Just two other games last night in the association that impacted the Jazz....

The Good

New York Knicks 110 @ Memphis Grizzlies 108

The Knicks nearly blew this one.  They had a 14-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, 96-82.  They didn't score a point until 7:30 left in the game.  Even then, they were still up 8.  With a little over 3 minutes to go in the game, they were up 10 which was their last bucket of the game until Carmelo Anthony hit the game-winner with .5 to go.  That gap in scoring allowed the Grizzlies to go on a 10-0 run to close out the game.

So for one night you can thank Anthony for making a shot and saving his team from an embarrassing defeat.  You will have all kinds of opportunities to let your team down in the playoffs Melo.

• Posting and Toasting
• Straight Outta Vancouver

The Ugly

Dallas Mavericks 92 @ New Orleans Hornets 93

Damnit Dallas.  This is the second time in three games that you've hosed the Jazz.  The second best team in the west has fallen to the undermanned Grizzlies and now the undermanned Hornets.  

Damnit Dallas.  They had this game and gave up an 8-0 run in the final minute of the game.  Tyson Chandler (775 FT on the season) missed two free-throws that could have sealed it.  Instead, Jarret Jack was able to bait Jason Kidd and get a foul call on a three-point attempt. He made all three and Dirk missed a jumper at the end of the game.  Mavs Moneyball doesn't like these close losses for the Mavs,

Looking on the bright side, the Mavericks have won 19 out of their last 22 games. The three losses came by a combined three points. The problem is that the three losses have been due to blowing double-digit leads in each game. The Mavericks desperately need to maintain their focus to maintain these leads. If things do not change, their playoff run could be shorter than expected.

And from At The Hive,

It was an implausible victory, but the Hornets did it through excellent rebounding, solid defense and a bunch of equally implausible made shots. Yet for much of the game it seemed unlikely that the Hornets would be able to get over the hump. Every time the Hornets got close the Mavs would push the lead back to 6 or 8 points. On the other hand, despite the Mavericks pushing the lead to double digits on a couple of occasions, the deficit was never unmanageable. As is usually the case, offense was tough to come by for the Hornets. There was not a lot of movement, and guys like Jarrett Jack, Willie Green and Trevor Ariza all took some pretty poor shots. Yet some of the toughest shots seemed to be the ones that went down, including a Marco Belinelli buzzer beating three at the end of the first half.

Damnit Dallas.

The Jazz manage to stay in the race for now with the win and a Grizz loss.  Click on through for the standings

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At this point, Denver and Portland are every bit deserving of making the playoffs.  I incorrectly assumed that Denver would head south as the new guys were brought in.  I also thought the same would happen to Portland after Roy went down.  You can throw Memphis in that mix as well when Rudy Gay was lost for a month.

They've all been resilient though much to the detriment of the playoff hopes for the Jazz.  Just two games last night affected our playoff hopes and neither were good.

The Ugly

Portland Trail Blazers 105 @ Miami Heat 96

The Heat got 38 from Dwyane Wade and 31 from LeBron James and that was it.  I know that doesn't appear to add up to 96, but trust me, it does.  The Blazers on the other hand had six players in double-figures lead by LaMarcus Aldridge with 26.  New Blazer Gerald Wallace added 22.

It was the 5th straight loss for Miami who appear to be in disarray right now.  They started out the season 9-8 after a lot of people had tagged them to finish with 60+ wins.  Then they settled down and found a groove and started dominating like they were expected to.  However, they're just 2-6 after the break.

All credit goes to Portland in this one though.  They had a steady lead in the third before Miami came back within 2 heading into the fourth quarter.  A 12-3 run by the Blazers gave them a 9-point lead.  The Heat were able to once again come back to within 2.  A big three from Roy though highlighted a 7-0 run that pushed the lead back to 9.  Miami was only able to score 5 points over the last 3 1/2 minutes of the game.

If Portland can get play from Roy off the bench like they did tonight, they could make some noise.  BlazersEdge is loving Wallace,

Gerald Wallace, if loving you is wrong I don't want to be right.  Aided and abetted by Miami's lack of centers, allowing him to play big minutes against like-sized people, Wallace showed exactly why the Blazers acquired him.  He scored at the rim.  He rebounded.  He blocked shots.  He was the spark that lit the fire for Portland tonight.  His utter lack of intimidation in the face of the Heat is something all of the younger Blazers can learn from.  He didn't play like he wanted these guys' autographs, he played like he wanted to carve their tombstone.  Every minute Wallace was off the court you wished he would hurry and get back in.  8-14 shooting, 22 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block.

