Optimistic, or Just Plain Dreaming?

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Watching the Jazz game on March 9 against the Toronto Raptors, I could not help but wonder if I was beginning to witness the end of the season for the Utah Jazz. Yes, the Jazz pulled through with a fantastic ending, but only by the skin of their teeth. Tied at 94-94, I was sure that the game was about to go into overtime, however, Big Al Jefferson tipped the ball in at the buzzer to end the game 96-94 Jazz. Though they got the win, I cannot find a reason why we should have such a hard time beating the Raptors. The Toronto Raptors have the fifth worst record in the league, and are 13th in their Conference. The Utah Jazz have a W/L percentage of .545%, and are in 10th place in their conference. Not to mention, the Jazz have a strong offense, while the Toronto Raptors have a terrible defense. The Jazz should have had no problems dominating the Raptors defense. Ty Corbin surely needs to figure out why his players are performing so low, and quick.

So where does the problem lie? To be fair, the Jazz had five players out with injury: Ronnie Price, Mehmet Okhur, Andre Kirilenko, and Paul Millsap. Al Jefferson ended up playing most of the game alone, scoring a total of 34 points, but can injuries really be the problem for the Utah Jazz? Or is it something else entirely?

Now here we are on March 11, playing the Minnesota Timberwolves, and losing once again. Battling a team that is 14th in the Western Conference, not to mention already out of the playoff standings, the Jazz just cannot seem to win. Injuries still afflict the team, but at least Andre Kirilenko returned to help battle the T-Wolves. If the Utah Jazz cannot figure out what is plaguing their team and causing losses, then I am afraid that there will be no playoff games in our future for this year.

Gordon Hayward gets my pick of the game by achieving an awesome 5/5 shots from downtown. Watching Hayward this season has been nothing short of amazing. Hayward came into the season with the only rookie challenges being fouls. In a short amount of time, however, his fouls dwindled and his stats began to climb. This game alone, the rookie scored a total of eighteen points. I remember earlier in the season being at a Jazz game live and watching Hayward warm up. He would hit three-pointer after three-pointer on every area of the line. I thought to myself, "If only he could do that in the game." Sure enough, Hayward began to show his skills against the Timberwolves. I see a promising career for Gordon Hayward, and can only hope that Craig Miller chooses to sign him for a good amount of time.

Al Jefferson was really off in this game for some reason. Al, who has been the top scoring NBA player since the all-star break, only scored nine points. Jeremy Evans, another one of the rising Jazz stars, scored a total of fourteen points. One thing that I can say about this game is that the three-point shots were so much better than any previous game in the season. My complaint from day one of this Jazz season was that we do not have a strong three-point shooter. Mehmet Okhur was the only shooter that we had (and he is not that great) and he has been out most of the season with back spasms. Tonight, that changed. Gordon Hayward hit all of his shots from downtown, C.J. Miles made 2/3, Raja Bell made 2/2, and even Earl Watson made 1/2. This is a great increase to our three-point stats, but unfortunately not enough to get the win tonight. The score ended tonight with a disappointing 122-101 loss on the road against the lowly Timberwolves.

I hope that the Jazz can figure out what their low points are before too long since it is March, and playoffs are around the corner. I guess tomorrow's game against the Chicago Bulls might give us a clue of what their performance will look like for this month. If the Jazz can continue with great three-point stats, continue to score points off the bench, strengthen the defensive plays, and heal the injured players, I say the Utah Jazz have a chance. Otherwise, maybe next year will be the year to hear the sweet music of victory coming from the Utah Jazz.

 

Yeah, Gordon is a little skinny, but watch out for him. I think he is going to sky-rocket his career real quick. Did you see that members of the 1991 Bulls team will be there for half-time tonight? Pretty cool. Those are the guys I watched growing up because living in the California Bay Area, no one rooted for the Warriors at that time.