Recap - Utah Jazz @ Washington Wizards - Blame it on the rain, yeah, yeah

by Basketball John on Nov 13, 2008 9:28 AM MST in Game Recaps Comment 9 comments

Maybe it was appropriate that on the night the Jazz traveled to D.C., a rookie was able to outplay the veterans and help the Wizards win, 95-87. I guess the Jazz felt like spreading the wins around. It probably wasn't fair that a team like Washington had 0 wins and the greedy Jazz had 6.

It was an all-around ugly loss.

So place your blame for the loss on whatever you'd like. Here's some of the options,

Memo's out and would have spread the floor and broken up Washington's zone
Deron is still gimpy
Sloan refuses to play the hot hand
The return of Matt Harpring
KK can't shoot with a sore wrist
AK wasn't able to finish game
2nd game of a back to back on the road playing the east
Vast right-wing conspiracy involving Stern

On a night when the offense was cold, we sure could have used CJ's hot shooting to get things going. The Wiz packed the inside all night and were able to score 10 blocks and out-rebound the Jazz. Memo was out obviously. Korver couldn't hit anything. Deron still hasn't got his stroke back. But the guy who had been stroking it all night played a total of 15 minutes. I'll defend Sloan until my dying day, but damnit, you have to play Miles. The team's commited to four years of him. He's got to play. especially on a night when he's the only thing going.

Not much to say other than this was a game that should have been won and will be one of those games that we look back on in April and wince at when we're starting out on the road again because we finished a game back in the standings.

Quick notes

JaVal McGee had his way going over the back, blocking shots, and earning enough fouls for three games before finally fouling out. Jamison and Butler lit up the Jazz for 48.

The bright spot for the Jazz was Kosta Koufos. Once he got the nerves out in his first NBA game, he came into this one looking pretty comfortable. He shot a great 5/7 for 12 points in just 22 minutes. His stroke is light years ahead of Fesenko's. And I think it's safe to stay that he jumped Collins. We'll likely see Fess back with the Flash. I'm kind of excited to see if Kosta jumps Collins in Sloan's eyes though. KK2 has all of the characteristics that Jerry loves. I think his play will make it easy to let Jarron go after this year. There's no way you're getting that kind of production out of Collins. Of course it's early, but you have to like this kid.

Deron progressed a little more. His shot isn't falling yet. And he's still not driving it to the basket like he normally would. I hope playing doesn't delay him returning to 100%. He played more minutes (33) in this game than in his first. I thought for sure they'd rest him a bit more on the 2nd of a back to back. But a lot of it probably has to do with Deron not wanting to sit.

The rest of the night was forgettable. The Jazz will get a day off before playing Charlotte. If they don't find some way to play with energy, we could have a repeat of last year's performance.

Other blogs

Poll