Peninsula is Mightier didn't have anything up as of last night, but be sure to check them this morning.

Houston Rockets 110 @ Phoenix 113

The fountain of youth in not off the coast of Florida somewhere, it's in Phoenix.  Either that or they're housing a Delorean down there because all of their older players have dialed it back 10 years.  Vince Carter led the way with 32 points as the Suns came back to beat the Rockets.  Carter had 15 points in the fourth to lead the way including two three-pointers.  He was matched by Hakim Warrick who had 32 points as well.  Grant Hill continues his Button run as he added in 19.

Remember how this team was supposed to be hurt when Channing Frye went out?  Well, it looks like  they have a plug and play system in the desert with Warrick's play.  Of course, both of those players have killed the Jazz.

The Rockets still had a shot to tie it in regulation, but Brad Miller's attempt was off. 

Vince is flying high once again in Phoenix,

It was Vince who hit timely three after timely three to keep the Suns in the game and the pressure on the Rockets. It was his energy, passion and aggressiveness that brought the Suns back into the game after being down by 11 in the 2nd Quarter. Surprised? After the OKC game, perhaps not, but the fact that he was the one to put this team on his back, lead them out of a double digit deficit and take control in the clutch was at least surprising to me. He showed a lot of heart tonight and deserves much props for his amazing play. Thank you Carter and thank you Warrick!

Not a good night in the association for the Jazz.  You can perhaps take a little bit of satisfaction in seeing Houston go down given that they were right behind the Jazz, but the goal for now is to jump the guys ahead of us.

Portland and Denver are going to make the playoffs.  Certainly it's been frustrating to not only be on the outside looking in, but also to see other teams get injuries and not slip.  I'm not wishing anyone gets hurt, but if it happens, you hope that it benefits our team.  It has not.

Click on through to the other side for the most recent standings.

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The Good

Phoenix Suns 118 @ Oklahoma City Thunder 122

The Vince taketh, and the Vince giveth away.  Carter made a three-pointer to tie the game with nine seconds to go in regulation and force overtime.  After the Thunder got out to a good jump to start the extra stanza, back-to-back three-pointer by Jared Dudley and Carter gave the Suns the lead.

A bit of a controversy came up though in the next couple of plays as James Harden was awarded with an AND-1 on a dunk where it looks like Steve Nash wasn't even close to fouling him.  He made the free-throw, giving OKC a 116-115 lead.  The Thunder tacked on another FT with 21 seconds left.

Carter got the benefit of another phantom foul call on Phoenix's next possession but proceeded to miss 2 of the 3 free-throws.  The Thunder closed it out at the line from there.

Vince may have choked on those free-throws, but the Suns wouldn't have had a chance without him according to The Bright Side of the Sun,

And then of course there's Vince Carter. Despite his missed free throws at the end, the Suns ARE NO WHERE near that far in the game without Vince Carter hitting some sick, sick shots when the Suns really needed them. He just needed some big-shot help on the court with him and no one stepped up besides Dudley once.

The Jazz aren't catching the Thunder or coming close for that matter.  Phoenix is who the Jazz are fighting against for the pleasure of trying to overcome Memphis for the right to lose the Spurs in the first round.  So it was good to see OKC pull this one out.

For more, check out,

Bright Side of the Suns

Welcome to Loud City

Two more games in the association last night.  More after the jump.

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Only one game of relevance on tap for last night.

The Ugly

Boston Celtics 75 @ Denver Nuggets 89

Thanks for nothing Boston.  I realize that you were without Kendrick Perkins, Nate Robinson, Marquis Daniels, Semih Erden, and Luke Harangody due to trades, but still.  Denver also had their traded-for players for the first time.

But still.

The Celtics lost the game on a 16-0 run by the Nuggets to close things out.  16-0 to finish the game?  I guess even the best teams have off nights, but still.  Only KG and Pierce showed up offensively.  Rondo had 5 & 8 while Ray Allen had just 10 points on 4-10 shooting.

