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Game 48: Blazers 105, Jazz 99
Posted by: TACOREV on February 2nd, 2013
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.The Jazz drop part two of the back-to-back with the Blazers (24-23, 17-8 home) in Portland.
Damian Lillard again led the Blazers with 23 & 8, J.J. Hickson had 21 & 11, and LaMarcus Aldridge added 18 & 11. Nolan Smith scored 13 off the bench and Nicholas Batum finished just one assist off from a triple-double with 12/10/9.
Foye led Utah with 23, hitting 6-of-12 from 3. Millsap put in 18/8/5, Marvin had 15 & 6, and Carroll contributed 11 off the bench, shooting 5-for-5 from the field.
Al Jefferson surprisingly dished out five assists, which I can only assume is a career high, to go along with his 12 points (on 13 shots) and six boards.
Carroll was playing great, so Corbin pulls him and Burks to put in Foye and Tinsley. Tinsley! If you’re going to take Burks out, put Foye at PG and leave Carroll in. DeMarre played just 16 minutes when he was playing great D and shooting 100 percent — but no. Instead, Tinsley played 33 minutes and scored six points on eight shots. Honestly, I want to try and see the positive in Corbin, but it’s tough when he’s making such bone-headed decisions.
Kanter played 12 minutes tonight, more than the last two games combined. Still less than half what he should be getting. He had a rough go, though, finishing 0-for-7.
The Jazz (26-22) return to SLC to host another three-game home stand, starting with Sacramento on Monday.
Jazz player of the game: DeMarre Carroll
Replies: 25
Views: 609
25 Responses
Someone needs to explain to Corbin that you don’t have to finish the game with the starters. Adjust and leave in what is working the best.
I’m loving the effort from the guys, buts its almost getting too hard to watch this team when the coach is not helping them. What was it? 11 points from Carroll in something like 16 minutes? Ok he doesn’t always help his case with his fouling but come on! Kanter was struggling tonight with 0-7, but there are other nights he is getting 5-6 and then getting pulled. I’m not big on Al but him learning to pass from double teams earlier this season allowed him to be useful in some regard today, at one point he had more assists than Tinsley. If Al can learn you would think there might be hope for Corbin. But when is Corbin going to learn to make timely timeout situations that help his team out of bad runs by the opposition before too much momentum is built up and panic sets in?
Wow! When I watch the jazz games I feel like I’m watching the movie ground hogs day. I find myself complaining about the same things after every game. This loss, like many of our losses can be blamed solely on coaching. If any of you don’t believe that then you must be a blazers fan. All you Corbin apologists out there ask yourself this question, what has Corbin done that makes you believe he is the coach of the future? He has taken everything bad from the Jerry Sloan system and morphed it into his own twisted System filled of predictability and mediocrity. If I as a fan sitting on my couch can predict the next thing Corbin is gonna do and when he is gonna do it. What do you think an NBA coach with intelligence and basketball knowledge can do? Corbin in this game actually did something innovative for once. He had favors, kanter, carrol, millsap, and burks all in the same lineup, and guess what, it worked. That must’ve short circuited a fuse in his brain and his predictable side must have overrode the system because he went right back to mediocrity. Rule 57 of basketball 101 states when a player gets hot you do not bench him and cool him down. Corbin must have been sick that day when they learned that one. Who’s more at fault Corbin himself or the guy that manages him. Like I said. Wow!
@TACOREV, thanks for taking the time and doing instant analysis for us, you do good work!
Btw I hope Corbin doesn’t kill the confidence of Kanter but I fear it’s too late.
I’m sure there’s lots of us who appreciate these quick recaps–thanks!
How are the Jazz getting outrebounded on the road, again?
This team is not offensively efficient enough to get outrebounded & win. Crash the boards, guys! Wait, who am I talking to….our real rebounders are only getting 25-30% of the available C/PF minutes…Thanks Ty.
Hey, no problem guys. It’s always great to discuss each game with everyone (no matter how increasingly depressing it may get).
@Uottakno: “He has taken everything bad from the Jerry Sloan system and morphed it into his own twisted System filled of predictability and mediocrity.”
It’s frustrating how spot on that sentence is.
Corbin did make a defensive substitution late in the game… That was shocking.
Also I’m glad KOC signed Randy Foye, this year could be a whole lot worse without his 3pt shooting.
@uottakno – you just described the Jazz season in one film reference and Corbin’s coaching in one sentence. That is a skill. Is it any wonder Kanter misses his shots, he gets bugger all minutes and then he is told get in there and make something happen. Why is he forced to the post every time when he has a good stroke that can stretch the floor as well.
I want Batum………………… and this have nothing to do with his French passport
Blaaaahhhrrrggg
That’s my feelings towards the Jazz right now.
