I also went to the game last night, in fact i sat almost exactly opposite of ERC, about 15 rows up on the other side mid court. the game was pretty sloppy, mostly because A LOT of scrubs played a lot of minutes. also, the refs were ****ing horrible. blazer fans were getting pissed at their near constant horrible calls (but in reality the jazz had just as many fouls called on them and portland shot almost as many FT's).
Players:
D-will was good, but you could see the OBVIOUS frustration as he was trying to direct his symphony. with so many new guys trying to learn the system, D-will was having to tell people where to go constantly. this got to him a couple times and he committed a stupid turnover followed by a stupid foul and gave up a bucket. but he was solid throughout and had his way on the court.
thompson started, not AK despite what the boxscore says on espn. anyways, he sucked ***. did nothing on offense, pretty average defense and got abused by roy on a couple plays.
CJ miles....sucked ***. oh and he started too, the espn box score is all ****ed up, miles started, thompson started, AK came off the bench, and bell came off the bench. but CJ just seemed lost a lot. he was running plays but not ever really connecting with deron. he got called for quick fouls, he's way to physical on the defensive side and gets called for all the obvious stuff he does. you would think he would have learned by now, but nope, even though he scored he just seemed very hectic and out of control.
jefferson was beastly, despite being undersized. i dont care what his height/weight is listed at on espn or wherever, he looked really small compared to Aldridge and Camby. a starting front court of millsap and jefferson looked tiny next to portlands starting bigs. i'm almost positive he had a block as well, i swear the espn box score is all fubar'd. he has a nice touch and once he gets into the paint downlow its near impossible to stop him from scoring. he had a couple jumpers, made one i believe which looked good. he needs to work on his defense a little bit, aldridge and camby both took him a couple times.
millsap looked average, just a little too small to compete with big bodies like aldridge and camby, i think he got his **** swatted once or twice. still in preseason form but will get better around the hoop once he gets back into the season.
raja played pretty well, hit a nice three and moved the ball pretty well. you can tell he is still familiar with our offense and should do well.
hayward...man, what a scrub. can anyone give me any reason to think this guy will be nothing more than an undersized harpring who isnt as physical? seriously, i dont know what this guy is going to bring to the team. he's fairly athletic for his position i guess, but got royally abused when he tried to take it to the hoop, camby absolutely tossed his ****, one of the hardest blocks i have seen. his jumper was off so he couldnt get anything outside either. color me skeptical, i dont see what this guy has, welcome to the big leagues kid, this aint butler basketball anymore.
fesenko looked good, he's young and got some more playing time and took advantage of that. ya, he played quite a few minutes against portland scrubs but he looked good. he still commits stupid fouls (i dont know what the hell the technical was by the way, i didnt see anything that could have warranted it), but his movement and work rate down low has improved dramatically. he was cleaning up under the hoop, getting rebound putbacks and a couple nice hook shots. good game from fes.
wesley matthews is going to take advantage of the jazz every time he plays them. the guy looked like a world beater out there and was absolutely busting his *** all game long. i dont know if he was playing with a chip on his shoulder or what, but he was probably the best blazer on the court. tremendous work rate, wish the jazz still had that. i would trade matthews for hayward straight up every time.
But this time he will be unrestricted. Damn you Paul Allen.