According to CelticsBlog, the Perkins trade made the other vets livid.  It could be that had an impact on their play.  They also don't buy the 9-player excuse,

And when it mattered tonight, the Celtics couldn't cut it. Only one starter,Kevin Garnett (14 pts, 13 rbs) shot 50% from the field, and the happiest guy to be out there tonight was a D-Leaguer nobody has ever heard from before. The Celtics lost tonight, they in what is admittedly a knee-jerk judgement, lost today, and yet life goes on.

The game was ugly from beginning to end, despite the Celtics leading for most of the way and well into the second half, and you never really got the feeling that the Celtics wanted the W. The Nuggets controlled the paint (52 boards for the Nugs, 38 for the C's), they brought the energy, and they got the win on the back of a late 16-0 run in the 4th.

The Nuggets are now 2-0 since the Melo trade and by all accounts are looking very good.  Crap.

A 1/2 game back of the Grizzlies and 1 1/2 games in front of the Suns is where the Jazz find themselves in the first game in the post-Deron era.  Some help is on the way but is it going to be enough to stay in the playoffs?  Let's look at last night's action.

The Good

Oklahoma City Thunder 105 @ San Antonio Spurs 109

Whatever slim chance the Jazz had to get back into the division race was prolonged last night as the Thunder were taken out by the best team in the league.  They played them tight but some late-game mistakes cost them a chance to win this one:

But the one image that sticks in everyone's mind is the terrible end-of-game play by Jeff Green. With 7 seconds left, he chose to shoot it from extremely deep and completely airballed. If the Thunder are to be a contender this season, they can't let plays like that fly. The Thunder also need to not let emotional plays disrupt their rhythm, as the double technical did in the second. It led to a 11 point Spur lead that wasn't overcome until midway through the fourth.    

Pounding the Rock had this take on the play:

My take on the last play of the game is going to lead us into my patented Like it/Love it/Loathe it sections. So we hit some free throws, the Thunder call timeout and advance the ball. They inbound and swing the ball to Jeff Green- when this happens, I'm thinking "oh wait, I've seen this play before". Green gets the ball and is under a lot of pressure. As Green is dribbling, a couple of off-ball screens are being set for Durant, who heads towards the top of the key. George Hill, perimeter defender extraordinaire and man who stands almost 1 ft shorter than Durant, does an excellent job of denying him the ball in the position he wants it. Green gets flustered and jacks up a horrible, contested, fade-away three pointer than doesn't even come close. He could have gotten the ball to Durant further away from the 3 point line, but panicked and shot with 5 seconds left. Great defense combined with bad execution= another win for the good guys.

That's all the help the Jazz got last night.  There were no middle-ground games either.  Click on through for the bad.

Los Angeles Lakers 106 @ Portland Trail Blazers 101

Portland had this one.  They had a 10-point lead in the fourth and blew it.  They were up 7 with 4 minute to go and didn't score a single point the rest of the way and the Lakers were able to force OT.  LaMarcus Aldridge missed some big shots late in the fourth that would have given the Blazers the win.

The Jazz were falling further behind the Blazers as Portland had won 6 straight before this game.  Silver Screen and Roll describes the last possessions of the fourth,

What happened next is still a little tough to process. At the 1:44 mark of the fourth, Artest rebounded an Andre Miller miss and at the other end drained a 25-foot three, his fourth of the night. LaMarcus Aldridge, who'd tormented the Laker D for much of the evening, got swatted by Lamar Odom. Kobe Bryant, working from the isolation sets that have had such a poor success rate this season, converted a difficult baseline jumper to pull the Lakers within two. Aldridge then missed again, and Kobe hit another tough shot to tie the game with four seconds left. On their final trip of regulation, Aldridge came up short for the third time in a row, sending the game to an unlikely OT period.

Of note was Brandon Roy's return.  I don't think his play had an impact on the game but the Blazers are 10-14 when he plays.  He didn't look bad according to Blazers Edge, but that's not what you want from your highest-paid player,

Brandon Roy came back tonight in limited minutes.  He got a standing ovation, missed a couple of jumpers early, but connected on a nifty left-dribble wizard jumper and a three late.  His defense looked better than we've seen this year, as did his mobility.  He didn't try too much though.

