Minnesota Timberwolves @ Utah Jazz

[StocktonShorts]

I understand Coach trying to get Korver and Kirilenko into some groove before Christmas trip... yet I think Miles should have helped

Totally agree. Miles is trying to get back too, Coach. I thought Korver was completely ineffective.

The foul on Boozer was a foul... geez Booz... why didn't you use your infamous fadeaway jumper when you have to?

Not much he can do there. That was a 50/50 call.

Finally, Millsap got a couple huge D plays... so I forgive him for the missed easy layup and for the idiotic pass to Williams...

His boneheaded offensive plays and inability to rebound there at the end cancel out his great blocks.

[stevebozell]

The fact that your minuscule brain picks one play from the whole game as the reason we lost reminds me why I have all your posts blocked and only see them when other people decide to quote them. .

And you blocking posts because youre too weak to handle them fits your pattern of burrying your head when you dont like something....its not my fault it upsets you to realize Deron is a horrible defender. That doesnt change the fact that he is.

[StocktonShorts]

The fact that your minuscule brain picks one play from the whole game as the reason we lost reminds me why I have all your posts blocked and only see them when other people decide to quote them. .

And you blocking posts because youre too weak to handle them fits your pattern of burrying your head when you dont like something....its not my fault it upsets you to realize Deron is a horrible defender. That doesnt change the fact that he is.

Deron's certainly not a great defender, but he's not helped by the bigs playing behind him. Okur and Boozer are two of the worst help defenders in the league at their positions.

[HammerDunk]

The fact that your minuscule brain picks one play from the whole game as the reason we lost reminds me why I have all your posts blocked and only see them when other people decide to quote them. .

And you blocking posts because youre too weak to handle them fits your pattern of burrying your head when you dont like something....its not my fault it upsets you to realize Deron is a horrible defender. That doesnt change the fact that he is.

Deron's certainly not a great defender, but he's not helped by the bigs playing behind him. Okur and Boozer are two of the worst help defenders in the league at their positions.

He's right about one thing, I don't like like reading what idiots write, but wrong about DWill being a horrible defender. He is an average defender, depending on the matchup.

[stevebozell]

Well at least you admit youre weak....now go put your head back in the sand.

[UTJazzFan_Echo1]

I can't say I'm surprised about losing tonight, we have consistently beaten good teams and lost to the bad ones like this for the past 3 seasons. I think I am more surprised Deron didn't come through at the end than I am about us losing.

Boozer was clearly disinterested the entire game and was never mentally into the game.

Okur didn't do anything other than provide extremely weak help defense and let Love grab every rebound.

Millsap played great and should have been taking Boozers minutes

Terrible FT shooting again......

Korver, Miles, Price and Matthews were all none factors. (Miles was out with flu like symptoms and Price didn't have a chance to play)

AK, Maynor, Fesenko and Brewer were non-factors for the most part.

No one other than Deron and Millsap seemed to want to step up and put the game away. Terrible game defensively and almost as bad offensively. I predicted we would lose the game at half time and we did...not surprised at all. You can see these losses coming from a mile away with this team, everyone looks glazed over like Kobe did the other night when he was running off of IV's.

This team is obviously better with less talent available because they actually have to play with some heart and effort in order to win games. I say we make some trades and add by subtraction.

[GP]

actually, not too disappointed. This was a very good trap game. Its much easier to get up for games against the lakers and magic than it is for the twolves. Not a big deal, lets see how they react to this minor setback. Also its great to see everyone healthy, looking forward to seeing how the team comes together.

[JazzFan4Life18]

actually, not too disappointed. This was a very good trap game. Its much easier to get up for games against the lakers and magic than it is for the twolves. Not a big deal, lets see how they react to this minor setback. Also its great to see everyone healthy, looking forward to seeing how the team comes together.

Not a big deal my ass. The West race is going to come down to the wire, and games like these are really going to bite us in the ass come April. The Jazz just don't have any heart. I can take the trap game excuse every once in awhile, but twice in a week? To the same team?

