Recap - Utah Jazz @ Miami Heat - L - 70 - 80

by Basketball John on Dec 23, 2009 9:04 PM MST in Game Recaps Comment 2 comments

Pretty much everyone is in a bah, humbug mood right now.

What, you were expecting Santa Claus? Santa only comes to good boys.

The Jazz have had back to back games where they should have pulled out a win. They had Orlando where they wanted them but couldn't put it away as their offense dried up.

Tonight was one of the ugliest games of the year. 20 turnovers will do that for you. What was most frustrating about those was that most of them were unforced. And it was one right after another.

And when they managed to hang on to the ball and get into the offense, nobody outside of Deron and Boozer could hit a shot and Boozer couldn't hit anything after the first quarter. It was one brick, airball, and

Given the struggles (putting it mildly) the Jazz have had on the road, you would think they'd be able to take advantage of a poor offensive night by the Heat. Miami's offense was equally woeful. Had the Jazz played even half speed they would have won tonight.

I can't think of anyone that had a game worth remembering. Memo just struggles mightily on the road and tonight was no exception. Boozer started out on a tear but didn't do much damage after the first quarter. No shooting, sloppy offense, and too many jumpers. Normally if your jumpers aren't falling you try to get closer shots. Not the Jazz, they kept jacking them up.

The highlights of the game came from Deron on a behind the back pass to himself for a layup and a monster dunk in the lane after completely confusing Wade when he faked left and blew right by Wade.

Wade topped that earlier when he abused Matthews for a drive and filthy dunk himself.

There's no reason why the Jazz continue to play to whatever level their opponent is. They should have jumped out to a lead in the first when the Heat couldn't hit anything. But the Jazz got into foul trouble early and couldn't keep a handle on the ball.

As for the offense, some games it seems like they're unstoppable and other times it looks like they'll never score another basket as long as I live. The Jazz have scored 68 points in half this year and needed a KOOF dunk late just to crack 70 for the game.

At this point I'm not sure even what a trade would bring to this team. We don't need a particular position or player as much as we need a major shift in attitude and intensity. Can we sign Charles Oakley? We need someone from the old school that can help whip these guys into shape.

The Jazz are back home Saturday before finishing out the year with two games on the road at Minny and at OKC. Do we see a trade like we did at the end of 2007? I'm not sure it would be that big of a difference.