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Another day, another chance at a fresh start, I need to get something off my chest. It's been eating away at me for weeks now...
I'm so sorry....
If the Jazz can scrap and grind for a 5-5 record over the next 10 games, they should have the inside track to the playoffs
— Justin (JuMu) (@JuMuJazz) February 25, 2016
What do the Jazz do after I post this tweet? They immediately go 1-6 over their next 7 games...
I'm sorry!
Hopefully I haven't jinxed our team from a shot at making the big stage against one of the greatest teams of the millenium, if not ever, in the Warriors or Spurs.
Last night, the Jazz lost a heartbreaker against the Atlanta Hawks 91-84.
The Roundup—Jazz 84, Hawks 91
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) March 9, 2016
Game Recap: https://t.co/edoBZPWDfh#ATLatUTA pic.twitter.com/yXkQSKFpr9
The Shelvin Mack revenge game did not go in our favor as he went 2 for 13 from the field. Also, the complete travesty that is our bench went a typical-for-them 5 for 20 from the field.
Paul Millsap was able to carry out a business-as-usual Millslap against us with a slick 18 points (off of 12 shots), 9 rebounds, and 3 steals.
Yikes, I really hope we get a nice 8 or 9 man rotation next season because our bench is way too much dead-weight for our good, but not elite, starting lineup to carry for many of these games.
Anyways, enough being down on the team, let's hope they can get the next one! Oh, they play again tonight...at the Warriors?
Okay.... never mind.... maybe after tonight's game, our real playoff push begins! (Maybe...eventually...PLEASE!)
I'm starting to feel bad for Trey Burke, he got himself another Did Not Play- Coach's Decision in last night's game. I really hope Burke has been a jerk to Snyder or somebody in the front office. Because if not, he's lost his playing time to meh point guards in Shelvin Mack and Raul Neto. Trey Burke is a bonafide scorer for a team that desperately needs it from their bench.
Are the Jazz punishing Trey for his outspoken superfan parents? Perhaps, we shall see if the true story ever breaks out.
On the other side, perhaps Quin is playing who he sees as who will help out this team the most. Trey does perform quite horrible in many basic and advanced metrics. But from what we've seen as of this recent slide, our team is in a certain state of beggars-can't-be-choosers when it comes to quality players we have to choose from for our team's rotation.
I hope that we can start getting more quality play from just a couple of our bench players.
The Astonishing Basketball Writer Great who goes by Zach Lowe released this year's batch of Marc Gasol All Stars (players who are extremely fun to watch but get snubbed from the All Star Game)
Tues column: The 4th Annual Marc Gasol All-Stars, plus the usual 10 Things I Like and Don't Like: https://t.co/Va05xvwiWU
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) March 8, 2016
One of our players makes an appearance, our very own Gordon Hayward!
Some excerpts:
Gordon Hayward, F, Jazz: Paul Millsap just appeared in his third All-Star game, so it's official: Hayward has seized the mantle of Most Underappreciated NBA Player.
...
Hayward can manufacture a decent look from thin air, and that should serve him well as a crunch-time scorer. Utah has struggled in the clutch this season, but that has been due mostly to awful defense; Hayward is 13-of-28 on shots within the last three minutes of close games.
Source: ESPN
Read on and see what else he says about Derrick Favors in his "10 things I like and don't like" section. Spoiler: he does one of the things he likes!
To follow up that beat with a Millsap mention with another:
Sources said Maccabi is waiving NBA import Elijah Millsap after repeated violation of team rules.
— David Pick (@IAmDPick) March 8, 2016
Interesting.... I haven't seen any other details on what rules were violated. Very curious indeed.
64 games into last season the Utah Jazz had a 28-36 record. Unless the Jazz win tonight on a back-to-back on the road against the Warriors, this year the Jazz will be at 29-35. A whopping 1 game improvement.
Frankly, this season has been an immense disappointment. Hopefully it's not too late to turn things around.
Injuries have hurt us, our abysmal road play has killed us (10-21 on the road), and our bench has sunk us.
Last's year Jazz finished the season's last 18 game stretch with a 10-8 record. If the Jazz this year don't at least match that this year, you can kiss those dreams away of any of our core players winning their first playoff game this season.
To lighten the mood up instead of finishing on that note, enjoy one of the few moments of Jazz history that has been more traumatic than the Jazz's recent play: