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Jazz/Spurs Analysis: Valiant Effort Fall Short, Groundhog Day
Posted by: David J. Smith on November 4th, 2012
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Sometimes it feels like Utah Jazz/San Antonio Spurs games mirror “Groundhog Day.” See if you follow this plot: San Antonio comes out on fire; Jazz struggle to get good shots and are out of synch; Spurs put on a textbook basketball display; Jazz get down; Spurs make a boatload of three-pointers; Jazz eventually battle back only to fall short and lose by double-digits.
Saturday started out like just another day in Punxutawney for Bill Murray. But Mo Williams and Paul Millsap decided they were tired of that movie and took things into their own hands. It was so refreshing to see the team battle back and make it a game until the last few minutes.
Along with my Deseret News analysis, here are some additional thoughts:
- How great has Mo Williams been thus far? Yes, still early, but after three games, our point guard is 14th in the NBA in scoring at 22.0 ppg, while adding 6.3 apg (19th), 1.7 spg, and shooting 49%, 43%, and 100% (16-16 FTs). He’s clearly established himself as a leader. We knew he was more of a shoot-first point guard, but he’s showing he can create well. I love what he’s brought. It’s been a while since we had a guy who could take over a game the way he did last night in the third quarter.
- Well, Paul Millsap did it one fine evening in Miami:
- Speaking of which, along with the additions of Mo, Marvin Williams, and Randy Foye, we’ve got Gordon Hayward back firing away…and Paul, who is 3-3 this season. There is firepower on this team.
- I noticed Tim Duncan with many classy gestures to our bigs. I know he knows he’s better, but it was nice to see him show respect to Al, Derrick, and Paul.
- Enes Kanter needs to have a breakout game. I firmly believe the preseason was a sign of positive things to come, and the first few games have been rough. In the season opener, he was excellent had he not been curtailed by the blood.
- There were some rumors circulating about Jazz interest in Danny Green. He showed exactly why that might have been the case. Perfect role player for SAS…along with Matt Bonner, Gary Neal, Tiago Splitter, Kawhi Leonard, etc. No team brings on players who fit into their system better than the Spurs.
- In looking at the season stats, it’s nice to see six guys averaging double digits. Also, no one averages more than 33.3 mpg (10 guys playing more than 12 mpg).
Replies: 2
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2 Responses
Why dont we run the high pick and roll with Hayward/Favors at Duncan all game? And lets see if Burks can give us more than Tinsley. And I’m still not sure Al fits anything but the post-ISO offense, which still isn’t getting you anywhere, especially with his P&R defense deficiencies. Just trade him and overpay Millsap to stay already. Yeah, we’ll have a difficult lull while our bigs develop offensively, but at least they WILL be developing, and our team will be much better off defensively. Tinsley should be our 3rd PG, just like Demarre fourth wing and Evans fourth big. Burks should be backup PG.
I watched a few other teams, and as usual when they center around some star player, it’s very “loose” Basketball.
I used to point out that the Jazz are different – they work the ball around, looking for a good shot, using superior ball movement.
I am still missing that. Is execution gone with AK-47? I know he was way too injury prone, but unless the current players step up, he is remaining the best Jazz player of recent times (in my mind at least).
Also: Where is Burks? Where is the defense? Where is the effort (only one quarter of defense is not enough)?
When does Enes Kanter show what he let us glimpse in the pre-season?