A great look into the reasons for the home-court advantage of the Jazz,
But for both the Jazz and Nuggets, there is a more specific, environmental factor that helps reinforce their home court advantage: altitude. The Jazz play in Salt Lake City, which sits at an elevation of 4262 feet. The Nuggets play in Denver, the Mile High City, which lies at an elevation of 5279 feet. The Nuggets and Jazz have the advantage of training and playing at altitude for41 home games and countless practices. For the un-acclimated, exertion at altitude can cause an array of physical problems that lead to poor physical performance. In addition, it can prevent athletes from sleeping properly the night before a game, exacerbating the third general factor that influences home court advantage (travel and sleep). EJ was right about Utah’s home court advantage but it’s not unique to only the Jazz. It is the Rocky Mountain home court advantage and applies to Denver as well.
There's a lot more to the article, so click through for the rest.
Seems like Fess is well on his way to Sloan's doghouse after last night's placing on the inactive list. Doesn't look good according to Siler,
Thank goodness for picking up a copy of the inactive list before the game. It’s not something that changes regularly on a team with 13 healthy players and we didn’t expect it to Tuesday. You can only imagine the surprise at seeing Kyrylo Fesenko’s name not being circled. We thought it was a mistake at first.
--Instead, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan decided to dress Kosta Koufos over Fesenko. Sloan said afterward that Fesenko has had issues with lateness this season and expressed his frustration with Fesenko’s work ethic. The marriage between the no-nonsense Sloan and the happy-go-lucky Fesenko continues to be an interesting one to watch.
Say what you want about Sloan's doghouse. Some have been there perhaps unfairly and some rightly so. Either way, after playing for Sloan for a few years now, you have to know how what pushes his buttons by now. If you're late and don't show work ethic, first, you're not going to play much. Second, it's very hard to get out of the doghouse. I can't think of many, if any, that get out once they're in.
Fess is going to have to work harder to get out than he would have just doing what he should be doing.
T-Mac to the Knicks? I thought they fired Isiah Thomas. Kidding aside, McGrady is in the last year of his deal so it's a big money saver as they try to get under the cap for the off-season. Actually, I'm not sure what it does for them because they'd be trading Harrington under that deal and he has an expiring deal as well. Maybe a cap specialist can explain that?
The downside of that trade is that it looks to be a three-way involving the Wizards. They would send Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood to the Rockets. That would be a good pickup for them.
As far as McGrady on the Knicks, in their heyday with Thomas, this would be comical. Now, it might actually give them a few more wins which as you know is bad for us. But TMac could sink them further as well as he jacks up 15 threes a game.
We've talked about it a bit already, but Tyrus Thomas is in the clearance bin right now. I don't think it would take much to get him but I think other teams can offer a little bit more than what we can right now. Chicago is looking to clear out as much cap space as possible for next season so we'd have to send expiring deals back.
Thomas is a restricted FA, so the Jazz could get him back if they wanted to. Right now though we only have Korver to offer and I don't think that's enough to land him. There are probably better offers on the table.
Would it be worth it to get him? He's an athletic big but has attitude problems. He might clash with Jerry from the get go and ruin the chemistry the team has going right now. If the Bulls would take Korver straight up for him, is he worth it?
Boozer's last chance to get into the All-star game is if Kobe sits it out due to injuries. However, he's too big to the game and too big for the NBA not to have him out there. So he'll be trotted out for the first 5 minutes or so and then sit the rest of the game. So it's a waste of a space if you're considering playing time but probably better overall for the league if he plays.