Jazz @ Oklahoma City | Sunday October 31st @ 5pm

[InGameStrategy]

Good signs: we won every quarter, Millsap and D-Will both with a big double-double (and 4 assists/rebounds shy of a triple-double respectively, 32 assists on 44 baskets, 7-11 from downtown and 25-30 on free throws (AJ was 11-12).

Bad signs: Miles got 21 points off bench, Hayward added 4... and that's it. A lot of guys hit the court for short periods, which makes it hard to have an impact, but still, the box-score is full of goose eggs for the bench. We are going to need bigger contributions from everyone in the second unit, we can't rely on one guy providing the spark.

It is true that Miles went from goat to sharpshooter, which was amazing. But besides CJ and maybe Hayward, no bench player got much playing time, so you can't expect them to score unless you give them meaningful minutes. Jefferson's shooting was poor in the first half, and he started the third quarter with only 4 points--yet another example of how PT is usually necessary to find one's place in the offense.

(Watson is a PG, and we knew that he wasn't a great shooter, and he had a positive +/- in nearly 12 minutes, so I don't know if you can expect much more than that.)

 

[Hopper]

The lack of center still seems to be hurting the Jazz. OKC's center is defending AJ, and it's been tough for Jefferson shoot over him--even Aldrich.

Same concept goes on the wings: it's best to play one defender at all times. Right now CJ and Hayward (who might be a defender someday) are winging it together.

Smart lineups, please?

Heh, S2, how many posts like this did you make in this thread, during an ever-escalating brutal beatdown by the "dumb" lineups the coachin staff used? 10? 15?

Did it ever occur to you that if you were the coach, you would always find some way to ruin a good thing?

 

[BabyPeterzz]

Games like tonight go to show just how great Sloan is and how he and Phil's offense can beat even the most athletic of teams. The Jazz ran all night, and the Thunder just couldn't keep up.

 

[prodigy]

Games like tonight go to show just how great Sloan is and how he and Phil's offense can beat even the most athletic of teams. The Jazz ran all night, and the Thunder just couldn't keep up.

I don't know if the Thunder couldn't keep up or were they just sitting back and watch in amazement how efficient the jazz offense can be when guys are playing well.

While the Thunder entire offense was just 1 on 1 with either Durant or Westbrook.

Assists: Jazz-32, Thunder- 10...D-Will had 5 more assists than entire Thunder offense

 

[vj_74]

Fesenko played only 3 mins? Fire Sloan's *** right now and hire Ingamestrategy as the coach

 

[LiemD]

AK was solid tonite!

 

[Hopper]

Fesenko played only 3 mins? Fire Sloan's *** right now and hire Ingamestrategy as the coach

Fess plays 3 minutes, the team doesn't jackpot around and wins by 20+. Mere coincidence, ya figure?









P.S. Just funnin, for S2's sake, ya know?

 

[Hitman]

It is true that Miles went from goat to sharpshooter, which was amazing. But besides CJ and maybe Hayward, no bench player got much playing time, so you can't expect them to score unless you give them meaningful minutes.

I did note that each, individually, received little playing time to make a personal impact, but my concern was not just their lack of scoring, but lack of any statistical contribution across the board. Outside of Miles and Hayward, the bench players accumulated 27 minutes, 0-5 shooting, no FT attempts, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 0 blocks, although on the plus side they also contributed only 1 TO between them. Adding Hayward's numbers (or lack of them) makes the bench contribution (outside Miles) look even worse - 42 minutes, 2-10 shooting, no FTs, 1 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 0 blk, 3 TO. We will need more than that from these guys in the future if we are going to be able to compete with teams.

 

[bozmansblues]

I agree that utah does need consistent contribution from the bench to be a real threat. It is hard to see whereelse it is going to come from - I suppose with Memo back, we have someone who can "hopefully" produce starter quality production from the bench?

 

[gomretat]

The most important question is - Are the Jazz watching film TOGETHER? Who cares about wins.

