Utah Jazz - Dealing with the Hoodoo

[Liam_93]

Matchup Preview *|* January 19, 2013
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Utah Jazz (18-18, 7-11 Away)		Houston Rockets (12-26, 7-13 Home)
Stats Comparison 101.3 Points Per Game 100.4 104.0 PPG Allowed 104.3 .442 Field Goal % .462 .796 Free Throw % .751 .425 3-Point % .345 52.0 Rebounds 45.7 8.0 Blocks 3.5 10.9 Steals 7.4 22.6 Turnovers 15.7 Projected Starters D.J Augustin Point Guard Kyle Lowry Alec Burks Shooting Guard Kevin Martin Harrison Barnes Small Forward Chandler Parsons Paul Millsap Power Forward Luis Scola Al Jefferson Center Donatas Motiejunas

[Liam_93]

Luis Scola missed Buzzer Beater and One free throw separate the Jazz and Rockets



HOUSTON -- The Utah Jazz left the Toyota Centre tonight with a W but only just as they were saved when Luis Scola Missed the last shot and it would come down to one missed free throw. That is how tight this game was tonight and for everyone who seen it will admit that it was one of the most entertaining of the season so far.

It was back and forth straight from the off with both teams exchanging leads and buckets but Houston had the upper hand in a tightly contested first quarter and this game did not reflect the mediocre season that the Rockets have had so far. Coming into the second quarter with it tightly contested the Rockets were controlling the offensive glass early with Donatas Motiejunas and Patrick Patterson grabbing offensive rebounds on consecutive misses for the Rockets and they would convert on the second chance points but the Jazz would take control in the second quarter for a while with their rookie Jordan Taylor having a very productive night of the bench hitting on all of his attempts and having 8 points ans 7 assists of the bench in 10 minutes of play showing that he could be a great steal for the Jazz if he keeps up his play. The teams went into the Half tied at 51 and Kevin Martin had the game high 19 points by half time even though he has low scoring numbers than usual this season.


This steal was one of Kevin Martin's many highlights from the game

By the 3rd quarter there were already 15 lead changes and the teams continued to go back and forth. The 3rd quarter was much like a 3 point contest with Alec Burks and Kyle Lowry exchanging 3 point buckets in the 3rd but the Jazz would leave the third quarter with a 5 point lead but in the forth they would extend the lead to as much as 9 only for Kevin Martin and Luis Scola to spark a Houston run and outscore the Jazz by 4 points for the 4th Quarter but The Jazz fans had their hearts in their mouths as Luis Scola took the last shot for it to bounce of the front of the rim teeter on the side and fall of and the Jazz and their fans would breathe a sigh of relief and walk out of Texas with a W.

Next up for the Jazz they head to Minnesota to conclude their road trip and a Martin Luther King day showdown with Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio and the Timberwolves.



Box Score vs Rockets:

Utah Jazz (19-18) at Houston Rockets (12-27)
Jan 19, 2013 1 2 3 4 Final Utah 21 30 30 21 102 Houston 22 29 25 25 101 Top Performers Utah Jazz Harrison Barnes (22 pts,5 rebs,9-16 FG) Alec Burks (14 pts,6 rebs,2-2 3pt) Houston Rockets Kevin Martin (36 pts, 2 stls, 16-23 FG) Luis Scola (16 pts, 12 rebs, 8-12 FG)	Team Stats Comparison UTH HOU FG Made-Att 43-90 43-90 3PT Made-Att 5-14 5-21 FT Made-Att 11-13 10-11 Rebounds 48 43 Assists 22 19 Turnovers 12 12 Steals 6 11 Blocks 2 3

[Liam_93]

