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NBA Regular Season 2012-2013, Game 42:
Washington Wizards 88 @ Utah Jazz 92
#WASatUTA Game Stream -- Bullets Forever -- Wizards vs Jazz coverage
What is this . . . basketball . . . ? Game night? The Youtah who now?
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The Basics:
Tonight the Jazz played their entire last season, in one game. They looked good early, promising; then fell hard to earth; and eventually scraped out a victory. Utah was up by 20 or more points in the second quarter, and then again late in the third quarter. The Wizards, on the last game of a long road trip, fought back and came *thiiiiiis* close to knotting it up, but we had the rest advantage, and had enough to finish strong-ish. Like every other single game this entire season -- our lineups that mixed age with youth, and bench guys with starters, were our best lineups. Did we stick with those lineups during critical parts of the game? No. But we did finish this game out mainly due to the decisive play of Jamaal Tinsley, tenacity of Gordon Hayward, and all-around efficiency of Paul Millsap.
Jamaal did the primary ball handling, worked to set guys up -- and in the case where A.J. Price was on him, took him to school. Tinsley finished with 11 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals. He also made yet another deep three -- and countless highlights. Gordon came off the bench and was decisive as well, finishing drives to the basket with effortless grace, and getting lucky too with a banked in jumper that was well contested. He finished with 15 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 7 FTA, and 1 block on a John Wall layup -- and now looking at the final score, thanks for that.
What about Paul Millsap? Matched up against the bigger and stronger Nene Hilario he started off hot shooting from outside, but ended up having a very Millsappy game: 16 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. When you add in Al Jefferson 's double double you see where we won this game: in the paint.
It was a slim margin of victory, but that's really all we wanted to ensure here. We had over 50 boards, and shot less than 20 free throws at home. Strange game, but happy to have the win.