Soooooo, is there any hope for tonight's game? Has anything changed between last night and today? I've been checking the news but haven't heard any trade news.
My biggest fear tonight is that we get run right out of the building in the first 5 minutes. With the way we played against the Rockets, that game would have been over in the first half it was one of the top teams in the league (which Houston might be at least for now).
But this game has all the recipe for disaster. On the road, back-to-back, and not playing a lick of D. Maybe I should just start writing the game recap now and call it Jazz lose in Allas (stealing from UtesFan).
I'm afraid that the players need a change now to boost their confidence. Everyone remembers December 2007 when the Jazz won just 5 games. They trade for Korver and proceed to go on a huge run.
The team has been in a huge rut going back to last season and it's going to take some changes for them to get out of it. Deron seems to be putting too much on himself right now. And he seems to be doing a lot of stuff outside the offense.
Boozer on the other hand is doing things inside the offense, at least according to the coaches, but he's just not being effective at it.
It comes down to D though for the Jazz. No big revelation there. In fact, you could say that about any team. Point guards are driving at will. We're getting killed on the defensive boards. Locke pointed out that in the second half of the Clippers game we yielded no offensive rebounds. I think that's been killing us.
The Jazz aren't even leaving their feet when the ball is coming off the rim. How are they suppose to get a rebound when they're nailed to the floor? The other team just comes in a cleans up with a putback dunk. Deron has been getting a lot more rebounds than he has over his career on average. Maybe it's because he's trying to do everything himself because it's not getting done by anyone else.
This team needs a huge lift. What if the team traded for Tyrus Thomas and now suddenly they have a huge defender and an athletic one at that? Chiacago doesn't look like they're bringing him back. A swap for Boozer and Thomas (and a throw in) would benefit both teams. Thomas wouldn't have to be re-signed, so the Jazz have cap room there. And I might be wrong, but I believe by having Boozer on the team now, Chicago retains the right to go over the cap to re-sign him if they desire.
I just think some fresh blood would go a long ways to rebooting the team.
Let me know your thoughts. Are you going to be watching tonight? Is there anything the Jazz can do to get going again? Have we just lost another season of Deron?
Game Thread at 6:00
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