Clippers @ Jazz | Saturday November 6th @ 7pm

[TroutBum]

That was a much needed third quarter, jesus.

Call me crazy, but I don't think Jesus was playing during the third quarter.

 

[Nate505]

Dang, I didn't set enough time on my tivo and it died in the middle of the first OT. Glad they won though.

 

[VINYLONE]

SOURCE

Official postgame quotes and notes: Jazz 109, Clippers 107, 2OT

Published on Nov 6, 2010 11:49PM 0 Comments

Official postgame quotes and notes following the Jazz's 109-107 double overtime victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night at EnergySolutions Arena.
Notes: The Jazz are now 95-59 all-time against the Clippers, and 60-17 at home...Utah is now 12-6 all-time in double overtime games (6-2 at home)...The last home double-overtime game was 1/12/02 vs. MEM (L, 95-97), and the last double overtime home win was 1/24/00 vs. LAL (W, 105-101)...The Jazz had three games into double overtime or more in 2008-09 (none in 2009-10), going 1-2 that year with the last double overtime win 12/19/08 at Detroit (120-114) and the last double overtime game on 3/14/09 at Miami (their next opponent), with the game going to a third overtime and the Jazz losing 129-140...The Jazz have won eight of the last nine meetings with the Clippers, and the 15 past games at home against the Clippers...Deron had a game-leading and season-high 30 points, and both Jefferson (18 points, 10 rebounds) and Millsap (25 points, 13 rebounds) had double-doubles (Jefferson’s third this season and Millsap’s fourth this season).
Jerry Sloan – Head Coach (3-3)
On the game
“Well, it was nice to be able to get back and get back in the ballgame, and have a chance to win, and then the fact that we did, I thought those guys played really hard to try to get back in when we got a tough start. They just manhandled us most of the time in the first half, and we fought back and got back in it. It was great to see that.”
On keeping the momentum up with the road games coming up
“Wherever we play, it doesn’t make any difference. This team is a much improved team, they’ve got some tough guys to try to deal with, but we’ve got to come with more desire to get after it in the first half. We got beat the first two quarters and then we won the second two quarters.”
Deron Williams – Guard (30 points, 7 assists)
On the game
“It was a tough game. This group came out and played tough tonight. Took it to us early and we had to fight our battle all day. So that made it a lot tougher on us.”
On the tough win
“We didn’t come out very good in the first half. We were able to regain it in the second half. Played better, had more energy, it just took us a while to get going.”
“It’s tough, especially when you give up 14 offensive rebounds. A lot of it is the guards (fault). I think we need to come back and do a better job of helping out. A lot of the teams we have played have been shooting a lot of threes...long shots, long rebounds.”
“This would have been a tough one if we would have lost it, I might have cried. I’m glad we won...seriously.”
On the tenacity of the Clippers
“Any time you get a team like that, they are going to have their backs against the wall. They came out and took advantage of us in the first quarter.”

