Jazz owner says Malone is lying
Karl Malone said the Jazz denied him tickets to a game last season. The team’s owner fired back at the legend, saying he’s lying.
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LA Lakers vs. Utah Jazz: TV Schedule, Live Stream, Spread Info and More
While the Utah Jazz have been solid this season, the Los Angeles Lakers have been playing hot over their last few games, winning four of their last five.
The Jazz have lost four of their last six games and both of the games they played against the Lakers this season. Let’s hope this game is more like the OT thriller instead of the 25-point blowouts we had in their last two meetings.
Where: Energy Solutions Arena, Salt Lake City, UT
When: Saturday, February 4, 9:00 p.m. ET
Watch: Not Nationally Televised
Live Stream: NBA League Pass
Listen: ESPN Radio
Betting Line: Covers.com
Over/Under: 185, Spread: Utah -2
Injuries: CBS Sports
Lakers
Steve Blake, Out
Jazz
Earl Watson, Doubtful
Raja Bell, Questionable
Devin Harris, Probable
Lakers Player to Watch: Kobe Bryant
In two games against the Jazz this season, Kobe is averaging 33 points, over five assists and over six rebounds. Considering that the Lakers won both games, it looks like the catalyst for the Lakers again will be Kobe Bryant. What a surprise.
Jazz Player to Watch: C.J. Miles
With the clear advantage going for the Lakers when it comes to the starters, there is no doubt that the Jazz have the better bench. With the older L.A. starters sitting longer, it will give a bench player like Miles the chance to shine. Expect 15-18 points from the role player when the Jazz need them most.
What They’re Saying
@DodgersLakers talks about this rivalry’s recent matchups:
Pro BMX rider James Foster is reporting that he will be doing the halftime show tonight:
Key Matchup: Al Jefferson vs. Andrew Bynum
I love watching the big men down low fight it out for every inch. Tonight will be a heavyweight battle that should have fans of low-post action on their feet. Al Jefferson is the Jazz duel-threat scorer/rebounder and doesn’t take no for an answer. The unstoppable force to Jefferson’s immovable object is Andrew Bynum. When these two get together, expect a fight for every point and every rebound.
Prediction: Lakers 96, Jazz 88
Check back for more on the National Basketball Association as it comes, and check out Bleacher Report’s NBA Page to get your fill of all things basketball.
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Report: Malone denied Jazz tickets
You’d think a franchise’s most famous player could stop by the arena and watch a game whenever he would like. Not in Utah, apparently.
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Chris Paul, Clippers hold off Jazz
Chris Paul and Blake Griffin combined for 65 points, and the Clippers edged the Jazz for their first win in Utah since 2003.
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Fourth-quarter spurt lifts Jazz over Blazers
Utah used a 13-0 fourth-quarter run to beat Portland 93-89 and hand the Blazers their eighth loss in 11 road games this season.
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Jazz spoil Fredette’s return to Utah (AP)
The stage was all set Saturday night for Jimmer Fredette, in a state where “Jimmermania” had taken hold. Instead of draining what could have been a game-winning 3-pointer for Sacramento with 4.2 seconds left, the former Brigham Young star launched an air ball. The Utah Jazz hung on for a 96-93 win over the Kings to snap a two-game losing streak.
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Kidd strains calf, Mavs still beat Jazz (AP)
With three starters out, the Dallas Mavericks were searching for offense from other sources. Reserve guard Roddy Beaubois and slumping Lamar Odom delivered. Beaubois had a season-high 22 points and Odom added 19 points, his most since joining the Mavericks at the start of the season, to lead Dallas to a 116-101 victory over the Utah Jazz on Friday night.
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Jimmer Fredette or Utah Jazz? NBA Fans in Utah Are Split
For the first time in his short NBA career, Sacramento Kings rookie Jimmer Fredette will return to Utah to play a regular-season game against the Utah Jazz.
While the once-stronger rivalry between these two teams has long since cooled off, Fredette’s return is one of the most highly anticipated games of the entire season for many fans in Utah.
Already a celebrity in the state of Utah for his college career at Brigham Young University where he became the Naismith College Player of the Year last season, Jimmer, as he is known by only his first name, will split the Jazz fanbase in Utah for at least one game.