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It's the return of While You Were Sleeping where I recap last night's action of the games that impact the Jazz.  Early in the season wins and losses by other teams are hard to gauge for the team.  But after the All-star break, the races are a lot tighter and the outcomes more noticeable.

So with that, we kick off the playoff push with recaps of two games from last night.  CJ is pretty chill, so we'll let him give us the reactions this season.

The Good

No games were a true win last night.

The Neutral 

Memphis Grizzlies 107 - Denver Nuggets 120

Both teams were without their stars.  One permanently and one semi-permanently.  This was the first game for the Nuggets without Carmelo and Billups. The Grizzles were sans one Rudy Gay due to injury.

Denver came out the inspired team and put the Grizzlies away early with an 8-0 run in the first and then delivered the death blow in the second with a 14-0 run late that put this one away.  Garbage time in the fourth made this score a lot closer than it was.  From the Denver Stiffs,

Seeing the Nuggets tremendous effort tonight - against a worthy opponent mind you - showcased just how poisonous the Melodrama was to this franchise. Remember how Nate, Jeff and I all predicted that this team could go big places in our preseason previews IF Melo stayed? In hindsight, I suspect the Melodrama cost us at least five wins, if not more. This isn't to kick Melo in the rear on his way out of Denver, it's simply to re-state the obvious that despite Melo's alleged "professionalism", the theatrics surrounding his future were a colossal distraction for the players and coaches...and despite their best efforts, they couldn't overcome those distractions on a nightly basis.

The new guys showed up at the game and got a standing ovation.  Six of the nine available players for the Nuggets scored in double figures.  They were led by JR Smith.  Yes, that's right.  He had 26 points with 6 threes but needed 22 shots to get that.

We'll see how long this adrenaline boost lasts for the Nuggets and if the imports cause any disruptions for the team while they integrate the new guys.

The Jazz were going to pick up a 1/2 game either way with this one.  With Memphis losing, Utah moved 1/2 game up on them in the loss column.  Denver got a bit of separation from the idle Jazz.

It looks like Gay's absence couldn't have come at a worse time.  They were surging at just the right time.  We'll see if they can hold on while he's out.  They may not be holding pat though with rumors of them shopping Zach Randolph to the Magic in exchange for Bass and and Jason Richardson.

Other takes:
Straight Outta Vancouver
Denver Stiffs

The Bad

Los Angeles Clippers 88 @ Oklahoma City Thunder 111

The Thunder may run away with the division now.  If that's the case, they could fall off the radar for WYWS.  With the win last night, they're six games ahead of the Jazz and 4 1/2 up on Denver and Portland.

They used two huge runs last night to put away the Clippers.  A 15-0 run to close the first half turned a lose game into a 16-point lead.  The Clippers were able to get it down to single-digits in the third, but a 10-0 run to start the fourth put the game away.

Jeff Green and Kevin Durant led the way with 22 and 21 points respectively while James Harden came off the bench to add 19.

Oklahoma City next play at San Antonio, at Orlando, and then host the Lakers.  So there is a chance for someone to close the gap a bit.  They're playing really well right now though and could take 2 of those games.

Other takes:
Welcome to Loud City
Clips Nation

Overall

If the Thunder would have tripped up against the Clippers, it would have been a great night.  As it was though, it was a pretty solid night as the Jazz got a smidgen of breathing room from the Grizzlies.  That loss will look even better if the Jazz should fall tonight in Dallas.

Nuggets 89 @ Lakers 95

Do you feel a little dirty?  Well don't.  While there's not much that will give you more pleasure, a Lakers loss does nothing for us.  The fight is for #2 and we need to stay within range of that.

Neither team played well at all but the Nuggets had one of the worst offensive performances that I've seen in a long time from them.  They shot just 35% overall and just 28% from three-point land.  JR Smith was 1-7 (why can't he do that against us).  Add 20 turnovers and that spells loss.

