| Bombs Away Authored by Derek Flack - April 3, 2008 - 11:03 pm
| Current Featured Columns | | The First Three Weeks of 2008-09 Now that we’ve had a little time to watch free agency unfold, along with the usual accompaniment of trades, let’s look at some of the key moves and how they impact the teams involved.
Grading The Deal: W's Sign Maggette And TuriafThe Boom Dizzle era is over, and the Warriors quickly recovered by signing two nice pieces to complement their young core.
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In these two games Williams has significantly benefited from the hot shooting. He dished out 30 assists combined, 16 on Monday and 14 on Wednesday.
Monday night’s 42-point victory over the Washington Wizards was a shooting exhibition for the Jazz that was too much for the short-handed Wizards to handle. In this game the Jazz displayed why they are one of the most efficient offensive teams in the league. Shooting 15-26 from long range was not only a surreal percentage of made threes, but it also broke the franchise record of 14 for made threes in a single game.
The record-breaking shot came off of a three from the wing by the D-League All-Star Rookie from Rice, Morris Almond.
Almond has been rarely used by the Jazz this season, spending much of the season with the teams D-League affiliate the Utah Flash. He has proven he can score in the development league, tying the minor league record for points in a game with 51 in December, and then breaking the record by putting up 53 points in a game in January when he was hotter than fire.
Against the Wizards starters Ronnie Brewer and Andrei Kirilenko were injured so a roster spot was open for Almond to make a trip back to Salt Lake City and try to get a few more minutes of NBA action.
With the win ensured early in the 4th quarter, Almond entered the game and soon found himself wide open behind the arc after a perfectly thrown skip pass from CJ Miles. Without hesitation Almond squared up and fired away, shooting the ball up into the air and down through the bottom of the net, bringing the sellout crowd to their feet as the 15th three of the night fell into the basket and bounced on the hardwood floor. He ended the game with a career high of 5 points, which he tied on Wednesday night against the Timber wolves.
Almond wasn’t the only player that benefited from the absence of Brewer and Kirilenko; Ronnie Price and Miles filled in as starters at the 2-guard and small forward. It was only Prices second start of his career (his third came on Wednesday) and it ended up being one of Miles best outings of his career so far.
Miles ended the game with a career high 29 points as he slashed, dunked, and fired his way to the highest point total of his career. In 30 minutes he shot 12-17 from the field including 4-6 from three. Miles also ended the game with a career high 5 assists and pulled down 4 rebounds as well.
On the way to 15 threes against the Wizards, Deron Williams and Price both sank 2, and Okur and Korver each connected with 3 to go along with the 1 from Almond and 4 from Miles.
The hot shooting continued on Wednesday against Minnesota.
In the second consecutive lopsided home victory in Utah, the Jazz were on fire. They shot 59.5% from the field and finished 12-22 from long range. On the way to racking up 117 points, the Jazz had seven players reach double figures in scoring.
Unfortunately, the Minnesota team that was crushed by Utah is the same Wolves team that has beat the Jazz twice in Minneapolis this season. The Jazz played poorly in two outings against the T-Wolves on two separate occasions and are also the only team in the NBA that has lost in Minnesota, in New York, and in Miami this year. However, the Jazz are also the only Western Conference team that has won in Boston.
This inconsistency against the poor teams in the NBA may end up costing Utah homecourt advantage in the first around of the playoffs against likely first round opponents Phoenix or Houston.
If the hot shooting sticks around in the playoffs the Jazz will be in a very good position though. If guys are hot it opens things up down low for Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur. Okur and Boozer have both dominated the Suns big guys down low, embarrassing Amare Stoudamire and exposing his atrocious 1-on-1 post defense. If Shaq O’Neil or Amare guards Boozer, Okur can sit outside sink open jumpers since big players don’t like to leave the paint on defense. If one of them does stick to Okur on the perimeter, a guard will eventually have to double down on Boozer in the post, freeing up the hot shooting guards on the outside.
With Yao Ming injured the Rockets will be very short-handed with big guys they can throw in the paint. So unless Dikembe Mutumbo can turn back the clocks for 30-plus minutes a night, perimeter players will again be forced double team the post, opening up shots for Korver, Williams, Okur, Kirilenko, Price, and Miles (who may be out of the rotation come playoff time due to Brewer and Korver’s impressive play at the two).
The Jazz do own the Tiebreaker over the Suns and will play one more against the Rockets which will determine who wins the Tiebreaker if the teams are tied at the end of the regular season.
If the Jazz can’t earn homecourt advantage in the first round (which will be tough since the final six games are all against Western Conference playoff teams with two versus the Spurs) they will need the shooters to stay hot, since they are only 16-22 away from the Energy Solutions Arena. |
