Who Wants to Play the Jazz?

The Utah Jazz have been playing pretty dang well. On Monday, they beat the Boston Celtics, who have been one of the hottest teams in the league as of late. They did it with some great shooting from beyond the arc, as well as hard-nosed defense that would make Jerry Sloan slobber on himself. Which, thanks to HD, I notice that he does every game actually.

Utah took care of the Toronto Raptors pretty easily tonight, cruising to a 113-87 victory on the road. Seven different players scored in double figures, and seldom-used players (e.g. Kosta Koufos, Kyrylo Fesenko, Sundiata Gaines, and Othyus Jeffers) got a chance to finish up the last part of the game. Deron Williams owned the court; he finished with 18 points and 16 assists. He had great vision and took very good care of the ball tonight. I think he's at the height of his career right now, which is great news for any Jazz fan. With the win tonight, the Jazz have secured their 23rd winning record out of the last 24 seasons, which can be attributed to Jerry Sloan. And John Stockton, Karl Malone, Williams, Carlos Boozer, etc. But mostly just Sloan. We're lucky to have that old ornery cuss, and we're going to miss him when he finally has a massive coronary while chasing Dick Bavetta out of the arena.

I'm excited to see what happens with the rest of the season, because the Jazz are hot and the Western Conference playoff race is as tight as ever. As of right now, Utah is tied with Denver for 4th place, with Dallas only 1/2 game ahead. And, once the truth comes out about Pau Gasol being a woman on steroids, the Lakers will be disqualified, and the Jazz can take over as the best in the west.

4th Quarter Magic

What a game last night! The Jazz beat the Suns 116-108, but that doesn't tell you anything about how good of a game it was to watch. It was a late-night TNT game, so I took a nice, hot shower, settled into my blanket, grabbed the milk and Oreos, strapped on my adult diaper, and I was ready to roll.

The Suns were leading most of the game; in fact, the Jazz didn't have the lead at all in the first three quarters. They weren't playing that bad, it was just some hot shooting by the Suns and lazy defense by the Jazz. We might as well fast-forward to the fourth quarter, because that was when my diaper finally came in handy.

Utah was still down by 11 going into the final period. Every true Jazz fan knew, however, that they would do something magical by the end. The magic, this time, came from beyond the three-point line. The Jazz hit 7 of 11 three-pointers in the fourth quarter alone! Tell me the last time a Jerry Sloan team has done that. Don't tell me, actually; it would be a waste of your time. Deron Williams hit a couple threes, Mehmet Okur made two huge ones, C.J. Miles drained one (and had a three-point play the old fashioned way), and the Jazz came back, took the lead, and took all the joy out of the lives of every Suns fan in the world. It was a sweet victory.

Good show overall on national television for the Utah Jazz. I'm beginning to see very good potential going into the homestretch of the season, and if the Jazz can play at the top of their game, they will get the home-court advantage and hopefully make a good run in the playoffs.

Clipped!

Well, the Jazz fell to the Clippers last night in Los Angeles. It is never good for the ol' self-esteem to drop a game against the Clippers, and last night was no different. It felt like a red-hot steak knife being jabbed into my chest, and that's not being dramatic. I was actually able to watch the whole game, live and in beautiful HD (high definition, if you have been living in a rock for the past 10 years, or if you are older than 65 years of age). I was ready for a nice thumping of the Clippers as I have become accustomed to over the past 789 years, but it was not so last night. The Clippers actually really deserved to win; they played hard, they shot very well--especially in the first half, and the Jazz were cold for much of the game. Utah actually never led the entire game!

That's not to say it wasn't exciting, because it was. Utah caught back up and was only down by two points with 40 seconds to play. The Clippers had the ball, but Carlos Boozer stole it and lofted it downcourt for Deron Williams. Williams drove to the basket, hung in the air, and was fouled. He had two free throws, giving the Jazz the chance to tie it up with less than 30 seconds to play. As a Jazz fan, you can't ask for anything better: your star guard on the free throw line with a chance to tie the game and possibly send it into overtime! However, much to my dismay: clank, clank, and the game was over. And I had to go purge in the bathroom sink.

March is going to be a tough month for the Jazz, with several road games against good teams. They are going to have to play better than last night if they expect to remain at the top of the Western Conference heading into the homestretch of the season. Let's hope they cinch up their diapers and get to work!