Posts for category ‘utah jazz’

I did NOT want the Wizards to defeat the Jazz last night.  Not at all.

I didn’t realize my thought pattern would veer in such a direction as John Wall ran roughshod over the Jazz to the tune of 24 points in the first half.  It was refreshing to see Wall put the shorthanded Wizards squad on his back and decide he was not going to let them lose.  Jordan Crawford had been assuming that role of late, which is fine and much appreciated, but it’s better to have the No. 1 draft pick (aka the “Game Changer”) assume that role too — and for the first two quarters he did just that.

Even in the third quarter, as Crawford and JaVale McGee combined for 13 points, helping the Wizards maintain a 73-63 point lead, I continued to hope Washington would be victorious.  Wall had fallen off his torrid pace, but Crawford was finding ways to score, McGee was ruling the paint as he had against the Warriors, and even Cartier Martin came back from the dead to hit a timely three-pointer. The little-used, but desperately needed (on this night, at least) Martin made his first shot, a three-pointer, in the second quarter, but missed his next five shots, four of them from deep, before making his next shot, a three late in the third.

Not only had the Wizards put together three quarters of decent basketball, but they were playing strong on the road as they had done against the Los Angeles Clippers last week and against the Golden State Warriors the night before. I was encouraged that the dismal team I had been writing about all year was showing late-season improvement, and I couldn’t wait to write about it.

Around the 5:13 mark of the fourth quarter my thought pattern changed drastically.  The score had been stagnant for about a minute, 82-75 in the Wizards’ favor. The brand of basketball turned from crisp and calculated to panicked and sloppy.  Then Crawford missed two long jumpers, and the third pick in the 2010 draft, Mr. Derrick Favors, scored five straight points for the Jazz to pull Utah within 82-80. The Wizards hadn’t hit a field-goal, much less scored in five minutes. Because of Favors, the momentum that neither team wanted for two minutes was in Utah’s favor (sorry, I simply could not resist).

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Mustafa Shakur, Othyus Jeffers, Hamady N’diaye, Kevin Seraphin and Cartier Martin.

Those were all of the players available for the Wizards off the bench last night in Utah. Shakur didn’t play (coach’s decision being the given reason), and N’diaye tallied just three minutes in the box score, nothing else. Jeffers, Seraphin and Martin combined for 18 points on 6-14 from the field and 17 rebounds, five offensive thanks to the bruising workmanship of Jeffers. The numbers of the bench squad with the most unique set of names ever weren’t astounding, but the Wizards made it work in their somewhat shocking 100-95 overtime win over the Utah Jazz on Monday night.

Sure, Utah was missing Devin Harris and Andrei Kirilenko from their starting lineup, instead putting out a unit of Earl Watson, C.J. Miles, Raja Bell, Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson. But a Wizards starting five of John Wall, Jordan Crawford, Mo Evans, Yi Jianlian and JaVale McGee didn’t have a chance of feeling sorry for the Jazz, or themselves.

Jazz fans, however, may be feeling sorry for themselves … enough to boo their team at intermittent times throughout the game as Washington fought to gain control early, and then tried their best to relinquish it late, despite Utah’s best effort to not take advantage. It was odd to hear the Wizards television team of Steve Buckhantz and Phil Chenier recount just how far the Utah franchise has fallen in the year 2011. The Jazz were 27-13 when they made an east coast trip in mid-January, beginning with a game in Washington on the 17th.

Jerry Sloan’s team proceeded to lose to the Wizards on Martin Luther King Day, and then they lost five more in a row. Barely a month later, Sloan resigned after a 23-year run with the team and star point guard Deron Williams was traded to New Jersey. Now the Jazz are left in a vastly uncertain rebuilding mode with Tyrone Corbin as their coach, a six game losing streak (including last night’s take down by the Wizards), and a 36-39 record that looks to keep them out of the playoffs for just the fifth time in the last 28 years (also the fifth time in the last eight years, to be fair).

Yesterday was Jerry Sloan’s 69th birthday. Yesterday was also the first time Washington completed a season sweep of Utah since 1997. Yesterday things were a bit different for all.

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The end of the Slam Dunk contest on Saturday night signified the end of any Washington Wizards involvement here at NBA All-Star weekend in Los Angeles.  My plan was to attend the game, tweet a little during, and then hang around the media scrum afterward to see if I could snag something interesting.  Luckily for me, something interesting fell right into my lap involving Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz.

