Two good opponenets, two competitive games, two different outcomes. The difference? Two different venues. The loss to the Lebron Jameses wasn't surprising or embarrassing. It was the last game of a 5 game road trip and the 2d half of a back to back so it was more of a scheduling loss but they had a lot of energy for 3 quarters. The game was close throughout until the Cavs went on a run in the fourth. The Jazz didn't have their full squad and the lack of poise in key situations shows on the road in tight games. 1-4 on the road trip with all four losses being winnable games. The home team always makes a run in the NBA and I'm not too worried because this is where a good point guard makes the difference. Not that it made much of a difference last year with their poor road record but last year was last year. This is Williams' team now and in those pressure moments on the road in a close game when the crowd is going crazy, he has the composure to slow the game down and find the right people.
My brothers and I had a rim that went up and down in our backyard and we would do crazy jams on it for hours. Lebron James looks like he is playing on an eight foot rim in his backyard all of the time. He gets up so high and dunks it so hard that you wonder if he is genetically engineered to play sports. This whole Kobe vs Lebron arguement ends this year as he officially takes the throne as the best player. Kobe has more refined skills but the sheer difference in physical strength, speed and size is too great to overcome. You don't even need to see his averages of 30-8-8 on a mediocre team to see his superiority. Anyone who watches him for even one quarter knows it is effortless. He is the big brother that says "enough" and bullies his way to the hoop. Kobe looks like a skinny KG out of high school compared to Lebron. Does he work out or just naturally look like that? He would be the greatest tight end of all time if he chose to play in the NFL. The combination of his quickness and size, you could go over the middle and he would be faster and bigger then anyone in the secondary. You could just lob it over the top and tell him to go jump for it with his 40+ inch vertical. I think most basketball players would make great wide outs in the NFL. Karl Malone might have been a fantatic tight end with his hands. He could catch anything that was within 10 feet of him and he would hurt people with his razor elbows.
Last night's game against the Suns went about the same for three quarters as the Cavs game except at home they have more reserve. They plug into their crowds energy and go on a 12 - 0 rub at a critical point in the game to pull out the win. The final score wasn't close but the game was close. Amare is unstoppable. A beast. He could average 14 points a game on dunks. He is another pure athlete almost in the Lebron class. Now if he only developed some post up moves to go with the dunks. They should do an experiment where they take 6-9+ guys with hops, long arms and coordination in the NBA and make them red zone wide outs in the NFL. Can you imagine Amare on a fade route? He would be Randy Moss but SIX inches taller and a higher vertical leap! Most of the cornerbacks are 5-11 to 6-3 and would be sniffing his armpits on touchdown grabs.
The whole team had a nice game last night. The second unit again with Knight, Milsap, Kirilenko, Korver broke this game wide open. The +/- numbers bear it out with that group being about +15. This group has been consistently extending leads and playing better than the first unit early in the season.
CJ had his first 20 point night of the year and shot very well. You could see this coming as the last couple of games he shot it better and he looks more comfortable in the offense. I expect him to have his ups and downs but I can see him putting in 8-10 points a game by the end of the year. Boozer was solid again. He has a tough assignment almost every night with the league having so many good power forwards. You wonder why he moves so well laterally on offense and can't on defense. Actually, I used to be the same way when I played as a youngster.
AK getting to the line is the essential to his offense. He was 8-8 from the line and averages more free throws than anyone else on the team. You can see what a boost the team gets when he blocks a shot. It is sad to see Shaq at this stage of his career. I remember three years ago watching a game where Yao blocked his shot straight up. It wasn't on a double team or from a help defender. That was when I knew that he wasn't the same the Shaq anymore. The old Shaq never had his shot blocked. If he had the ball tipped he would come down the next five possessions and just dunk on the fool. Now Shaq gets blocked three times in one night with one rebound. Its time for him to devlop his law enforcemnt and rap carreer. I'm exposing my younger brothers here but I admit they used to own one of his rap CDs. I'm sure they would like to bury that in their past.
What happened to Koufos last night and why did Collins play for 12 minutes and 55 seconds? His line was 0 pts, 0-2 from the line, 0 assists, 0 blocks, 0 rebounds and 2 fouls. He drives me crazy. Worst player in the NBA. Why does Jerry Sloan still play him minutes when you have young guys that could benefit from the experience? Harpring is the same story. He played 11:49 and that is almost 12 minutes that Miles, Brewer, AK, or even Morris Almond could have used. I saw some article in the SLTribune saying that the Jazz could have used his defense against Lebron James. What is the media's fascination with this guy. Announcers love to talk about how tough he is but no one mentions that he isn't productive anymore.
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