Never before has this fanbase been so excited to see a rookie from another NBA team who attended college in the state of Utah.
Not since Andrew Bogut, Keith Van Horn and Andre Miller, all heroes at the University of Utah, came back to play have Jazz fans been excited about a rookie’s return.
The excitement for those players, however, was not nearly at the same level as the Jimmermania that occurred last season, which is still alive and well.
When the two teams meet on the court, it is expected that a large percentage of loyal Jazz fans will have a split allegiance between the Jazz and the Jimmer.
It is not crazy to think that there will be more Jimmer jerseys in the stands than Jazz jerseys and he will receive a louder welcome than anyone from the hometown team.
This topic came up recently on the Utah local sports talk radio station 97.5 The Zone and the feeling from the fans that responded was that many would root for Jimmer over their own team.
Jimmer’s return to Utah is similar to the hype that Tim Tebow had when he and the Denver Broncos played against the Miami Dolphins early last season. That was, however, before Tebow’s popularity took off nationwide.
So what do you think Jazz fans? Are you excited for Jimmer to return? Will he get a better reception than the Jazz, and which side of this issue do you fall on?
Would you be willing to sacrifice a Jazz win to see Jimmer play well?
Leave your thoughts and let me know what you think.
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Chicago Bulls Jazz Up New Jersey Nets 110-95 in Derrick Rose’s Return
Derrick Rose was back in the lineup tonight as the Chicago Bulls and their ex-Jazz players outplayed the New Jersey Nets and their ex-Jazz players in a game that ceased to have meaningful minutes somewhere in the first quarter.
Rip Hamilton celebrated his 15,000th point by getting 10 assists in the same game. Hamilton added 22 points and four boards.
Rose matched Hamilton’s 22 and added eight assists. Boozer had 14 and grabbed nine boards. Noah had a double-double with 16 points and 10 boards. Brewer, filling in for the injured Deng had 11 points and five boards. Omer Asik also scored in double digits, totaling 10 points and grabbing four boards.
This year, the Bulls are averaging 4.42 players scoring in double-digit points per game. Last year, that was a sum of 3.95. That’s a difference of half a player more per game averaging in double figures.
The Bulls also had 33 assists tonight on 43 field goals. That’s another great stat and it’s one that’s been happening with remarkable consistency. It was the third game this year that the Bulls topped 30 assists, something they did only five times last year.
They are 16-1 in games in which they’ve had 28 or more assists in the last two seasons. This year, they are 6-0 in games where they’ve had at least 27.
In games when they’ve had at least 27 assists this year, they are scoring an average of 108.7 points.
When the Bulls have more assists than their opponents they have won 62 of 67 over the last two seasons, and they are now 13-0 this year.
Last year, they had more assists than their opponents about 66 percent of the time. This year they’re doing it almost 75 percent of the time and they’ve done so in 13 of their last 15 games. Particularly since Hamilton returned, the Bulls have been extremely effective, averaging 29 assists per game as a team.
Yes, this is all going somewhere. The point I’m trying to make is that the Bulls offense is far more diverse. They are doing an amazing job of sharing the ball and they aren’t remotely close offensively to what they were last year.
Matt Moore of CBS Sports said today that “I know what the records say. I know how good Chicago and the Thunder have looked. But the Heat at their best are a better team than they were last year. OKC doesn’t look as good, and Chicago is the same.”
It makes you wonder if Moore has even watched a game the Bulls have played this year. They are the “same as they were last year.” Really, Matt? In case you’re not aware, the Bulls have added Richard Hamilton, and he makes a bit of a difference.
After tonight’s game, the Bulls are somewhere around second or third in offensive rating, easily top five in offensive efficiency and second or third in team assists. Last year, they were 12th in offensive rating, 12th in offensive efficiency and ninth in assists per game.
People like Moore need to pay a little “more” attention to what is actually happening on the court instead of making assumptions about the Bulls.
And yes, I’m grinding an axe here. It’s one thing to be lazy about your analysis if you’re just a casual fan, but if you’re a paid professional, it’s probably a good idea to not just see how long you can keep your preseason assumptions without actually paying attention to what is happening
To suggest that the Bulls offense is the “same” as last year ignores the exact sort of thing that was typified in tonight’s game. The Bulls are better at sharing the ball and are much more effective at utilizing everyone.
