Great win by the Jazz tonight as they get their first win in the post-Sloan era tonight over the Pacers. Tyrone Corbin finally gets his first win as a head coach in the league. There are so many story lines from this game:
The debuts of Devin Harris and Derrick Favors
Both of them had fantastic showings in their first game. Harris came in and immediately drove for a layup. He finished with 14, 5, and 7 on the night. He was the finishing point guard for the game and had 29 minutes to 19 for Watson. He looked amazingly comfortable out there. I wouldn't be surprised if he got the start tomorrow. Normally I would say they wouldn't make a change until after another practice but he looks good out there.
Favors first basket was an emphatic dunk. What a way to start things out. He put up 6 & 3 in 15 minutes along with 1 block. He showed a bit of range too hitting a jumper from the top of the key. I'm interested to see how he gets integrated with Al and Millsap. I wonder if they'll split Al and Sap up a lot and have the defensive rookie play with both. Jefferson and Millsap could still finish down the stretch but I think he could develop into the defensive anchor.
Favors is the defensive big man we've been clamoring for for a long time.
You couldn't ask for much more for their first game.
Millsap and Al beasting
They have been killing it in February. Al is putting up nearly 24 & 9 this month while Millsap is averaging just 19 & 8. Al had a player of the week-type line with 30 & 9 along with 5 blocks while shooting 14-26 from the field.
Millsap had 23 & 18 including 7 offensive boards and 2 blocks.
I really hope the Jazz can work out a rotation with Al/Sap/Favors because that could be a great front-court in the league. They'll need it to match up with LA and now OKC who are suddenly huge.
I don't feel like I'm saying enough about their performance tonight or this month.
Gordon Hayward
He couldn't ask for a better homecoming. He received a standing ovation when he checked in for the first time. I don't think he's ever received anything close to that at the ESA. His first basket was an emphatic dunk over #10 pick Paul George. It nearly blew the roof off the place. That was his only bucket of the night but he did have three assists.
Defense
They looked like a different team out there defensively tonight. They double-teamed more tonight than they have all season. The Pacers are an above average shooting team from the arc so it's a bit risky to sag so much but their rotation were good and ended up holding Indiana to 35% shooting overall and allowed just 2 makes from the arc.
Against a very good rebounding team, the Jazz owned the boards by a 56-46 tally. Both teams had a ton of offensive rebounds, 20-19 in Indiana's favor.
The Jazz also finished with 13 blocked shots, tying a season high.
Other notes
- CJ has always been a streaky player but we've only see a bad streak lately. He's been playing good defense but his shot needs to be put on a milk carton. Most of his shots lately have been of the off-balance variety rather than when he was setting his feet earlier in the season.
- These pictures of Deron just look so wrong.
- The Pistons seem to be in complete disarray. They couldn't get Hamilton to lower his buyout so they weren't able to trade him. Now, five players protested by not showing up to shoot-around. The discontent should help tomorrow night.
- Jefferson has dunked more in the past month than in the entire season before that combined.
- I was only able to watch the last quarter of the game. Re-watching now.
- Indy Cornrows