[HammerDunk]

actually, not too disappointed. This was a very good trap game. Its much easier to get up for games against the lakers and magic than it is for the twolves. Not a big deal, lets see how they react to this minor setback. Also its great to see everyone healthy, looking forward to seeing how the team comes together.

I would tend to agree except that games like this have meant losing better playoff seeds in recent years. These are also games that the elite teams just don't lose, especially twice!

[UTJazzFan_Echo1]

I don't see why these kind of games should be considered a big deal when we know the team is a pretender and not a contender. I am beginning to find the Knicks game more important than the Jazz games...how sad...

[carrottop12]

Easy to see what happened here.

Rebounds: Min 48, Jazz 38.
Freethrow %: Min 67%, Jazz 56%.

You don't win games that way.

Not scheme, not coaching, not Deron.

You don't rebound, you don't get the ball. You don't hit free-throws, you give away easy points.

Same Old Jazz.

[HammerDunk]

Easy to see what happened here.

Rebounds: Min 48, Jazz 38.
Freethrow %: Min 67%, Jazz 56%.

You don't win games that way.

Not scheme, not coaching, not Deron.

You don't rebound, you don't get the ball. You don't hit free-throws, you give away easy points.

Same Old Jazz.

Thank you! I thought it was painfully obvious as well, but for some reason it is so easy for some people to throw Deron under the bus, when he was clearly the best player on the court tonight and tried the hardest by far.

[carrottop12]

You can't lose 10 possessions on the boards, and not make 4 out of every 10 free-throws and expect to win any game in the NBA. It won't happen.

[Ming Kong!]

Every other night a very good team loses to a bottom dweller, and atleast we had a chance to win on the final shot. The problem here wasn't so much excution, we were HORRIBLE from the line, had we shot anywhere near a respectable number, we would of ran away with this one.

[seejaydeja]

For whatever reason this team is just stuck on playing to the level of their opponent which is great when we beat LA/San Antonio/Orlando but jeez...50% of the Wolves wins are now against us...

[outerspacefella]

Of course rebounding and FT shooting killed the Jazz last night. That's pretty obvious now that we know we lost by a couple points. But a game goes just as it goes, so players have to take to their advantage whatever situation is there left to take care of bussiness.
That's where our guys fail; they play great when the opponent doesn't decipher how to cut Jazz stuff, but when rivals get a clue our bunch are very slow to adjust "in-play" things.
Now, that's the job of your floor general. So, of course Williams had a very good night and probably was our best dude out there, and he gave the better effort of all of them.
Yet.. if you are content with effort and points from your floor general... then probably we should have gone after Allen Iverson... we probably wouldn't make postseason... but points and individual effort (without much basketball IQ) would be there...
I will insist Wiliams have to stop playing "macho" when an opponent obviously have his number. That's the wise, professional thing to do. Williams was great, but he decided to play against Flynn, not against the Wolves, and in doing so he became part of the problems that lead the Jazz to another lost game.

[Denizfeital]

A little late to write this down, but I cant resist.

When I saw Deron's number (huge) and some of his plays (flashy, a pass behind his back to himself) and the rest of game's numbers (huge amount of free throws missed and huge disadvantage in rebounds) that means one thing to me: the players played like they were there to have fun against a worse oponent thinking that the game was a sure win.

When you play like that, you will lose the game, but not only that. You probably should lose the game.

And that was what happened. I hope they have learned a lesson with this loss. I doubt, because they have been doing this for a while, unfortunately.

And one more thing: I think its terrible to root for a team like this: They play well only when they think the game matters.

Regards,

[Soul Patch]

"He's the total package," Flynn said of Williams. "Strong, great handle, can shoot the ball, come off screens like a two-guard and post like Al Jefferson. He has the total package, and he's a hell of a player."

What a comment by the rookie. Dwill is having a great year and hopefully he'll get in to the all-star game.