So just how pesky are the Timberwolves for the Jazz? Well, in total head-to-head meetings between the teams, the Jazz are actually 57-30 (.655). That's Utah's third-best winning percentage against any team.
In 18 meeting ADW (after D-Will), the Jazz are 11-7 (.611). However, the Jazz have lost 3 in a row to the TWolves after having won 4 straight.
So they seem to be pesky, but only when we lose to them.
On the flip side, the Jazz have struggled against the OKC/SEA team in all-time meetings between the two teams. We have the third worst winning percentage against them compared to other teams.
However, we have done quite well against them in the AD (after Durant) era going 7-2.
What does that mean for this two-game roady? I've probably jinxed them. But does an intentional reverse-jinx work? If that's the case, then did I jinx them again by saying that? Does the jinx/reverse jinx now go on into infinite? What about a jinx on an infinte jinx/reverse jinx jinx?
Probably not a coincidence that the Jazz waited until last Tuesday to trade Maynor and Harpring. The first day that teams can sign 10-day contract players is Jan 5th which is a day before the 2-week period they have to sign a 13th player.
I wonder how many 10-day contracts we'll see or if they'll sign someone for the rest of the season.
Or, could we see a trade after a couple of 10-dayers that brings back an extra player? Or maybe, we see a trade before then?
Speaking of which, yesterday marked 2 years since Kyle Korver entered the Wasatch Front. I thought there might be a population boom because of it (not from Kyle directly of course) but from couples that were Jazz fans because their wives became a little more amorous from watching KK play.
I checked the stats for 2008 though and there wasn't a significant jump in births in 2008. However, that was just a mid-year estimate. Since he came at the end of December 2007, we wouldn't see the fruit of this theory until Sept+. So maybe.
But, could the end of this December be when KK leaves Utah?
In case you don't click through for the comments (and why wouldn't you, they're the best part of any post here) for yesterday's DB, I'm lifting MTN's comment and putting it here. Too good to be missed.
Best wishes to Maynor. For some reason, I like the players who work their way into a draft after four years of toil more than I like players like John Wall who would have been drafted out of 11th grade if it were legal. I just think I’d rather have a guy like Maynor running my team than John Wall. Call me crazy. AAU, the internet, shoe companies and agents have ruined the mythos of "the basketball player." Twenty years ago, the NBA was full of guys who rigged make-shift lighting for their back yard hoops so they could stay up until midnight practicing their shot or their moves; who had a father-son relationship with their coaches; who were poor until the day they were drafted; who survived because of their competitive spirit. Nowadays, stars are coddled from age 14, secretly gifted luxuries, carted around from camp to camp, and none of them can hit a jump shot like Steve Alford. There will be no more Birds, Magics, Jordans, Sloans, Stocktons, Alfords, Alex Englishs, or Sabonises because instead we have only AAU-pampered head cases with 50-inch vertical leaps, AND1 handles, and a jumpshot that would make Allan Houston reconsider another comeback.