On playing 54 minutes
“I’m going to feel them tomorrow.”
Al Jefferson – Center (27 points, 6 rebounds)
On the game
“I’ll tell you the last thing I wanted was a double overtime and a loss, because I know if we go through all of that and lose the game...I’ll tell you, it was just one of those games you’re going to have. It was an ugly win. But I’ll take it any day of the week.”
On how important tomorrow’s rest is
“Real important. We’ve got four games in five nights against four great teams. It’s what the NBA’s all about.”
On winning the offensive rebound battle
“That’s good to know. Even better that we won the game. It was a fight, man. Blake Griffin and those guys—I was so happy when he fouled out. I’ve never been so excited about something in my life because that boy, he’s amazing. He’s amazing. I take my hat off to him.”
Andrei Kirilenko – Forward (18 points, 1 rebound)
On the game
“It was interesting. We got a sloppy start and finished off the half. Got 20 points down. Then we kind of regrouped a bit in the second half and started playing way better from defense to offense. Cut the deficit and we get up to seven points then we go back to sloppy which put us in overtime. I am very happy we stayed focus. Especially defensively, we stayed concentrated.”
On scoring 18 points
“When I get those kind of points, its very helpful for the team. I am definitely going to try to be more aggressive and almost all my shots coming midrange to three. I’m not trying to concentrate on those shots but I took what the game gave me.”
“Any time you get a team like that, they are going to have their backs against the wall. They came out and took advantage of us in the first quarter.”
Notes: The Clippers are now 2-9 in their last 11 games vs. the Jazz, and have lost their last 15 games in Salt Lake City, the last win coming on 1/22/03. Los Angeles started the game on a 12-2 run and ended up outscoring the Jazz by 13 in the first quarter, and led by 16 at the half. The first quarter was a season best performance for the Clippers, scoring 33, and a season-high for points in a half at 55. Blake Griffin had 13 of his 15 first-half points in the first quarter but was held to only one point in the second half, ending the game with 16 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. This is Griffin’s fourth double-double in the season. Chris Kaman had a season high 23 points, while guard Eric Gordon tied his season high of 27 points.
Vinny Del Negro Coach (1-6)
On the game
“We hit a couple threes. Our guys were fighting all game. From that standpoint, we grew. But it still hurts to lose and we had a good opportunity tonight that we weren’t able to capitalize. If we keep working on the way we are and stay on course, next time we’ll hopefully have a better opportunity.”
On the last play in regulation
“It was designed for [Eric] Gordon to go off something and for Rasual [Butler] coming back off another screen. It just worked out. I thought we played both game plays better. It was unfortunate that Gordon had a little sting in his shoulder so he couldn’t be out there. He deserved to be out there. Turnovers beat us tonight. I am pleased with the way we fought. And if we continue to do that, that’s good stuff for us.
Blake Griffin – Forward (16 Points, 17 Rebounds)
On his team
“I like our intensity. We’ve gotten better and better over the past seven games. We got to make that next step and continue to grow.”
On his progress
“I’m doing alright. I’m learning. That’s the key for me, and just learning and being able to use the things I learn in the game.”
Chris Kaman – Center (23 Points, 7 Rebounds)
On the game
“We hit them hard in the first half. We hit them right away. We did a good job of keeping pressure on them. We have been having trouble with that third quarter coming out. They came out and that is what the Utah Jazz are known for. They execute and they run their sets and they play hard. They came out and did what they are supposed to do and what Coach Sloan has them doing really well. I got a lot of respect for that.”
On how the Jazz played
“They did a good job and we just didn’t fight and we didn’t kick in until late in the third. We just kind of hung out and hung out. But we fought tonight and we did some good things. Ultimately we’d like to win but you know its part of life its part of basketball. They were a little bit better then us tonight.”

Eric Gordon – Guard (27 Points, 5 Assists)
On game
“I just wanted to win. It was a tough game. We haven’t won here in awhile. It’s just time that we get better, step up a little bit. Guys played well. We just had too many let downs. I guarantee if we play like that against other teams we will win.”
On Deron Williams
“He is a good competitor and an outstanding player. It is just hard to guard him, mostly because he can shoot. He comes off a lot of screens and they got a lot of plays set up for him. It is hard when you got a guy who is coming off that many screens and making a good pass to the low post guys.”
— Brian T. Smith

 

[Nate505]

Not going to read this whole thing, but i am sure someone said the CJ is a piece of trash and I just want to chime in to echo. He is terrible. I dont care how many "great" games he has, this stinkers make him a crap player. Every games stat line shows he is purely a chucker. I was praying Sloan would put Raja in during OT just because I knew he would not take a bad shot.

His shot was pretty awful tonight, but he made some real nice hustle plays at the end of the game. At least until the point I got up to.

 

[InGameStrategy]

It's only the sixth game of the season. Allow this team some time to grow together. If and when they become more consistent, I think that they have a lot of potential. Let's also not forget that we are still playing without Memo. He will give us a consistent scoring option of the bench. And to the poster who talked about how the Jazz have only been really good when they've played a certain way in the past: well, obviously those ways did not work, because Utah STILL has not won an NBA Championship. I believe that the Jazz have FINALLY found their "Big 3" (Williams, Millsap, Jefferson) that will push them over the top. Kirilenko is a solid player as a fourth option. I think that Raja Bell will fit in very well with the starters because he doesn't need to score to be effective. He just has to play great defense on players like Kobe, Dwayne Wade, et cetera and hit the occasional three-pointer. The Jazz have always only had TWO players that could be considered stars. Do you realize that Williams, Millsap, and Jefferson are ALL averaging over 20 points per game? If the Jazz have a really good record by the All-Star break, all three could possibly be under All-Star Game consideration. All we need now is consistent bench scoring. We lose our scoring punch once our starters leave the court. I believe we get this when Memo comes back. The Jazz have never had a team with this makeup. This might be the core that finally gets us our long suffering championship, my friends. We might not get it this year, but it may come eventually. Right now, the Jazz might have the best 1-2 punch front court in the Western Conference.

Talk about rose-colored glasses.

Okur, at his peak, was a borderline All-Star. Now he's a clutch center--offensively. It is highly likely that MO will come back and things won't improve (although they look pretty bad at times now). He's slightly taller than Jefferson, but he's probably slower. And his help defense is poor--maybe as poor as PM + AJ's are.