First, a little background.  A week and a half ago when Jerry Sloan resigned, there were rumors and reports that Williams was the reason.  At halftime of a game against the Bulls, Williams and Sloan had argued (as they had several times during the year, and as Sloan has done with other players, such as Karl Malone, many times before), and when Sloan retired the next morning, Williams was essentially blamed. He was not happy about it at all. Williams lashed out at the media and named names over the radio airwaves on KFAM 1320AM:

All those guys, Ric Bucher, Chris Broussard, they’re all in our locker room everyday.  I’ll let them report what they want to report, that’s what they are paid to do. That’s why I’m always short and rude with the media, because they’re your friend. Ric comes in and sits by me every time I see him, acts like he’s my friend, but the day they find something they want to spin, they jump on it. That’s why I am the way I am and will continue to be the way I am.

I had just talked to Williams about a month earlier in Washington, and he was nothing but forthcoming to both myself and David Aldridge.  Even when I talked to Williams after the All-Star practice this past Saturday, he didn’t appear short or rude. Rather, his answers were expansive and thoughtful, and I appreciated his time.

But Sunday, after the All-Star game, Williams was asked about something Ken Berger of CBS Sports.com, had written in an article earlier that evening.  Berger wrote the following: Read more »

Flip Saunders watches his Washington Wizards go through a basic shell drill before facing the San Antonio Spurs.

[photo: K. Weidie, TAI - Feb. 12, 2011]

Flip Saunders is currently tied with Doug Moe for 20th on the all-time NBA head coaching wins list with 628, 11 victories away from passing Chuck Daly. Upon resigning from his position with the Utah Jazz, Jerry Sloan falls third on the list behind Don Nelson and Lenny Wilkens with 1,221 wins; and it doesn’t appear he will be caught by Phil Jackson, fifth all-time with 1,136 wins, as the coach who has led his teams to a record 11 NBA titles is set to retire after this season.

Saunders is now fifth in wins among active coaches, trailing Jackson, George Karl (1,017), Rick Adelman (927) and Gregg Popovich (781). Flip clearly ranks highly in the NBA coaching fraternity. So on Saturday before his team faced the San Antonio Spurs, and the new Dean of NBA head coaches (Popovich is in his 15th season coaching the Spurs), Saunders’ opinion of the sudden resignation of Sloan was a good one to solicit.

“One, you hate to see someone like him step away because he’s meant so much to the game. He’s meant a lot to younger coaches when they come in the league. He’s been very up front with them in trying to help coaches, and always very accessible. As coaches and as teachers, we respect how he taught the game. He believed the game should be played one way, and he wasn’t going to veer away from that. No matter who played for him, there was a certain style they were going to play, and you were going to have to adapt and adjust as far as to his style.

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I am fully aware that Truth About It is a Washington D.C.-based blog that mainly focuses on the ups, downs, in and outs of the Washington Wizards.  In fact, even when I write a “From The Other Side” article about the opposing teams, I still try to slant the coverage in the Wizards’ direction.

But I feel confident in speaking for everyone who writes at Truth About It, when I say that we are basketball fans first and foremost.   We watch the Wizards religiously, but we get just as much satisfaction from watching Ray Allen hit a record breaking three-pointer, or seeing JJ Redick get shaken out of his shorts by Randy Foye. There is so much to appreciate around the league, and to operate in a Wizards vacuum would be a crying shame.

So from the time I read about Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan keeping the media waiting after the Jazz lost to the Chicago Bulls Wednesday night, to the moment I saw tears in his eyes as he announced his resignation, I simply could not believe what I was seeing.  I had watched this seemingly unflappable man on the Jazz bench, since 1988, when I was a 13-year-old ninth grader.  And now here he was acting a bit out character after a game, and following it up with a tearful resignation.

I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with Sloan a few times during my three years of covering the NBA, and I have no problems admitting he was quite the intimidating man.  The initial time I saw him in 2008,  I was in my first year as a writer for Hoops Addict still trying to find my way around, and he was in the Wizards media room, enjoying a pre-game meal.  I had this to say after that experience:

I talked to Utah Jazz Head Coach Jerry Sloan before the game and he is as an intense, intimidating person as you will ever see.  When I saw him eating dinner with the press and talking to some of the Wizards Event Staff, he was friendly, smiling, and he seemed to be a man at peace. He walks with a slight limp, but his 65-year-old, 6-foot-5 inch frame moves so slow, it is barely noticeable. But when the cameras were on him and the discussions turned towards his team, it was as if as a switch triggered in him mind.  He was attentive, he folded his arms and whoever asked him a question would get his full attention until that question was thoroughly answered. Coach Sloan didn’t look down at the ground, or around the hallway; he had his glare firmly set on the person he was talking to. When I asked him a question he looked right at me during the entire 90 seconds, and did not look away from me until I said thank you. Very intimidating. When I asked him how the team was dealing with the loss of Mehmet Okur, who is back in his home country of Turkey to tend to his father, Sloan said, “What am I going to do? Cry about it? No. I have to come out, coach who’s here, and try to win.”

