The Utah Jazz last night put on the best Michael Myers masks they had, went to Oklahoma and terrorized a fearful K. Durant and a spooked Thunder team.
Name of the game: Kill ‘em all!
The Jazz didn’t just beat the Thunder soundly 120-99; they did it by doing everything near perfect…
They killed ‘em in:
-Points in the paint
-Shooting percentage
-Rebounds
-Assists/Turnovers
Utah’s overall grade: A-
Starting 5 attacked early and often
D-Will: 16 points 15 assists
Williams made the easy plays early and often. He drove the lane; he pushed the pace, moved the ball, and had fun!! Deron looked relaxed and patient… something that you can’t have when down 20 (see last two games)!
Deron’s overall grade: A-
Raja: 7 points in 19 minutes… 100% shooting.
Raja looked like he was ready to work. He played tuff D, as usual, and allowed his shots to come to him. His minutes were cut a bit do to an impressive night from C.J.
He is still getting used to what his body will allow him to do and what is expected of him on this offense. The hope is that this is the beginning of a return to a strong shooting percentage.
Bell’s overall grade: B-
AK-47 (Still has to be one of the coolest nicknames ever!): 19 points 4 rebounds 4 assists
AK was in All-Star form! This is why he was given the big bucks way back when! He looked FAST and FOCUSED! His blitzing style D on Kevin early was the key in keeping the Thunder All-Star out of rhythm.
He attacked the basket offensively, and only took the wide open long shots when the middle was clogged. He is a good enough, not great, outside shooter to draw out defenders, but is a better inside first guy. His passes were on as well.
AK’s overall grade: A-
Paul “who is C-Booz?” Milsap: 30 points 16 rebounds
Best performance of the year so far for this team! Paul was grossly "on" last night! He looked confident inside and out. Took easy shots and put them up quickly! His rebounding skills were present and dominant with his stronger than ever body banging down low. He did everything we have come to expect from him… but it was his shiny new weapon that made the most news… the beautiful 17 footer! WOW!
If that 17 footer keeps falling at a high percentage, it will do so much for the Jazz offense. Not only will it obviously un-clog the middle for Al, but it will cause a mismatch as 3’s are sent in to guard him. If a 3 is put on Milsap, he will take them down low off the pick and roll and get dunks all night! If the 17 footer keeps dropping, let the All-Star buzz start now.
Milsap’s overall grade: A+
Big Al: 23 points 10 rebounds
I don’t know if anyone noticed, but big Al just got 23 points and 10 rebounds on an “off” night. In speaking with Iceman this morning, he said he doesn’t really think Al is all that he is cracked up to be… and to that I say again, Al put up 23 & 10 in an “off” night.
I like this guy a lot. Not because he is some All-Star big or is an out-of-this-world athlete. No, I like him because he plays ugly, stinky basketball. Nothing he does looks graceful or intelligent like Gasol. He isn’t a dominant power player like D. Howard either. He just throws guys off, puts up ugly shots, hangs out under the hoop, and stinks up the lane… and then finishes up the night with 23 & 10!
Now with Milsap hanging 30 points out to dry, it does un-clog the middle, which allowed Al to score a bit more. But he can create on the double as well. As he and Milsap continue to establish a yin-yang style of post play, Al will look better and better… or to go along with this article; uglier and uglier!
Al’s overall score: B+
The Bench (A.K.A. C.J. Miles)
C.J. was on, Period. When he is he is a true scoring machine.
Hayward will play a long time in this league if continues to learn at the rate he is, and can continue to focus on doing the hard stuff.
Everyone else was score-less. If C.J. wasn’t the 6th man, the bench could have failed last night. This doesn’t seem to be a likely grade for a pretty talented bench the rest of the year. If it is it could be the stubbed toe of the Jazz.
The Bench’s overall score: C+
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