NBA Regular Season: Utah Jazz fall in Philly, 99-93 -- Game Recap

NBA Regular Season 2012-2013, Game 10:

Utah Jazz 93 @ Philadelphia 76ers 99

#UTAatPHI Game Stream -- Liberty Ballers (SB Nation Blog) -- Jazz vs 76ers coverage

Game Recap

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This one is only a few HOURS late . . .

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First Half:

Philly needed this win more than we did and they played like it. Their starters dominated ours, they played their game, and used their strengths. We did not. Our bench is better than their bench, and in the second quarter we retook the lead after being down 10 after one. Starters came back in to finish the job, and the Sixers retook control of both the score and the game. The first half was a Philly 8-0 run, followed by a Philly 7-0 run, followed by a Jazz 15-2 run, then a Philly 18-5 run. Our run was our bench. Which is HILARIOUS, as against the Celtics it was our starters who were the only guys doing anything. Tonight the Starters were tired, and our bench stepped up.

It would be great if they both could play a normative game in the same game; instead of oscillating quality and intensity. It was a very physical game, not a lot of fouls were being called, and while we had the size advantage we did not use it. Philly led by 10 after one, and led by 9 at halftime.

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Second Half:

Second verse, same as the first.

Well, to be fair Paul Millsap played a great game, essentially being that strong, ball handling, power player that we've never had before. DeMarre made the best of a bad situation by missing zero of his shots and hustling all game long.

We made it close, but could not get over the hump when the 76ers returned to their starters. A particular factor was the three point disparity. They shot 55.6 3pt%, while we shot 31.8 3pt%. OF course, because we're this new Jazz team, we shot more threes than them, yet somehow made three less.

The Jazz lost three of the four factors (eFG%, TOV% and ORB%). I mentioned in the game preview how it would really come down to turn overs. Philly played their game and won, and even beat US at our own game too. Bravo.

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Top Performers:

• Paul Millsap (PF, 28 minutes): He played like a Cleveland Cavaliers LeBron James tonight, except we didn't have guys to make shots, robbing him of assists. 22 points, 7 rebounds, 2 threes, 3 assists, 60% shooting.
• Al Jefferson (C, 33 minutes): 15 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 5/7 FT
• DeMarre Carroll (SF, 23 minutes): 17 points (6-6 FG, 1-1 3PT, 4-4 FT), 5 rebounds, 2 steals, the only guy hustling out there
• Mo Williams (PG, 34 minutes): I guess I should mention him, he had 12 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks 1 steal, and 2 threes -- which would have been like a career game from a Jazz starting PG in 2011-2012. But he didn't shoot well (he's not the only one last night, so I'm not picking on him), and Jrue torched our team.

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Game Changer:

Defensively we need to figure out how to deal with quick guards. Jrue Holiday was dominant against us, similar to how we've previously been killed by Leandro Barbosa, Gordan Dragic, Ty Lawson, Mike Conley, Tony Parker, Gary Neal, freekin' Greivis Vasquez, Darren Collison, and Rodrigue Beaubois . . . all. this. season. Not all of them are short and speedy, not all of them are athletic, but all of them are quick, and hurt us. Do we play better against Philly with a healthy Earl Watson? I don't know. But I do know that we are hurting on defense when it comes to dealing with PGs. Jamaal Tinsley hasn't guarded anyone since Eisenhower was in the White House. From the get go Holiday was getting open looks at the basket and making us pay for not stopping him. Dude almost had 30 points last night. He had more points last night than Mo, Gordon, and Marvin had combined. Jrue also had 7 assists and 6 rebounds. The cherry on top of the insult sundae is that he blocked Paul Millsap at the buzzer on a three point try.

He was Rocky and Apollo Creed and Clubber Lang all in one last night.

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Ooooohhhh Moment:

Did we even have won? Was it the Mo to Favors oop? Was it Sap's deep three? Was it all of our bricked open shots? I think we had plenty of D'ooooohhh moments though.

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The Good News:

Our bench played inspired, and DeMarre Carroll showed up and had a career scoring night.

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The Bad News:

Our starters have played a ton of minutes over the last little while. I'm not surprised they're tired.

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Going forward:

The Jazz are playing @ the Washington Wizards tonight. It's a must win. If we do we finish this road trip 2-2. If we don't then we have a lot of bigger problems to talk about.

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Post Game Immediate Reaction Video:

If you missed this somehow . . .