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Game 21: Jazz 131, Raptors 99
Posted by: TACOREV on December 7th, 2012
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.After a lousy start, the Jazz rebound and go on to do what they should do on their home floor against a 1-11 road team. Jefferson and Favors both sat out, but the Jazz still did work on the pathetic Raptors.
Millsap led the way with 20 & 10 as well as five assists and three steals, and Kanter finished with 18 & 8 in his first NBA start. Hayward scored 17, Marvin 14, Foye 13, Mo 11 & 10, Carroll 11 & 8, and Evans with 10 & 5… that’s eight Jazz players in double figures, with all 11 scoring at least five points.
The Raptors… well they are just an awful team, behind Andrea Bargnani’s 20 & 8 and DeMar DeRozan’s 17 & 5.
We’re back up above .500 at 11-10, improving to 8-1 at home.
Does this performance strengthen the “Trade Jefferson” argument, or does Toronto’s incompetence make this example invalid?
Also, we’re more than a fourth of the way through the season. Can you believe it? What are everybody’s quarterly evaluations?
One more note: Steve “Pat Sajak” Brown is unbearable as an announcer. I know some people complain about Bolerjack, but at least he’s a legitimate broadcaster even if you don’t prefer how he calls the games. I swear Steve Brown doesn’t even know what’s going on half the game.
Next up is the Hated Lakers Sunday night in LA.
Jazz player of the game: Paul Millsap
Replies: 29
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29 Responses
After a terrible showing against Orlando in the last game, our wing and backcourt players shot the eye out of the ball tonight. The three point shooting exhibition in the second and third quarters, in particular, was really spectacular.
Millsap has had two solid games in a row. The Jazz could really benefit from his getting on a roll.
Enes Kanter was solid in his role as a starter, but the real test of just where he is at in his development will come in the next ballgame if he ends up facing off against Dwight Howard. My only criticism of him tonight is that he sometimes forces things around the basket. I think he had like four of his shots swatted back at him tonight. But I like his physical presence, and he avoided foul trouble, which is definite progress.
The ball movement was just awesome tonight, and that is the biggest difference I noticed without Jefferson on the floor. Now obviously, the Raptors are terrible defensively, and the Jazz don’t always shoot the three as well as they did tonight, so you still need an inside game (as the Magic game showed). I’d love for the team to find a balance between the two worlds. I’m still not that happy with the defense. Hopefully Favors can shore things up in that area when he returns.
So i guess David Locke was right… we definitely can’t score without Al jefferson in the lineup, where did all of our points come from? I mean Kanter only had 18. I guess all of the ball movement tonight was for nothing. Darn. David Locke you are so smart.
No iso ball all team ball! That’s what I like to see. I would like to see another sample against the Lakers to see if the Jazz are any better without Jefferson still. It seems like every time he misses the Jazz have a breakout game and play good team ball.
@Steve, not to mention that this was our second highest scoring game of the year…without our top scorer, rebounder, and defender. These guys proved to me that they are a bunch of pushovers… I am more confident than ever that something will happen soon. On Twitter, Greg Miller said this after the game: “Just had very interesting and insightful conversation with Dennis Lindsey. Great to have him with the Jazz. He will help is win.” To me that sounds like there may be something in the works, that they are finally starting to see that a move needs to be made. That is just one interpretation of the tweet, honestly Mr. Miller could be talking about his golf scores for all I know… But I am secretly hoping for an imminent move!!! The Jazz did great tonight
*Clarification: they are NOT a bunch of pushovers…
@Adam. Wow this is great news! As vague as it is this is the best thing I’ve heard in a while.
And Jefferson’s stock is higher than ever right now
EXTRA PASS baby !!! that is basketball, hope lindsey came here with some spurs recipe……..
and the weird thing, that i had already seen in others games this years, even with our massive frontcourt, our small ball works better, corbin have to look in that direction, kanter and favors are atletic and fast for bigs so it can works…….