Matchup Preview *|* January 21, 2013
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Utah Jazz (19-18, 8-11 Away)		Minnesota Timberwolves (18-19, 13-6 Home)
Stats Comparison 101.3 Points Per Game 95.2 103.9 PPG Allowed 92.3 .440 Field Goal % .444 .796 Free Throw % .809 .442 3-Point % .291 53.0 Rebounds 45.1 7.8 Blocks 4.8 11.1 Steals 6.9 22.8 Turnovers 12.2 Projected Starters D.J Augustin Point Guard Ricky Rubio Alec Burks Shooting Guard Luke Ridnour Harrison Barnes Small Forward Michael Beasley Paul Millsap Power Forward Kevin Love Al Jefferson Center Nikola Pekovic

[Liam_93]

Jazz shrug off Wolves on MLK Day



MINNESOTA -- It was the meeting of old faces in Minnesota as Ty Corbin's Wolves faced off against former Minnesota Center Al Jefferson and the Jazz on a Martin Luther King day match-up.

Kevin Love was showing early why he is one of the best rebounders in the league asserting his dominance early on the offensive glass and kicking it out to the perimeter for the likes of Luke Ridnour and Michael Beasley to convert on three point opportunity's. Love would finish with an astounding 19 rebounds for the game. Ricky Rubio was struggling early on with D.J Augusitn stealing the ball from him on two straight possessions and turnovers would be a problem all night for Rubion and he never looked to recover from that early set back. Nikola Pekovic was causing problems inside for the Jazz and when he was double teamed by the Jazz he would just kick it out to the perimiter again for an open man. The teams went in 47-51 at the half and Love Alreday had 12 rebounds.


Kevin Love's 19 rebounds wasn't enough to save his Timberwolves from defeat

The Timberwolves got out to the biggest lead of the game in the third which would be 11 but the Jazz fought back and you could see Ty Corbin taaking out his frustration with the team at one of the timeouts they had they werent taking care of the ball and they were not converting on easy hoops. With the Game tied at 70 J.J Barea hit a 3rd quarter buzzer-beater to put the Wolves up 2 going into the 4th. The 4th quarter was a nail biter for both teams it was scoreless for 4 minuets and when D.J Augustin left the game with an Injury you thought that the Wolves could take control just after that and when Harrison Barnes missed a breakaway dunk but it was the Jazz who scored first in the 4th but the Wolves would reply and the teams would go back and forth but with some stellar defence by the Jazz in the last part of the game they were bale to close out the Timberwolves and Al Jefferson had the game high in points in his return to Minneapolis.

Next up for the Jazz they welcome the Raptors to Utah and they lost last time around in overtime in Canada but the Raptors will be without Andrea Bargnani as they traded him away to the Warriors for Andrew Bogut so it will be Demar DeRozan and Bogut who will lead the Raptors against the Jazz.



Box Score vs Timberwolves:

Utah Jazz (20-18) at Minnesota Timberwolves (18-20)
Jan 21, 2013 1 2 3 4 Final Utah 22 25 23 22 92 Minnesota 28 23 21 13 85 Top Performers Utah Jazz Al Jefferson (20 pts, 5 rebs, 9-13 FG) Alec Burks (14 pts, 9 rebs, 5-12 FG) Minnesota Timberwolves Luke Ridnour (17 pts, 3 rebs, 2 stls) Kevin Love (15 pts, 19 rebs, 7-11 FG)	Team Stats Comparison UTH MIN FG Made-Att 37-80 36-84 3PT Made-Att 2-10 5-12 FT Made-Att 16-25 5-12 Rebounds 49 44 Assists 17 19 Turnovers 8 12 Steals 10 7 Blocks 10 3

[Liam_93]

Matchup Preview *|* January 23, 2013
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Toronto Raptors (6-34, 3-20 Away)		Utah Jazz (20-18, 11-7 Home)
Stats Comparison 92.7 Points Per Game 101.1 105.7 PPG Allowed 103.4 .448 Field Goal % .439 .753 Free Throw % .794 .236 3-Point % .425 43.1 Rebounds 55.2 5.4 Blocks 7.6 7.4 Steals 11.6 16.6 Turnovers 22.6 Projected Starters Jose Calderon Point Guard D.J Augustin Demar DeRozan Shooting Guard Alec Burks Michael Kidd-Gilchrist Small Forward Harrison Barnes Amir Johnson Power Forward Paul Millsap Andrew Bogut Center Al Jefferson Injury Report Ed Davis (Sprained Foot) Day-to-Day D.J Augustin (Twisted Ankle) Day-to-Day Game Notes Season Series at 1-0 to Raptors D.J Augustin will start Ed Davis out of game.