They are not nearly as Rose dependent as they were last year. Rose’s usage percentage is down and the Bulls offensive numbers are up. How is that the “same as they were last year?”
Meanwhile what seems to matter to Moore is that blazing hot start the Heat had, going 5-0 to blister the record books on their way to…wait, 5-0? And they needed buzzer beaters against two teams with losing records to get that? Since then they’re 6-5? But yeah, Miami’s better and Chicago’s the same.
Anyway, enough of a diatribe there.
Speaking of Miami, I imagine some of the Bulls fans were shouting so loud at their TVs near the end of the game with the Bulls holding a 20-point lead and four of their starters on the court, yelling for Tom Thibodeau to get the starters out.
It’s pretty clear he was just using this for “live practice” playing around with some different lineups, running some different plays. Make no mistake about it, this week is all about the aforementioned Heat, whom the Bulls will be playing on Sunday.
The ironic twist of all the injury stuff hit me today. Carlos Boozer is now the only starter that has not missed a game this season. Bet no one saw that coming!
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Alec Burks Deserves to Have Role Expanded for Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz‘s Alec Burks is fearless, an uncommon trait for rookies.
Give Burks a slightly open lane, and he will cut to the rim. It doesn’t matter if there are several tall trees lining the paint, Burks is willing to go after the hoop. Granted, this has led to some easy blocks for opponents, and it may eventually be the demise of Burks if he runs into a surly Andrew Bynum, but for now, it is something Tyrone Corbin and the Jazz should take advantage of.
His attacking style had led Burks to be third on the team in free-throw attempts per game (per 36 minutes played), while he ranks fifth on the team in free-throw shooting (74.2 percent). His knack for attacking the paint is both needed and should be rewarded on a team that is loaded with spot-up shooters in the back court.
Fellow Guards/Small Forwards
Try to think of another guard on Utah’s roster that prefers to get to the rim rather than stop-and-pop from outside. Alright, so there is one other perimeter player that likes to attack the basket as much as Burks, but he is only 6’1” and does his best work leading the team in assists (Sadly, it is not the starting point…not yet at least).
Burks adds a dimension to the Jazz offense that no one else does right now. This is not to say other guards/small forwards on the team cannot take the ball to the hoop. There are flashes of C.J. Miles posterizing Lamar Odom, and Gordon Hayward will occasionally attack the rim, but both Miles and Hayward are getting (too?) comfortable settling for jump shots.
When the outside shots are falling they are obviously effective, but when they are not, it can take players out of the game and make the Jazz’s offense stagnant.
C.J. seems to be much more confident lately and is starting to get into the paint, going 23-of-27 (85.1 percent) from the free-throw line over the last five games, but he still tends to fall in love with his three-pointer.
Raja Bell, the Jazz starting shooting guard who seemed lost on the court in the beginning of the season, has finally found himself. His shooting average of 29.4 percent last month has vastly improved to 50.9 percent this month, including 41.7 percent from three-point land. His resurgence has helped the Jazz to a 9-2 record in January, but like Miles, he is also prone to shooting rather than going after the basket.
Burks’ mindset mixes things up for the Jazz at shooting guard, and that helps the entire team.
The Frontcourt
The Jazz need a diverse set of skills on the floor to keep defenses off-balance.
Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap compliment one another in the frontcourt; while Millsap prefers to face up to the basket to hit jumpers or take his man off the dribble. Jefferson prefers catching the ball down low and using his quick feet to get around opponents, either for dunks or short one-handed tear drops.
If the Jazz get Burks more involved in the offense and he continues to go to the hoop, that will help both of the big men down low. A guard moving toward the basket would set Millsap up for easy 10 to 15-foot jump shots and Jefferson with his signature one-handers when their defenders react. With the defense watching the wings for a slashing Burks, the court opens up for everyone on the floor.
Sure, Burks can improve in many ways, specifically with his passing while cutting to the hoop (he only averages 1.8 assists per 36 minutes), but that will come with being more comfortable on the court. The Jazz need to focus on developing Burks now and make a point to get him into the game more often.
Where those minutes come from is Coach Corbin’s problem, but it is an issue he and the coaching staff should be sorting out as the season progresses.
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