Dec 15th is the day trade restrictions are off. I think there will be some action somewhere.
One game is one game but I would agree that the Jazz would be fine without AL. I think Kanter will now improve every game. And yes he can handle more minutes..
Best game of the year. Yes we are not going to make all those threes but even take 5 of those away and we win by 15. I mean the passing was awesome and the ball movement will get you shots everywhere on the floor so if a night that was not falling you still have a play to get shots. This was the first team game we have played in a while. We saw more FT in the first minute from Kanter then we do from Al all game.
We would be fine without Al we have shown that the last two years. It is interesting our best games keep coming when he is gone. Last year Lakers in L.A and this game. Hopefully Faves gets back for next game though we need him
I was super excited about this game thinking Kanter would start!! Jazz did not disappoint!!
Ya Toronto is not a good team, but neither are Orlando and the Wizards and Jazz looled awful in those games–their style of play was just not good on O and D. And Jazz struggled in those two games.
This is why I had high expectations and really believed Jazz were trading Al before Halloween. This is whay I envisioned. And that was without our best D player, so extrapolate that…
The trend hold true: Jazz are 5 and 1 in Als DNPs (only lose in 2OTs with Toronto); Jazz in those games averaged about 112 and only allowed 93 points per game in regulation; Jazz still have not allowed 100 points in regulation when Al has DNPs. This cannot be coincidence. The numbers are almost exact in games occuring in 4 separate months and 2 separate seasons. If you really look at the numbers anyone can see Al is detrimental to the teams success. Period.
Adam that news has made my day!!!
Game changer of the game : Demarre Carrol
nuf said
The Raptors suck guys. You really think Kanter will put 18 points and 8 rebounds every night, against top competition? I’m still not a believer.
@Jason: a yeah I think he can. 17 8 against andrew bynum. Every time Kanter gets minutes he impresses especially for a 20 year old. What exactly has he done to disappoint you? And yeah the Raptors suck but is was a blowout by 30 points which is exactly what it should be. It probably would have only been by 5 if Jefferson was playing with his iso ball.
Go Kanter Go!!!!!!!
Finally plays Tinsley over Watson!!
great game…
Jazz player of the game: Enes Kanter.
@ Omar.. nuff said.. see how sap beast without jefferson. kanter balled out here. smdh. hand the keys over and no one better not come on here talking about evans cannot play in the nba.. sthu and get off.
jason gtho.. hating out here… take that somehwere else becasue kanter have u on ur knees
@jason… your not a believer in kanter because he did the against lesser competition. does Al show up against better competition? I don’t believe he does.
Dallas 4/11 12pts
San antonio 8/16 16pts
Memphis 5/10 11pts
Lakers 8/18 18pts
Denver 1/9 4pts
Boston 6/12 13pts
Denver 10/15 28pts
OKC 7/18 16pts
So, if your not a believer in kanter, what does jefferson do to make you a believer in him? Were paying Al 15 million for that type of production against good competition?!? WOW! I would much rather get that same production from Kanter at 1/5 the cost, and 5 times the potential. Like i said before, if you give anyone 15-20 shots a night they should get 15-20pts, Kanter had 16 attempts and scored 18 pts.
Start believing buddy
Let’s see:
Kanter shot below 50% against the Raptors.
In the games you listed above, Al shot 50% or better in 4 of those (San Antonio, Memphis, Boston, and Denver).
And thats what you want out of a guy your paying 15 million? Cool. We wont be winning anything, anytime soon.
oh i forgot…
Toronto 9/20 24 points
Al shot under 45% against the raptors, which i think is under 50%…
While i’m at it, lets look at what kanter did those same games.
Dallas 3/5 6pts
San Antonio 0/2 0pts
Memphis 1/3 2 pts
Lakers 4/5 9pts
Denver 6/8 13pts
Boston 1/4 2pts
Denver 1/5 3pts
OKC 8/11 18pts
So…. Kanter shot 50% or better in 4 games too; okc, denver, Lakers, Dallas
Hmmmm… start believing jason, ya know you want to!
