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.