Bullet-point style
- Maybe, just maybe, the Jazz mean it this time when they're going to play D. The Blazers were without Brandon Roy but still held the Blazers to 40% shooting. They got 9 steals and 25 PF points.
- Jazz had the edge in all shooting %s tonight.
- Memo got the Jazz off right with two three-pointers. He finished with 15 points.
- It looks like it's Wes Matthews' job to lose should the Jazz sign another player. He's getting all of the minutes right now and run with the first team. We was 5/7 tonight for 12 points. Dupree hasn't been bad, just not enough to leap Wes.
- Ronnie P and Deron with an identical 10 points on 5/7 shooting. D-Will had 7 boards and 7 assists. All of those boards came in the first quarter. Ronnie sounded good.
- The Fess v. KOOF battle didn't have a winner. Nobody stood out tonight. Fess had a nice block on Oden. The KOOF has one as well.
Nobody taking the position though. - Boozer and Millsap were both quiet. They both had 7 boards, but not much on offense tonight.
- Eric Maynor with 14 & 5 on 4/9 shooting. He did have a -15 but that was probably more to do with the team he was playing with at the time. He gives the Jazz a lot of flexibility in regards to mix and matching Deron and Ronnie P. He may not get many minutes at first, but I feel more confident with him than I ever did with Hart and Knight.
- Jazz had a 28-4 advantage on the fast break. Jazz seemed give up a lot of FB points last year.
- Ronnie B hit a couple of midrange jumpers in addition to his dunks. He finished with 12.
It's just the pre-season, but.... You have to like how to team is clicking right now. Despite the lineup experiments and PT given to guys that won't be with the team in a few weeks, the Jazz have managed to go 3-1 so far in the pre-season.
Most everyone appears to be ready to go for the season. Too bad it's still a couple weeks away. I'll be happy if we can avoid any more major injury until then and actually start out the season with a full roster.
We'll head to LA for a Saturday game next before seeing Portland again in Portland.