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{K. Weidie}

John Wall has shown signs that he’s starting to hit that dreaded rookie wall.  He’s been struggling to fight off injuries, and as a result, his aggressiveness, his explosiveness and his ability to defend opposing point guards has suffered. I’ve been watching basketball long enough to know that all rookies go through this type adversity at some point, let alone rookies who are assigned the arduous task of running a team and saving a franchise. With the Utah Jazz in town to face the Wizards on Martin Luther King afternoon, I knew I would have the opportunity to get some point guard perspective from three different members of that model franchise.

Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan instructed Hall of Fame point guard John Stockton for 15 seasons, and he’s coached All-Star Deron Williams for six. Williams is in the ‘best point guard in the league’ discussion along with Chris Paul, Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo. His backup, Earl Watson, was coached by former Sonics great point guard Nate McMillan and mentored by a future Hall of Famer Gary Payton.

Among those three men, I was sure I could learn the traits of a good point guard, what Wall might be going through right now and get a good assessment of how he’s progressing almost halfway through the season.

Before the game, Sloan talked about how little the Wall/Williams match-up meant to him, and how important intelligence is to playing point guard:

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The Wizards looked primed to follow the script we have seem so many times this season: Take the early lead, suffer through foul trouble, and collapse late in the game. However, this wasn’t the case today. Maybe history was on the Wizards’ side, having now won five of their their last six Martin Luther King Day contests.

And while the Utah Jazz were looking to build on yet another winning streak (3), the Wizards had not won two consecutive games since April 4 and 6 of last year. But the Washington Wizards showed fire, heart, and discipline — characteristics that have long been absent from the Verizon Center.

In fact, and to my great surprise, the Wizards led for 46 minutes and 41 seconds. (The Jazz only found themselves ahead of the Wizards on three occasions, for a combined five points and 1:19 of game time.)

While there were plenty of highlights – including Andray Blatche’s chasedown block on Raja Bell, another classic John Wall to JaVale McGee alley-oop, and even a JaValevator tip slam late — there was one play that really made a world of difference today, and perhaps even for the rest of the season.

Why? Well, this win over Utah marks the first time all season that the Wizard have beaten a team with a winning record. Granted it was at home, but this is a nevertheless a monumental achievement for this young Wizards team. Next conquest: A road win.

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On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in 2007 Gilbert Arenas hit a game-winner walking away against the Utah Jazz in Washington… barely looked to see if it went in. Tough shot against a tough player in Deron Williams.

Four years later, the consistency of the Utah franchise and a Jerry Sloan-led team continues to carry an air of toughness wherever they go. The Wizards franchise remains in vastly different territory, with a fan base yearning for something they’ve never really known, that same toughness and consistency Utah always conveys.

“This is going to be a great test because this is by far the most physical team that we’ve faced,” said Wizards coach Flip Saunders before this afternoon’s game. “The other teams we’ve faced, Orlando and Miami, they’re good teams and they’re good defensive teams, but they don’t have the physicality of what a Utah has, and they do a lot because they have such great talent — a LeBron James and Dwyane Wade can take the game over — this team has a guy in Deron Williams who can take the game over, and [Al] Jefferson can do some things inside, but they’re so much better as a whole, such a great offensive execution team.”

As much as Sloan exhumes the toughness of his team, his second great point guard, Williams, carries that message while on the court.

“He’s tough, hard-nosed. Offensively, he knows how to run a team, he’s aggressive. He’s one of those guards who will sneak up behind you, set a good screen,” Wizards backup big man Hilton Armstrong told me before the game.

A point guard who a big man has to watch out for in setting screens? A differentiator in this era of great NBA point leaders.

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[Editor's Note: Truth About It.net photographer Adam Douglas once again brings you an excellent edition of "Under The Hoop" -- because Wizards games aren't just about basketball, they're about the whole fan experience, and Adam brings you that experience from up close with pictures and commentary. The below post is from last Saturday's game against the Utah Jazz.]

Andray Blatche knows who might butter his bread at the free throw line.

‘Dray and his best boy Nick Young shake it out during introductions.

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I could have taken a number of quotes from the above video of locker room interviews after Saturday night’s loss to the Jazz and turned it into the title of a post.

“Obviously it’s not any fun, you know it’s frustrating.” -Mike Miller

“Well obviously you have fun playing basketball, but you play to win.” -Mike Miller again

“We all have jobs, you know. My job is to play my game and to do my job.” -Andray Blatche

“I don’t feel like the freedom is there to … if I get physical, I don’t get to be able to be physical back, offensively at least.” -JaVale McGee

But none of those quotes are as “fun” as Nick Young’s. The SoCal product is right. No one wants to be like the New Jersey Nets, the absolute worst team in the NBA.

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The Wizards never really had a chance against the Utah Jazz Saturday night. The hope for victory was akin to a 15-seed wanting to beat a 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament, especially since both Al Thornton and Randy Foye didn’t play because of injury.