If Sloan had played Elson or Fes for another 5 or 10 minutes, this game would've been won sooner. If Sloan practiced what he preached, he would've benched Jefferson or Millsap for 5 minutes simply for letting the Clipps' 4/5 go off in the first half like they did. AJ should've been benched for this play alone ("Cleaning the Boards"):
https://www.nba.com/games/20101106/LACUTA/gameinfo.html?ls=gt2hp0021000086#
Big Al was totally mesmerized with the ball. Not looking for the opposing center.

Gordon scoring on a dunk on the last play of regulation had EVERYTHING to do with there not being a true center there to protect the paint.

 

[GVC]

Gordon scoring on a dunk on the last play of regulation had EVERYTHING to do with there not being a true center there to protect the paint.

Not sure why I'm responding to one of your posts, but you should probably go back and re-watch that play. Big Al was helping on the PnR, so there was a 0% chance he (or any center in the same position) could have been protecting the paint/rim. I realize you don't watch the games and/or only see what matches your preconceived notions of reality, but this is so blatantly false it's funny.

 

[Hopper]

Commie, one big-*** shortcomin in your post there. Ya made it without takin S2's "coachin 101" class first.

 

[tatermoog]

On the bright side, CJ was aware of how much he sucked after the game: "Shots are going to come. Tonight's nothing that extra shots in the gym won't fix tomorrow," Miles said. "There will be nights like that. I know that. Coach knows that, but he believes in everything else I'm able to do on the floor, and that's what I try to do."

Wait...what?

 

[memo is money]

On the bright side, CJ was aware of how much he sucked after the game: "Shots are going to come. Tonight's nothing that extra shots in the gym won't fix tomorrow," Miles said. "There will be nights like that. I know that. Coach knows that, but he believes in everything else I'm able to do on the floor, and that's what I try to do."

Wait...what?

LOL. What a moron. He really believes that he did anything possible to help this team win this one except shooting. He could be really helpful if he had told Sloan to take him out and put Hayward or Raja on the floor. His shoot selection is basically flawed. He says he is aware of his abilities and versatility, athleticism but somehow we cannot see them on a consistent basis, well... other than jacking up three after three. He has the ability to be a multi-dimensional player who can also play very good defense given his size, strengthened body and athleticism, but he just does not commit himself or I have watched different games.

 

[Shad]

When you look at the stats at the end of the game, we really should have lost that game. They beat us in field goal %, bench points, paint points, and outbounded us. Just to name a few.

 

[Fishsticks]

On the bright side, CJ was aware of how much he sucked after the game: "Shots are going to come. Tonight's nothing that extra shots in the gym won't fix tomorrow," Miles said. "There will be nights like that. I know that. Coach knows that, but he believes in everything else I'm able to do on the floor, and that's what I try to do."

Wait...what?

I tell ya.....Bromance.

 

[Inn Dawn]

C.J. had the second most assists on the entire team last night. He sucked, but let's judge his performance as a whole a little more fairly.

 

[InGameStrategy]

Not sure why I'm responding to one of your posts, but you should probably go back and re-watch that play. Big Al was helping on the PnR, so there was a 0% chance he (or any center in the same position) could have been protecting the paint/rim. I realize you don't watch the games and/or only see what matches your preconceived notions of reality, but this is so blatantly false it's funny.

Um, then Jefferson should have been playing along a big man who is taller than 6'7".

Coaching 101.

 

[GVC]

Um, then Jefferson should have been playing along a big man who is taller than 6'7".

Coaching 101.

Again, watch the damn game. Sap and AK are generally very good help defenders, but on this particular occasion neither got into position quickly enough (they may have been confused whose responsibility it was to step up), and Gordon split them at the rim. The play had nothing to do with not having enough size.

Also, "InGameStrategy" + "Coaching 101"? I'm starting to think you're just joking. Have you ever coached a game of competitive basketball in your entire life?

 

[InGameStrategy]

Not sure why I'm responding to one of your posts, but you should probably go back and re-watch that play. Big Al was helping on the PnR, so there was a 0% chance he (or any center in the same position) could have been protecting the paint/rim. I realize you don't watch the games and/or only see what matches your preconceived notions of reality, but this is so blatantly false it's funny.

P.S. "Helping"? Are you kidding me? AJ wasn't very tight on Kaman, and Gordon dribbled RIGHT PAST him as if he weren't there. If anything, Jefferson should've been up a bit more to close off the crossover, given that Millsap was closer to him on the right side.

And as I correctly stated, Millsap was too short to come over and block it; he was even in the paint for most of the drive, and he still wasn't tall enough. It's plainly presented as the first play of the highlights on NBA.com for everyone to see. Not just anyone with a tick.

