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Are We Really This Good?
Posted by: Earl-Stevens on February 5th, 2010
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.
What has Jerry Sloan been feeding this team? In the matter of a month, the Jazz have jumped from 9th-spot mediocrity to a dogfight for the second seed in the west.
Is this the same team that lost at home to Sacramento in November? The same team that barely squeaked by the Knicks and lost to Minnesota. . .twice?
No. Thankfully, this is an entirely different team. One that shows up to play four full quarters and wins games that are supposed to be won. This is a team that has abandoned personal agendas and stats for the sake of winning (OK, there’s D-Will’s All-Star campaign – but that was necessary. The fans picked McGrady and Iverson to START for crying out loud!). It’s a team that’s having fun, sharing the ball, and helping each other on defense. And wow, is it fun to watch?!
So how good have the Jazz been recently? I dug into the numbers a bit and was delighted with the results:
- The Jazz’ Miller Metric over the past 10 games has been nearly double that of the past five NBA Champs.
- The Jazz have been so dominant and efficient recently that their season Miller Metric is better than 4 out of the 5 past NBA champs.
- The Jazz have a double digit point differential against quality opponents over the past 10 games.
- The Jazz’ “Killer Instinct” statistic is more than double that of the past five NBA champs.
- As Trevor Fuchs pointed out, the Jazz were able to capture the #1 spot on Hollinger’s Power Rankings (They’re currently at #2 behind the Cavs)
- Even with the early season challenges, the Jazz’ efficiency and “killer instinct” is on par with the superpowers of the conference/league.
- If you believe in my amateur stats above, the Jazz are a solid 3rd seed.
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| How Good Are the Jazz? | |||
| Efficiency, Point Differential, and Killer Instinct | |||
| Stats as of 2/4/2010 | |||
| Team |
Miller Metric |
Point Differential |
Killer Instinct |
| Jazz (Season) |
0.27510 |
4.88 |
1.3411 |
| Jazz (Last 10 games) |
0.49042 |
10.30 |
5.0513 |
| Lakers |
0.26573 |
6.70 |
1.7804 |
| Mavericks |
0.26507 |
2.53 |
0.6708 |
| Nuggets |
0.27038 |
5.04 |
1.3630 |
| AVG Last 5 NBA Champs |
0.26281 |
7.58 |
2.0002 |
____________________________________________________________________________
I understand that there are still three months left in the regular season, with a lot of games yet to be played, and uncertainty around the trade deadline later this month. I still fear what seems to be a tradition of April struggles, but wow, with each game I have more confidence that we won’t be playing the Lakers in the first round this year!
Is it too soon to start the Coach of the Year buzz for Jerry Sloan?
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I don’t see the Jazz having a collapse like the last couple of years. There is something so different about the team right now. Its not lke when they would make runs in the past. ITs so much better and they are happier and more confident.
I doubt we can keep up winning 10 of 11 like we are right now but I do think we’ll finish strong. Hopefully in the top 3!
Sloan deserves COY!!! He’s deserved it multiple times but always gets snubbed.
I don’t see a collapse either. EVERYONE is showing up to play now. It’s not just a few players every other game. It’s every player every game doing something to get the win. It looks like they’ve really figured something out.
I love STATs.
The Jazz are playing well, and sitting in 3, but the Nuggets have owned us so far.
They will be on a back-to-back from their HATED Laker win, with Anthony out, but remember what happened when he and Billups were out?
GO JAZZ!!!
Jazzaholic
I think i noticed the spark in the Jazz team when Greg Miller gave some kind of message to the coaches and players. I think with Greg Miller getting more involved, it has helped the team, coaches and “YES” the fans..
Way to go Greg Miller!!
Thanks
ErnMon
Yes, we really are this good!!!
GO JAZZ great FANS….