Game 61: Utah Jazz (29-31) vs Oklahoma City Thunder (28-29)

Post #1 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Thu Feb 23, 2023 5:55 pm

OKC is a competitor of the Jazz for a playoff seed or a place in the play-in.

Sexton is out.

SoCalJazzFan · Post #2 » by **SoCalJazzFan** » Thu Feb 23, 2023 8:04 pm

Inigo Montoya wrote:OKC is a competitor of the Jazz for a playoff seed or a place in the play-in.

Sexton is out.

So, the way things have been going recently it is a guaranteed win, right? LOL

red4hf · Post #3 » by **red4hf** » Fri Feb 24, 2023 2:19 am

It's over, Kessler with a 3.......

red4hf · Post #4 » by **red4hf** » Fri Feb 24, 2023 4:22 am

Kessler is an absolute beast.......

red4hf · Post #5 » by **red4hf** » Fri Feb 24, 2023 4:41 am

Lauri with another epic performance....... Amazing......

Post #6 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Fri Feb 24, 2023 3:22 pm

You know it's going to be a good one when the first Jazz points on the board come from a Kessler 3.

Markkanen was a one-man wrecking crew in the 4th, that was a great performance. And he was also good in the clutch once again (though in fairness, he was bailed out from taking a very bad shot by that foul). He's been in a shooting slump from 3 recently and still gets to his season averages in scoring. When the 3 start falling again, he'll be putting up 30 points regularly.

Kessler came through at the end of the game and had another very impressive game, but it really annoys me that he's not getting more shots. I bet that three he took was a result of him winning some sort of bet with Hardy during practice, like "if you make 10 free throws in a row, you get to shoot a three in the next game." I'd really like to see Kessler try to score more.

I feel bad for Fontecchio. His shot isn't dropping and that's his calling card.

Agbaji was solid.

It was a fun game but the tank keeps getting blown.

Jazz Dog · Post #7 » by **Jazz Dog** » Fri Feb 24, 2023 4:42 pm

The Jazz next ten games are the easiest of the season. They could really blow up the tank and move up to 4-5 level. I love the effort.

TNJazz · Post #8 » by **TNJazz** » Fri Feb 24, 2023 5:11 pm

Who would have thought that the difference in the game was from the first shot taken?! The Kessler 3 rather than a 2 was the difference...Ok all of Markkanen's heroics and the gargantuan set of blocks, rebounds, and the put back by Kessler at the end may have played a part, but without that 3...

Crunch 99 · Post #9 » by **Crunch 99** » Fri Feb 24, 2023 5:17 pm

Inigo Montoya wrote:I feel bad for Fontecchio. His shot isn't dropping and that's his calling card.

Coming in to the season, I thought knocking down a wide open three was going to be the least of Fontecchio's challenges. I sure got that one wrong. He's 24 for 80 so far for just 30%. I wonder if he is knocking them down in practices? His teammates still act like they expect it to go in when he shoots a three.

Post #10 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Fri Feb 24, 2023 6:17 pm

Crunch 99 wrote:
Inigo Montoya wrote:I feel bad for Fontecchio. His shot isn't dropping and that's his calling card.

Coming in to the season, I thought knocking down a wide open three was going to be the least of Fontecchio's challenges. I sure got that one wrong. He's 24 for 80 so far for just 30%. I wonder if he is knocking them down in practices? His teammates still act like they expect it to go in when he shoots a three.

I'm betting that in practices he's the best shooter on the team.

As an aside, I will say in his defense that he's not receiving very good passes where he could shoot right away, and he almost always needs to adjust.

FranchisePlayer · Post #11 » by **FranchisePlayer** » Fri Feb 24, 2023 7:13 pm

Markkanen's level of play is insane!!!

So I have a beef with one Cavs' fan who claims Mitchell is "miles ahead" of Markkanen at the moment. We're probably both kind of biased with our evalutions so I'm asking you guys:

When you compare Markkanen 22-23 to Mitchell 21-22 or to the year Mitchell was at his best, who's ahead and how much?