I'm not so ambitious to think that Sloan would have enough sense to put in a center (Elson was probably the better choice) on the last play rather than keep his undersized, lead-foot frontcourt out there--LAC subbed in, so there was opportunity--but this game was plenty winnable in regulation if Utah had put out a big man who could stave off the opposing rebounds (L.A. still outboarded Utah 51-43, even though Griffin fouled out) or opposing 44 points in the paint (ditto).

Coaching 102.

 

[InGameStrategy]

Again, watch the damn game. Sap and AK are generally very good help defenders, but on this particular occasion neither got into position quickly enough (they may have been confused whose responsibility it was to step up), and Gordon split them at the rim. The play had nothing to do with not having enough size.

Also, "InGameStrategy" + "Coaching 101"? I'm starting to think you're just joking. Have you ever coached a game of competitive basketball in your entire life?

I believe that I have coached as many professional games as you have, which gives me just as much right to criticize the coaching as you do to apologize for it.

And again, I have been pounding the table more heavily for Jefferson to be reduced in minutes than Millsap, especially given that PM knows the system better, although I think that either one would've had the same effect of shoring up the rebounding and help defense.

If you're trying to--um--defend the decisionmaking so far in the season in at least a couple of winnable games that were lost, you have a long row to hoe. Griffin and Kaman were abusing Millsap and Jefferson; at least they managed to turn it around, thanks in large part to DW's and PM's offense. The freaking WARRIORS were abusing PM and AJ, too; adding height was the clear answer, especially given that Elson and Fes have been OK out there (better than the egregious first-half negatives that Big Al has produced), and Sloan didn't do adjust.

Coaching 103.

 

[The Thriller]

Remember how a while ago we were talking about Blake Griffin and how some people actually thought Boozer was better?

Yeah.....

Griffin is a stud.

 

[GVC]

P.S. "Helping"? Are you kidding me? AJ wasn't very tight on Kaman, and Gordon dribbled RIGHT PAST him as if he weren't there. If anything, Jefferson should've been up a bit more to close off the crossover, given that Millsap was closer to him on the right side.

And as I correctly stated, Millsap was too short to come over and block it; he was even in the paint for most of the drive, and he still wasn't tall enough. It's plainly presented as the first play of the highlights on NBA.com for everyone to see. Not just anyone with a tick.

I'm not so ambitious to think that Sloan would have enough sense to put in a center (Elson was probably the better choice) on the last play rather than keep his undersized, lead-foot frontcourt out there--LAC subbed in, so there was opportunity--but this game was plenty winnable in regulation if Utah had put out a big man who could stave off the opposing rebounds (L.A. still outboarded Utah 51-43, even though Griffin fouled out) or opposing 44 points in the paint (ditto).

Coaching 102.

Again, size was not the issue. Sap was late. He jumped from under the basket and to the side (not from out in front of the restricted area) to try to block it. Gordon split AK and Sap. More size would not have helped (we're talking about an Eric Gordon drive, after all). It's clear as day.

Now, if your contention is that the Jazz frontcourt was "lead-foot"-ed on that play (or throughout the game/season), at least I can understand where you're coming from. Big Al played the PnR fine, but got crossed up. Maybe more fleet footed bigs could have played it better (again, being taller would have had absolutely no impact there). Sap (or AK) could have rotated earlier to get in better position to contest the dunk (but Sap is far from lead-footed, generally).

Sap's size has not been an issue thus far. He's outplayed his matchup easily on average this season. So far, Big Al has been a disappointment, but that may change moving forward (it may not). Neither is an elite defensive rebounder (they're both very good offensive rebounders), and there are only so many offensive rebounds to go around, so the rebounding will likely continue to be a problem. Again, this has nothing to do with height (I realize to you height and +/- are the only indicators...). It's still early, so we'll have to see how the Jazz adjust.

"Coaching 102"? I think I just peed my pants. How many games coaching competitive basketball did you say you've coached?

 

[GVC]

I believe that I have coached as many professional games as you have, which gives me just as much right to criticize the coaching as you do to apologize for it...in at least a couple of winnable games that were lost...Coaching 103.

So, 0. Good. I'm not the one posting **** like "coaching 101" as if I know what I'm talking about. I at least try to be objective.

"At least a couple winnable games that were lost"? Which were those? I count 1 against the Warriors. You count 2 or 3 as winnable? I'd like to read the reasoning behind that ridiculous statement.

*giggle*

 

[GVC]

The Jazz have gotten nothing from the 2, spotty play from the 1, 3 and 5, and very little help from the bench. The bigs have yet to be be smart enough to put a body on anyone when a shot goes up. The Jazz are still 3-3.

Size may be an issue in a few matchups this season, but so far it has been only a minor problem (if that). There are far greater concerns at this point.