Monday, February 9, 2009

Carrying The Load

Deron Williams has been dominant over the past few games. He’s been doing the heavy-lifting by scoring 35, 34, 34, and 31 over his last 4. With his growing confidence and increased health, Deron has been looking like his old dominant-self. It’s for this reason why I believe that he’s an All-Star. He’s basically carrying this franchise on his back (at the moment). Unfortunately, we don't quite stack-up to the rest of the West with the current team we have on the floor. Here are some additional quick thoughts on our Jazz:

  • Memo has looked sharp as well. Okur has been averaging 21 ppg and 9 rpg over the last five games. He’s filled in the void left by Booz and Kirilenko.
  • Ronnie Brewer has increased his scoring production over the past five. He’s improved his scoring to 15.4 ppg.
  • Unfortunately, Paul Millsap has hit somewhat of a funk. Over the last five games, Millsap has been averaging 9 ppg and 6 rpg (well under his season averages and late double-double barrage). We’ll need increased (and consistent) production from Millsap if we want to stay-afloat in the playoff hunt.
  • CJ came back to the line-up against the Warriors and posted a 10 point, 7 rebound game. It’s nice to have him back in the line-up. Without him (& AK), we really lack the athleticism to keep up with the opposing wing players.
  • Jarron Collins played one solid outing last week... and now he gets all of the back-up minutes to Memo. It's classic Jerry Sloan-rotation-syndrome. If someone performs decently, he'll get rewarded, regardless if he's any good. Where's Kosta?
  • The Warriors beat the living-socks off of the Jazz last night. They ran all over us!... essentially doing whatever they wanted during an incredibly up-tempo game. We can’t play Warriors-ball with them (fast-break, run-n-shoot, no defense). The Warriors have too many athletes to keep up with. Let’s just chalk it up to “tired-legs” and “being outplayed”, then forget about this one. It happens… especially after playing 3 games in 4 nights.

2 comments:

Orlando said...

This game could be a blueprint for beating the Jazz without Boozer. The Warriors got away with guarding Memo with Corey Maggette and Stephen Jackson. Memo doesn't make them pay in the post and he cannot keep up with those guys on the wings.

Look for a lot of teams to go ultra-small on the Jazz and make Millsap or Okur beat them in the post.

Ryan said...

Good point Crotty and Pasty. The Jazz are going to see a lot of small lineups during the second half of the season.

It's killing me to see Collins getting minutes in the middle with Kosta sitting on the bench. Kosta has the potential to be a solid player in the league and he already brings more to the table than Jarron. Every minute we play Collins is a minute of experience Kosta is not getting.