@Jason Al is shooting less the 50% for the whole season. So what is your point? The fact that his best games came against Koufus,Robin Lopez who owned him all ready. So he played decent in those games and then he played good against who else?
I just think Kanter fits our style of play better. He’s a better defender and he is cheaper. Please just trade Al. Obviously we can score without him if we just put up 130 points
Isn’t it crazy that David Khan just gave away big Al for a draft pick(Royce White) and Kosta Koufos … his reasoning was that Al and Kevin Love just couldn’t play together and the only way to develop Love was to open it up by moving Al out …
…Here we are in exactly the same situation, hopefully we can summon the wisdom of Khan.
…also, how is it that DMC is not starting over Marvin Williams, he should be getting more minutes than anyone on the team.
I am secretly hoping Jefferson will be out for tomorrow’s game. He brings a lot to the table and I don’t wish ill on him at all, but I do want to see Kanter’s level of performance if he starts. He’ll get worked quite a bit by Dwight Howard, but maybe he’ll rise to the occasion. I’m interested in seeing how he responds…
Also, I loved seeing Burks play last night. He was really active and did lots of things right. He couldn’t hit a jump shot but I would like to see him get 10 minutes in the game, somewhere in the 2nd or 3rd quarter would be nice.
@Millslapped, I think trading Al is a good option but for who? What areas do we need addressed?? Honestly, we are stacked at EVERY position… The only area I see that we could potentially have a hole in is the PG position. If the Jazz don’t intend on resigning Mo, then we need to fill that spot. If they want him back then I don’t see any other spots open… The SG position is filled to the brim, SF is highly competitive with Marvin Williams and Demarre Carroll, of which both guys are important to our team. Any suggestions guys???
If we move Jefferson I would like for us to acquire a young promising point guard with a pass first mentality. I really think Mo Williams could thrive as a combo guard off the bench. I’m not completely comfortable with Evans being our fourth big if we trade Al (because he’s so slight of build), so if the Jazz could also acquire a legit journeyman big in the deal, all the better. I also wouldn’t be against including our two picks in the upcoming draft, because neither looks like a lottery pick at this point (probably somewhere in the 15-20 range). We have more then enough depth already (Burks was the 12th pick, and he barely sees any action as it is).
@jason… Now thats more like it!
trade Al to the team we just beat. Send Al, Watson, and a pick in this years draft to toronto for Calderon, Amir Johnson and a future pick. I know Calderon isn’t the young pg we all want, but really, who is out there we could bring in? Kendall Marshall? maybe.
@pintz11, hellya!!! Jazz need to run and gun and let these athletes that can ball loose. Jazz ran after made baskets, after rebounds, after steals. Burks just by athleticism makes him dangerous, hes a pretty damn good on the ball defender and he has active hands.
Jazz future is bright, they just need to move the vets to the side, and some vets just need to be moved–like Al. Jazz wings were able to extend D instead instead off sagging to the paint to help Al or having to over rotate cuz of him which leads to wide open 3s. Al hurts Jazz on O and on D. A lot of us have said it for a while.
Al for a 1st round pick sounds good to me, anything for him to leave.
@steve….Calderon is hopefully not a young pg i DON’T want, if you want to develop the car, you don’t take a driver who need to be develop first……..
Marshall is not even ready for the league, it’s good to have youngs, but it’s not good to have only youngs, that’s why i was happy to don’t have any first pick last year with already 2 first year and 2 second in the boat………
I like the Sir Alex Ferguson philosophy (which work well since 30 years) a good team is a three-thirds teams, one-third around 20, one-third between 25 and 30, one third of vet, in the first third we have Kanter Favors Hayward Burks Murphy, more will be too much, because we barely find playing for these kids
*playing “TIME” of course in the last sentence…..