The Utah Jazz, Destroyer of Worlds. Well, at least for the Lakers, Blazers, and Heat. Jody Genessy points out that those teams have had worse records after they gave up large leads to the Jazz.
It reminds me of when the Jazz lost to the Heat a couple of seasons ago in Miami in 3OT. They had won 12 games in a row before that east coast trip. Then they lost to Atlanta, Miami, and got destroyed the next day in Orlando. They won the next few games but finished the season 7-9 after that Miami loss including those horrible losses to the Wolves and Warriors at home.
It doesn't happen to every team but it looks like a couple of big, emotional losses can put you into a deep funk.
Not sure why I'm telling you this since it reduces my odds of winning but Deron is having his 25 days of Christmas where he gives away a bunch of prizes including headphones, shoes, tickets, etc. You have to register each day in order to be eligible for that day.
Gordon Hayward about not getting off the bench:
"I've never had to be on the bench my whole life. So to sit here and watch is hard, but it's also a great opportunity to learn. I'm playing for a team that's hopefully going to compete for a championship.
The Jazz have been fortunate that they haven't had to rely on Hayward this season. I don't think they drafted him with the intent on being a major contributor this season. If he's playing significant minutes, he's better than anyone expected and the Jazz got a steal or we had someone go down with an injury.
He gets pushed further down the line because of Earl Watson and Ronnie Price. With them playing on the court at the same time there's going to be no minutes for G-Time. And if one of the wings goes down for the game or gets into foul trouble, we've seen how Sloan plays Watson and Deron at the same time.
Someone has to be the 12th and 13th men on the bench and right now that's Hayward and Evans. Getting some PT by getting sent down to Orem for a bit might help though I don't know if they're still running Jazz sets.
The article also makes mention of Harpring's comments where the Jazz don't need Hayward now as other lottery teams might be relying on their high picks. That's completely true. You don't often have a winning team getting a pick in the lottery, the purpose of which is to put good players on bad teams. Hayward likely would have been playing a lot more minutes had he gone to one of those teams.
A bit of a cop-out on the DB today, but make sure you're voting for the Jazz daily on the All-star ballots.
Finally, condolences and prayers go out to the Miller family after the loss of Heidi Miller's (Greg's wife) mother to after a heinous act of violence took Sherry Black's life. The statement from the Miller family,
Today, our family suffered an unimaginable loss. My mother-in-law, Sherry Black, was taken from us in a senseless act of violence. My wife, Heidi, and I ask that you please keep our father, Earl, as well as the entire Black family in your thoughts and prayers during this extremely difficult time.