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A Win At The Right Time

Authored by Derek Flack - December 18, 2007 - 2:55 pm

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The Utah Jazz picked up a much needed victory at home in the Energy Solutions Arena against the Seattle Supersonics on December 15th. The win ended a dreadful six game losing streak and stopped the bleeding that saw the Jazz drop from great to mediocre.

The losing streak was tough for the Jazz to endure but the win came at just the right time.

This week the Jazz embark on a four game excursion for their annual pre-Christmas Eastern Conference road trip. The win over the Sonics was perfect timing because now they have the taste of victory back in their system and will not be doubting themselves as they begin this road swing.

The win over the Sonics helped the Jazz regain confidence in their defense as they held the Sonics to 75 points and forced them into an atrocious shooting night of 33% from the field. In this game the Jazz forced 19 turnovers and came away with 15 steals and 6 blocks.

The great team defense displayed against the Sonics is one of the biggest factors that was missing from their six game skid. During the losing streak the Jazz were either winning or within striking distance in the final minutes of each of the losses only to fall apart defensively and allow an easy path to the basket like an open door.

The four game journey to the Southeast has some winnable games for the Jazz; they just need to get back to the teamwork they displayed at the beginning of the season when the ball was being passed around like a hot potato for many open shots.

The Jazz will begin the eastern trip against the Atlanta Hawks and then play the Charlotte Bobcats. Looking at these two teams it would seem like the Jazz should easily win these games, but that is something that has hurt the Jazz lately, expecting to win. When a team looks past a weaker opponent they end up getting bit like the crocodile hunter by playing down to the opponents level, then you look up and find yourself trailing with time running out and you play like your stuck in quicksand; that’s when you lose. The Jazz played like this in their two losses against the Portland Trailblazers over the past week. They looked like they expected to win and played slow and sluggish in losing efforts as a result.

The Jazz will end the 4 game road trip on a back-to-back against the surprisingly great Orlando Magic and the struggling but always dangerous Miami Heat.

Something that has hurt the Jazz recently is the injury bug. Starting center Mehmet Okur and 6th man Matt Harping both missed games due to injury and illness and back up point guard Jason Hart missed a game because of a death in his family. The holes in the lineup during these absences’ were not adequately filled by the rest of the team. Each player on the roster must step up their level of play if a team is going to have success and the Jazz didn’t do that during their losing streak.

Okur and Harping will each likely miss a game to begin this road trip but other role players finally picked up the intensity on defense against the Sonics, if that level of play can be maintained during the road games the Jazz can easily get back on track and start winning games again.

The Jazz, sitting at 14-11, could easily go 0-4 and fall below .500 or they could sweep the trip and go 4-0 and climb the tall ladder back to the top of the Western Conference. This is a crucial part of the season that could make or break the Jazz, it all depends on which Jazz team shows up to play during this road trip.