This team just doesn’t have the talent to compete right now. They are not tanking. They are out there with the desire to work together to win. That is, I don’t get the impression that guys are playing for themselves so much, unlike before the big trades.

The players are just trying to learn and Flip Saunders is just trying to teach. Speaking of, before the game Saunders said that he put in a new offense a couple days ago; an offense with the intent to get more cutting opportunities for perimeter players and to get the big men working closer to the basket.

“The offense we ran, the first unit we had out there played pretty well with it. We had a lot of open shots and moved the ball well, had a lot of assists,” said Saunders after his team went down 103-87 to Utah, dropping their record to 21-51. “We turned to our second unit, we have too many role players playing. Now some of those role players have to be thrust where they have to become main scorers and they’re not comfortable as far as doing that.”

Although the Wizards got expectantly man-handled by the Jazz, the game also represented just the thirteenth time in 72 games that Washington totaled over 20 assists while having 12 or less turnovers.

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Before tonight’s Wizards-Jazz game, Flip Saunders came out to talk to the media reminiscent of Johnny Cash.  The coach was dressed to the nines in all black, well, until he put on his contrasting gray sport coat on for the game. One thing you can say, this season has certainly been a Ring of Fire for Saunders.

New Offense

Since the last Wizards home game against Charlotte, and the Andray Blatche affair, Blatche, to the extent that I’ve noticed, has made more of an effort to operate closer to the basket on offense, something Coach Saunders has implored him to do since early January, at least. I asked Flip about this before the game.

“We instituted/kinda put in a new offense that would make it more conducive for some of our bigger players to stay more around the basket and try to give our perimeter people more cutting opportunities, taking pressure off Andray around the basket where there wouldn’t be as many trap type situations,” said the coach, also mentioning that this new(ish) offense was instituted two days ago.

Flip on Alonzo Gee aka ‘Nuthin’ But a Gee Thang’

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I’m on vacation and didn’t watch last night’s 112-89 loss to the Jazz. Judging from the results, it doesn’t look like I will … which will make the first time this season that I have not watched a Wizards game. I know, kinda sad … in so many ways. And I’ll likely have to miss tonight’s game against the Nuggets in Denver too.

But now that the Wizards have lost a season-high eight in a row with more notches in the L column in sight, have they hit “rock bottom”?

Nah. That already happened.

Nevertheless, someone from the Washington Times, you know, the paper that cut its sports section, is writing about sports … and the Wizards.

“Wizards fans knew, when the team was blown up in mid-February, that things were going to get bad. Welcome to bad. Get ready for worse,” writes David Eldridge in his piece, ‘Rock-bottom for the Wizards? Buckle up.’

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[Editor's Note: Rashad Mobley has reported on the Wizards with media credentials since the 2008-09 season for Hoops Addict. He occasionally contributes to Truth About It.net, providing excellent analysis and a different perspective from his up-close coverage of the team.]

{flickr/kris247}

I’ll admit I was feeling pretty good about myself going into last night’s Wizards/Jazz game.  Prior to the game, Coach Flip Saunders mentioned that Shaun Livingston would get the starting nod over Randy Foye.  After Friday night’s loss to the Orlando Magic, I asked Flip about a Livingston over Foye situation, and said he didn’t know–but he didn’t say no, which to me was a strong indication a change was going to be made.  And eventually it was.

Based on my observations, Livingston got the Wizards into the offense earlier, he made more decisive passes, and when things broke down, he always seemed to make the right play to navigate his way out of trouble.  Plus, Flip never missed a chance to praise Livingston’s “basketball IQ”, and since he is notoriously hard on point guards, it seemed like a good temporary fit.  Livingston would start, Foye would channel his frustration over being benched, and regain that missing mojo, and Earl Boykins, being the veteran that he is, would be a threat to come in and drop 14 points in a minute and a half.  Sounds like a plan right?

Uh no.

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I started tinkering around with this trade idea last Wednesday, but never followed up with publishing a post. Today, with Yahoo!’s Marc Spears reporting that the Utah Jazz could face a roster shake-up and Mike Jones, of Mike Jones Sports, reporting that multiple Wizards have asked to be traded, i.e., more than just Mike James, it seems like an appropriate time to float this proposal out there. And no, this is not like Bill Simmons’ silly Utah-Washington-Cleveland idea where the Wizards would lose Haywood, Jamison, Butler and James and only get Shaq and Boozer in return … although my idea is almost as drastic.

So here goes …

Utah has the Carlos Boozer issue hanging over their head, the desire to remain cheap, and is a decent team unwilling to take a big step backwards.

Washington is not in a good way. If you read this blog site, you know this. Shot out to any readers in the Philippines who know this (they really, really like the NBA over in the Phillippines).

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