Lillard is so good aleady! He will be as good as Rose and Chris Paul one day, probably sooner than later…
Corbin is killing me, I can’t defend him anymore, this was another case of being out-coached. I did love the Kanter, Favors, Millsap, Carroll, Burks lineup, that was great, but like you said he didn’t stick with what was working.
Carroll is my favorite player on the team, I think he should be a starter ala Sefalosha or Faried…only 16 minutes? ridiculous. …I’m more nervous about Carroll not re-signing than anyone else entering free agency.
@ Uottakno I will say this again , I never said he was or will ever be a great coach . All I am sayin is that he deserves the pateince that the young guys are receiving . I think that by the end of this season we will either have him or another coach . If it is him then he has made the transistion to be a better coach .
I think that the bench did not play this series well , they was out played by the Blazers bench which by the way is suppose to be one of the worst benches in the league .
I do agree that DMC played well and he should have stayed in , at that time he was one of the only ones scoring .
Again we were beat by thier perimeter shooting . We cant seam to keep shooting consistantly which allows other teams to take advantage of it . Hence that is why we cannot keep good leads .
This is a team sport if you havent noticed , so they lossed as a team . This is one of those ones that we could have won . But this is the team we have so we need to support them .
I am just as frustrated as all of you but I am sure that things will get better just wait n see .
Go Jazz I believe in ya all !!!!!
@Jay I will commend you for your patience. I don’t recall me saying fire Corbin Immediately. As much as I would love to see the front office make a gutsy decision like that for once, I also realize that we are stuck with Corbin through at least the end of this season if not we could actually see him through the end of his contract, which is more likely giving the track record of this organization. However it is my opinion that good coaches have a sense of flexibility and adapt to the skills of the players that they have. They certainly don’t force a garbage system upon them.
I can make a case for three of the bench players that should have been in the game in the closing minutes. Alec burks was almost as productive in 19 minutes as jamaal was in 33 minutes. I would give Alec the edge because he seemed to stay in front of lillard a little bit better. Derek favors seemed to be scoring the ball more efficiently then big al seeming that he had 9 points on 7 shots and big al had 12 points on 13 shots. Derek also out rebounded al 7 to 6 when Derek only played 21 minutes as opposed to Al’s 33 minutes. I don’t even have to make a case for demarre who was 100 percent from the field. A good coach would have made adjustments and went with the hotter players down the stretch not just his starters. I rest my case
Technically Corbin gets 48 minutes per game as head coach, whereas Favors gets less than half that, and Burks and Kanter about 20% of Corbins minutes per game.
Kanter, Favors, Sap, DC, and Burks linup was the only time I was excited and into thr game, but of course Corbin sees Al on the bench in 4th quarter and panics, and the NBA rules state that to close games YOU MUST play a PG listed on the roster as PG, so Watson hurts, that means put back Tinsley—so he can shut down that slow PG Lillard. And it would be more effective in a high P&R from Hickson and Lillard to defend it with Al’s lateral quickness/ defensive prowess and Tinsley’s speed.
Al only had six rebounds cuz of the energy the Blazers played with: Hickson is undersized but has a motor. Al is a center but has the motor of a scooter.
Foye locked up his spot in 3 point contest. I love it when Marvin is aggressive, instead of being passive and just dumping ball into Al. We trade Al and feature Hayward, I bet Marvins play looks like rhat most games.
I really appreciate the fight in Sap! When things get physical and tough he seems to fight back. Plus he played in more playoff elimination games than Al has played all playoff games. It would be a hugh mistake to trade Millsap before trading Al. Plus Millsap seems to be influenced by Al poor effort at times. Sap >>>>> Al.
@Omar, well said!
I appreciate Millsap too. I think playing alongside Al has been detrimental to his game, he’s already undersized for his position but playing alongside Al he has to take that extra step out from his own man to help someone who doesn’t put effort into his defensive duties. He gets less minutes than Al because he is more economical with his shots. All needs time on the floor so that his game is ready for clutch time. It doesn’t matter whether Paul has got a hot hand or not if Al isn’t getting his shots early he is going to stay on the floor until he finds his rhythm or his teammates set up a few easy ones.
We are going to need 3 Bigs next year. Favors, Kanter and someone else. If its Al, its going to be more of the same. Al getting too many minutes. Al destroying some teams. The rest of the league destroying the Jazz. Players like Marvin and Hayward being underutilized if playing alongside Al. Marvin is never going to be worthy of the number 2 pick but he should be a player that gives you around 15 points 7 rebounds a night type of guy, but it doesn’t matter who you are as a player you need to see the ball to be effective. With Al here too many players here are ineffective.
