6 » by **FranchisePlayer** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 8:16 pm

Inigo Montoya wrote:If we lose we're dropping under .500. I wonder at what point the FO decides to switch things up.

I don't support the idea of tanking but the game against the Kings really showed which players are keepers and who you'd want to get rid of. Plus quite frankly it showed the ceiling for this line-up is making the playoffs and exiting first round. Hopefully I'm wrong.

I thought the Kings looked very good and I was very surprised to see that in the end we were only a shot away from winning. Without Markkanen they would've handed our a$$es to us.

Very interesting to see tonight's game!

Crunch 99 · Post #7 » by **Crunch 99** » Sun Jan 1, 2023 12:42 am

Post #8 » by **FJS** » Sun Jan 1, 2023 12:49 am

Butler out? Then, we lose.

Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

red4hf · Post #9 » by **red4hf** » Sun Jan 1, 2023 3:52 am

This team is just a lot better with Kessler out there.....

red4hf · Post #10 » by **red4hf** » Sun Jan 1, 2023 4:53 am

Cruel ending......

Post #11 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Sun Jan 1, 2023 11:38 am

The Heat's jerseys look like they were designed by a child kidnapper in the 80s.

Post #12 » by **FJS** » Sun Jan 1, 2023 12:43 pm

Inigo Montoya wrote:The Heat's jerseys look like they were designed by a child kidnapper in the 80s.

Or by Vivienne Westwood & Malcom McLaren to the Sex Pistols.

Crunch 99 · Post #13 » by **Crunch 99** » Sun Jan 1, 2023 3:16 pm

Missed nearly the entire game, but heard the end on radio just as we were entering another clutch game --- with clutch game defined as going in to the last five minutes of a game with neither team up by more than five points. Locke noted that the Jazz had a poor record in clutch games recently, whereas Miami has been good in clutch games recently. The Jazz started 8-4 in their first 12 clutch games, but have gone a league-worst, 2-10 in their last 12 clutch games. Miami started out 5-8 in clutch games, but have gone 9-3 in their last 12 clutch games.

Sortable clutch stats on NBA.com:
https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/clutch-traditional?sort=W_PCT&dir=-1&Season=2022-23&SeasonType=Regular+Season&TeamID=0&LastNGames=0&DateFrom=11%2F22%2F2022&DateTo=12%2F31%2F2022

Jazz were tied 109-109 at the 5 minute mark going in to clutch time, but had three turnovers in the first couple minutes of clutch time, two by Clarkson, that helped get us down by seven, 118-111 at the 3:03 mark.

On the bright side, Markkanen was productive in Q4 again. He didn't shoot the ball well, but he got to the free throw line to make 7-7 free throws, coming out with an efficient 9 pts on 4 fga. Clarkson had an efficient 8 pts on 4 fga, despite only shooting 4 of 8 on free throws.

FranchisePlayer · Post #14 » by **FranchisePlayer** » Sun Jan 1, 2023 8:38 pm

Look at Sexton on the last possession... smh.

This team had 1 starter as a starter, 1 iffy starter as a starter and 3 bench players as starters.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Post #15 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Mon Jan 2, 2023 8:38 am

FJS wrote:Or by Vivienne Westwood & Malcom McLaren to the Sex Pistols.

Had to give you an And 1 for the references.