From the Stiffs,

The Nuggets handed this game over to the Lakers within the first four minutes of the second half.  Out of their first five possessions in the second half, the Nuggets had four one-on-one shot attempts - all missed shots - and a turnover.  As a result, the Nuggets didn't score for the first three-and-a-half minutes.  Compounding problems, Nuggets head coach George Karl waited too long to call his first timeout of the second half (after four of the five bad possessions and a nine point lead cut to three, Karl finally asked for time) as that early second half performance called for an immediate timeout and lecture.

Silver Screen and Roll

As for Kobe, he struggled mightily with his shot, as Denver sent hard doubles at him. The only time in the first half he was able to exploit those doubles was when Powell or Odom would find the seams and made themselves available.

That all changed in the second half, as the Lakers made the needed adjustments against Denver's defense. The Lakers came out blazing, going on a 10-2 run, driven by two Derek Fisher threes, coming withing three of the Nuggets. But that turned out to be a false start, as the Nuggets answered back, pushing their lead back to 11. I have to admit, it looked at that point that the Lakers had given the Nuggets their best shot, and Denver had withstood it. I was wrong.

So go take a chemical shower, scrub yourself down, and rinse off the grime that comes from wanting a Laker's win. 

AK gives us his take,

You're right, it feels wrong, but you'll get over it.

Click on through to the other side

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Just a couple of games affecting the Jazz last night

Pacers 82 @ Mavericks 91

The Mavs get a gimmee last night as they hosted one of the worst teams in the league in Indiana.  Dallas shot just 38%.  Haywood had 13 & 20 for the Mavs.  He's been a pretty good pickup for them.

Of course the Pacers were playing without Danny Granger who could have provided a little more offense for them.  He likely would have had the same case as bricktivits as the rest of the two teams though.  Let's check in with Indy Cornrows,

The tone for this game was set early when both teams shared a barrage of rim clanking perimeter shots followed by a near-epidemic case of sloppy ball handling and passing.

I don't have the numbers to back me up, but I'm quite sure that the Mavs and Pacers combined to have more passes deflected or stolen in the first half than they had shots made. It was ugly, OK. Even Mavs' owner Mark Cuban found the play unpalatable at the half complaining to Clark Kellogg and Chris Denari at the half that his game at the gym earlier in the day wasn't as ugly as the first half.

Hmm, nobody from the winning team has anything up.  Let's just go with this pic from a Dallas fan that won 10G on a half court shot (his shooting percentage was better than the teams),

So the Pacers didn't help us out at all.  Combined with our loss, the Mavs are just a half game back of the Jazz now.  Maybe Indiana should sign this guy?  Let's go to Sloan for the final reaction to this game,

What do I want?  Jeez, just a little help with the WYWS.  Never mind.

Bucks 83 @ Knicks 67

New York has now lost 7 straight and are hanging out just above Indiana (so that loss isn't quite as bad), Sacramento, and Golden State.  They're not going to "catch"  Minnesota (remember how we lost to them twice this season?  That was awesome) or New Jersey.  But to have a shot at the three spot in the lottery?  That's some sweet action.

From the proprietors at Brew Hoop,

While the small-ball Knicks once again hemorrhaged points inside to Bogut and company, New York's often explosive offense could neither shoot straight from outside (5/24) nor find a way to get around Bogut inside (five blocks for the third straight game).   Lee managed a very respectable 12/13 scoreline, but his opportunities were largely limited to mid-range jump shots and his typical assortment of garbage buckets around the hoop.  Bogut had no such problems, scoring 14 points along with nine boards in the first 11 minutes of the game alone as the Bucks led by seven after one period.

And get used to Seth from Posting and Toasting,

While double teams worked on occasion, the Knicks simply weren't going to stop Bogut with David Lee being the only player even close to qualifying as a "big man" on defense. Lee's arch-nemesis finished with 24 points, 20 rebounds, and 5 blocks, dominating the puny Knicks the way you or I would against a gaggle of second-graders. Consider Experiment 1: "Playing a lineup without any post defenders against one of the league's best 7-footers" a failure. The new-look Knicks fared pretty well on Saturday against the smaller Thunder, but were exposed all at once at the hands of Andrew Bogut.

Maybe NY would have fared a little better had the lights worked?

Let's go to Scott for the final word on this.  Maybe he was part of a large league conspiracy to get the Jazz a good pick this year by laying the foundation for the Isiah Thomas years?  Thanks Scott!