 

[//r00t 4 Jazz]

I think Stern is responsible for the stations not working on FSN for 2 games so far, but seriously I'm wondering if the stupid channel thing is somehow related to having free league pass preview. In the preseason before the free preview started the FSN game and pregame was fine but for me and the people I've talked to that have DTV the channel shows as you have not purchased this channel until moments before tip off and as soon as the game ends it changes back, of course the NBALP is blacked out.

 

[cjs55]

The stat of the night for me was Al Jefferson's 11-12 FT shooting performance. Right now he's shooting 81% for the season. This is a career 69% shooter we're talking about here. I really, really hope that Al Jeff put in the work in the offseason to improve his foul shooting due to him actually playing on a good team now. I doubt he will shoot 81% for the season, but if he can bump that percentage up to 75%, that would be a huge improvement for him and the Jazz.

 

[Gyp Rosetti]

Fes plays 11 minutes and we lose by 22. He plays seven minutes and we lose by 16.
He gets scrub time for three minutes and we win by 21.

Looks like the less Fes plays, the better we do.

 

[AlaskanAssassin]

Really hope we can keep up the high-energy play. To me, that's what really made the difference.

 

[YB85]

Re: Fes, the question has to be asked...What does Elson give the Jazz that Fesenko can't? Elson is Fulleresque.

 

[Gyp Rosetti]

Re: Fes, the question has to be asked...What does Elson give the Jazz that Fesenko can't? Elson is Fulleresque.

Color.

 

[billyshelby]

I thought Elson did a fantastic job on that play where he called a timeout to keep possession (added bonus for Jerry having to sit through it). There should be a whole thread that just lists anything good Elson does this year.

 

[Stifle Tower]

I agree that utah does need consistent contribution from the bench to be a real threat. It is hard to see whereelse it is going to come from - I suppose with Memo back, we have someone who can "hopefully" produce starter quality production from the bench?

When the starters are all playing well, you just keep giving the ball to them. It's not like the Jazz substitute all 5 backups at the same time. There are only so many touches. Evans, Hayward, Fes, etc. are going to be the 4th or 5th options when they're on the floor. You certainly hope the 7th-12th guys can shoot better than 2-10, but when the team has 42 boards and 32 assists, you don't really care if the subs are getting "their share" or not.

Didn't CJ have "starter quality production?" If Miles (or anyone else) is in "the zone" one night, just keep feeding him the ball. Wasn't this a criticism last season? That someone would get hot and then Sloan would substitute according to a pre-set rotation and that player would be forced to go to the bench. You stay with the hot hand and last night it was CJ. Against Phoenix, the bench shot a solid 8-16. Take away Millsap and the four other starters shot 35%, including those horrid 3-12's from Raja and Deron. Against Denver, the bench wasn't great, shooting 42%, but that was still much better than the starters. Again, take away Millsap and the rest of the starters shot 28%.

The rotation Sloan used against OKC is about what I would expect. You want the four starters outside of Raja playing at least 35 mins. They need to get the offense down. Raja should play no more than 20-25 mins during the regular season. CJ at 25, Hayward at 15 and Watson at 10-12 is perfect. Then, whatever mins are left over you distribute based on matchups. Fes plays against big back-up 5's and Elson against the more mobile ones. If a team is even smaller, you go with Evans behind Millsap.

 

[m3at]

I thought Elson did a fantastic job on that play where he called a timeout to keep possession (added bonus for Jerry having to sit through it). There should be a whole thread that just lists anything good Elson does this year.

Jerry should only be allowed to use a certain number of timeou.....oh, wait...

 

[Hopper]

When the starters are all playing well, you just keep giving the ball to them....You want the four starters outside of Raja playing at least 35 mins...Then, whatever mins are left over you distribute based on matchups. Fes plays against big back-up 5's and Elson against the more mobile ones. If a team is even smaller, you go with Evans behind Millsap.

This league aint about winnin, Glass. The main goal is to develop players. Well, not so much just any ole player, like Hayward and them. The main goal is to develop Fess.