If I was the Millers, sitting court-side every night I would be asking questions. Why is over the past two and half seasons despite a number of ineffectual players being moved on for players that have better skillsets that the team has failed to progress a little more than it has. We no longer have the likes of Fesenko or Ronnie Price or Francisco Elson here. We no longer have the inconsistent CJ here. We have upgraded in these areas certainly. We still have franchise player but we have a hard working unit of players that have better basic skills than the roster had in the past. There were more than a few winnable games this season that have been lost because the progress hasn’t been moved on, despite the roster changes. If I were the Millers I would be seriously looking at the coaching as a cause.
Thanks, Uottakno.
And Steven your dead on. Id even take it a step further and say GSW has gotten better, and really the Lakers and Mavs of gotten worse! So really the Jazz have not gotten better just two teams getting worse.
And the reason Mavs got worse is that over the last two years they were more concerned with getting cap space and signinf D Will and Howard! How did thay turn out when they missed? They used that cap room on mediocre to below average players to fill roster.
And the Lakers trades picks to get older and often hurt players witg sizable contacts—now they are getting older and slower, and worse. But they are stuck. They have no picks coming and are locked to old aging hurt players. That are future should Jazz continue down this road.
Who wouldn’t want to play with Al? You get to watch him dribble the ball and shoot for 15 seconds AND you get to try to cover for his bad D on the other end. Best of both worlds right?
Really good stuff Steven, Omar and kc. Pretty much spot on. Millsap is being held back and like most of the roster by Jefferson. For what, to be be a .500 ball club while Jefferson has been in town. The concern the franchise should have moving forward should be keeping the younger future of the team happy not the aging veterans that have proven nothing sense they have been here.
I really hope the Jazz resign Al and Paul, and instead, consider trading Kanter. I haven’t been a fan of his since the day he was drafted (I really wanted the Jazz to draft Knight or Walker at the time, so we would have a young point guard for the future, rather then add to a logjam in the frontcourt).
Kanter keeps making the same mistakes over and over again. He keeps forcing the issue under the basket. He often isn’t where he is supposed to be on the court. He is a black hole, and has dismal averages in the assists, steals, and blocked shots departments. His rebounding (his only real strength) is even down from his rookie year. Coach Corbin has to keep pulling him aside and trying to get him to understand everything he is doing wrong on the floor. The Jazz coaching staff seemed to have some issues with him in summer league, and it’s very obvious they have very little confidence in him.
Burks has slipped all across the board from his rookie averages, and is an even bigger mess then Enes right now. He isn’t a point guard (and never will be), and is a terrible shooter from all over the floor (he even shoots a low percentage from the line). His only real saving grace is his ability to draw fouls, and get to the free throw line.
I can’t believe fans are getting all over Corbin for not finding more playing time for these two guys. From where I’m sitting, they are probably getting more minutes then either deserve. I do agree Favors should be getting more time (at least 25 minutes per game), and I like the fact that Hayward is seeing around 30 minutes a night. I think Gordon and Derrick have very bright futures, but I’m just not sold on Alec or Enes. I would rather see Favors get ALL of Kanters minutes. I would really like to see a three man rotation of Al, Paul, and Derrick from here on out this season. When Mo Williams returns, I would love to see the Jazz just play a three guard rotation of him, Hayward, and Foye. The less time Burks, Tinsley, and Watson spend on the court the better. An overall eight man rotation of Mo, Randy, Gordon, Marvin, DeMarre, Paul, Derrick, and Al would be ideal in my mind.
You can’t resign BOTH Al and Sap because you won’t have the possibility to retain Hayward and Favors the following year.
But I agree with you Jason. There is something wrong inherent to Alec and Enes, Nothing to do with playing time.
Concerning tradeability, it seems that no team has been interrested in our “oldies” alone (by packs of 1 or 2). I think the only way to trade Al (preferably) is to include Enes (preferably).
Which drives me to a “Gasol + Blake” for “Al + Enes” trade. I know many of you are going to swim across the atlantic ocean to rip me for writing this, but I feel that this would improve the team NOW, and still maintain the future money-wise.
@Jason – im trying to work out if you are being sarcastic. Kanter was given confidence in pre-season and then had it taken away from him with bugger all minutes in the regular season. He is also only 20 years old. I have no issues with trading burks but until you give Kanter a go you dont trade him. All the top big men are going to boot camps with the great big men of the past, why not send Kanter to one of those guys then give him a chance. if you arent being sarcastic then you are as short sighted and content with mediocrity like the FO seem to be.
LOL Right, because Kanter’s floor is slightly lower than Jefferson’s ceiling, we should obviously trade him and keep Big Al…
Regardless of who else stays or goes, keeping Jefferson past his current contract would be beyond detrimental to the foreseeable future of this franchise.