Sunday, November 9, 2008

How Good Are the Jazz?

After last night's loss to the Knicks the Jazz no longer have the best record in the NBA.  But how good are they?  We'll know more at the end of this eastern road trip, but I think the answer is "quite good".  Consider the following:
  • The Jazz are blowing teams out of the water.  Our scoring differential -- which the stats gurus at ESPN think is a better indication of future success than W-L record (for the record, I agree) -- is +8, which puts us at third in the league.  Only Atlanta and the Lake Show are better.  Sidenote: the Lakers are winning by an average of more than 22 points a game, including a 20-point blowout of an Artest/Yao/McGrady led Rockets team last night.  The Lakers are really, really good this year.  It's scary.
  • Harpring and Collins, two rotation guys, are still injured.  In my book this is an argument for keeping them out or at least drastically reducing their minutes when they come back.  Brewer had a great game yesterday (seven steals!) and Millsap has been solid all year.  Better to get those young, talented guys more reps than slash their minutes for Harp and Collins.  
  • D Will is still out and will be for at least the next four games.  We probably win in New York with him. . . it will be nice to have him back at the point soon! 
  • The elite teams in the West aren't looking super elite this year.  Besides the frightening signs out of LA, no team in the conference other than the Jazz has sprinted out of the gates.  Phoenix is 5-2 but it looks like Nash has lost a step.  The Rockets are 4-3.  Chris Paul and Co. are a respectable but not earth-shattering 4-2 and their wins have been fairly close.  Finally, the hated Spurs are 1-4 and Tony Parker is out for at least a month.  Say good night, San Antonio!  


3 comments:

Orlando said...

Don't count the Spurs out yet. People do it every year. They are still good enough to do damage in the playoffs.

The Lakers are scary.

Pasty Gangsta said...

Crotty, your man crush on the Spurs is disappointing but not surprising. I expect Booner to weigh in on this subject shortly. . .

muebles en madrid said...

This can't truly have success, I suppose so.