Jiipee84 · Post #12 » by **Jiipee84** » Fri Feb 24, 2023 7:34 pm

Inigo Montoya wrote:You know it's going to be a good one when the first Jazz points on the board come from a Kessler 3.

Markkanen was a one-man wrecking crew in the 4th, that was a great performance. And he was also good in the clutch once again (though in fairness, he was bailed out from taking a very bad shot by that foul). He's been in a shooting slump from 3 recently and still gets to his season averages in scoring. When the 3 start falling again, he'll be putting up 30 points regularly.

Kessler came through at the end of the game and had another very impressive game, but it really annoys me that he's not getting more shots. I bet that three he took was a result of him winning some sort of bet with Hardy during practice, like "if you make 10 free throws in a row, you get to shoot a three in the next game." I'd really like to see Kessler try to score more.

I feel bad for Fontecchio. His shot isn't dropping and that's his calling card.

Agbaji was solid.

It was a fun game but the tank keeps getting blown.

It is freaking difficult to tank when your teams allstar scores 43 points.
Next games are all winable 2 games vs San Antonio, 2 games vs Oklahoma, 1 game vs Dallas and 1 vs Charlotte.

That schedule is so easy as ever could be
and i can see Jazz getting easily 4 or 5 wins more if Jazz doesn't blew out 15-20 point lead.
Only Dallas game might be tanking win but back to backs vs San Antonio, Oklahoma and Charlotte game are all likely easy wins.

Crunch 99 · Post #13 » by **Crunch 99** » Fri Feb 24, 2023 11:40 pm

FranchisePlayer wrote:Markkanen's level of play is insane!!!

So I have a beef with one Cavs' fan who claims Mitchell is "miles ahead" of Markkanen at the moment. We're probably both kind of biased with our evalutions so I'm asking you guys:

When you compare Markkanen 22-23 to Mitchell 21-22 or to the year Mitchell was at his best, who's ahead and how much?

Their stats are pretty close, but assuming no injury, I think Markkanen is on his way to having a better season than Mitchell's last 21-22 season here. Markkanen has almost caught Mitchell on 21-22 season ppg while taking four fewer fga/game. Markk is already a better Q4 performer. He just passed up Mitchell's average ppg in Q4s, on a 64.1 TS% in Q4 versus DM's 51.8 TS% in Q4. Markk has a slightly higher PER and I believe Markkanen is still on the upswing this season.

https://stathead.com/basketball/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1=markkla01&p1yrfrom=2023&player_id2=mitchdo01&p2yrfrom=2022

FranchisePlayer · Post #14 » by **FranchisePlayer** » Sat Feb 25, 2023 6:38 pm

Crunch 99 wrote:
FranchisePlayer wrote:Markkanen's level of play is insane!!!

So I have a beef with one Cavs' fan who claims Mitchell is "miles ahead" of Markkanen at the moment. We're probably both kind of biased with our evalutions so I'm asking you guys:

When you compare Markkanen 22-23 to Mitchell 21-22 or to the year Mitchell was at his best, who's ahead and how much?

Their stats are pretty close, but assuming no injury, I think Markkanen is on his way to having a better season than Mitchell's last 21-22 season here. Markkanen has almost caught Mitchell on 21-22 season ppg while taking four fewer fga/game. Markk is already a better Q4 performer. He just passed up Mitchell's average ppg in Q4s, on a 64.1 TS% in Q4 versus DM's 51.8 TS% in Q4. Markk has a slightly higher PER and I believe Markkanen is still on the upswing this season.

https://stathead.com/basketball/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1=markkla01&p1yrfrom=2023&player_id2=mitchdo01&p2yrfrom=2022

Cheers Crunch, I appreciate your analysis. But I meant outside of stats board, too.

Both are 1st options. Who gets the players around him play better? Who seems to be more of a winning type of player? Who leads better by example? What makes that Cavs' fan think Mitchell is "miles ahead".

I don't know Mitchell, so I'm genuinely intrigued. Since obviously his evaluation cannot be based on this season alone.