[Liam_93]

Jazz make a late run to shrug of Raptors



SALT LAKE CITY -- The Jazz and Raptors met in Utah to close their season series and there were some bad blood between the two after the last meeting which ended in overtime and you could see it as soon as the game started.

The teams came out in their retro jerseys and their were parts of the performances for each teams that reminded the fans of the past with Demar DeRozan playing the part of Vince Carter flying through the air early in the game to dunk on Paul Millsap but Augustin and Millsap were playing the role of Stockton and Malone in the pick and pop situations that the Jazz got into time after time. One of the plays of the game was when Jose Calderon stole the ball of Millsap in the post and Millsap would race back after Calderon and steal it back for the fast break Slam. The Game was back and forth all night with teams exchanging leads and their was alot of contact in the paint early as Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was showing why he was No.1 pick this year scoring some tough contact lay-ups and getting D.J Augustin into foul trouble. At the Half the teams went in at 50-46 to Toronto and Demar DeRozan playing a big part for the Raptors and Paul Millsap leading the Jazz's cause for a W.


Demar DeRozan doing his Vince Carter impression. He had a great game but couldnt stop the Jazz winning

The Jazz were patchy with their shooting in the 3rd but improved towards the end and finally took the lead through a J.J Redick 3 late in the first but it wouldnt last long as MKG would get to the line again draw the foul drain the bucket and convert on the and 1 and lead going into the 4th quarter. In the 4th Enes Kanter and Derrick Favors played a massive part in the Jazz run which would win them the game with crucial defensive stops and Kanter would convert on an and one to put the Jazz up by 3. The momentum would soon swich for the Jazz when they blocked three straight Raptor shots but near the end of the quarter Amir Johnson would hit a tought contact layup in the post and convert the free throw to take the Jazz lead to 2 but with DeRozan going ice cold towards the end of the 4th and Jerryd Bayless wierdly not taking the last shot with the clock winding down the Jazz would win the game by 3 and chalk up 3 straight wins.

The Raptors now welcome the Cavs to Air Canada Centre and the Jazz head to the big apple to face Melo, Amar'e and the Knicks and they will be hoping to continue thier win streak but it wont be easy up against two of the best scorers in the league and Carmelo Anthony arguably the best cluch performer in the NBA.

Toronto Raptors (6-35) at Utah Jazz (21-18)
Jan 23, 2013 1 2 3 4 Final Toronto 26 24 20 21 91 Utah 20 26 26 22 94 Top Performers Toronto Raptors Demar DeRozan (23 pts, 9 rebs, 4 asts) Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (18 pts, 4 rebs, 7-12 FG) Utah Jazz Paul Millsap (14 pts, 10 rebs, 6-10 FG) Al Jefferson (10 pts, 12 rebs, 2 blocks)	Team Stats Comparison TOR UTH FG Made-Att 38-91 36-83 3PT Made-Att 2-8 4-13 FT Made-Att 13-16 18-25 Rebounds 51 48 Assists 20 16 Turnovers 6 6 Steals 5 3 Blocks 2 7

[Liam_93]

Matchup Preview *|* January 25, 2013
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Utah Jazz (21-18, 9-11 Away)		New York Knicks (20-20, 12-9 Home)
Stats Comparison 100.9 Points Per Game 99.8 103.1 PPG Allowed 100.7 .433 Field Goal % .461 .783 Free Throw % .782 .408 3-Point % .345 54.5 Rebounds 45.8 7.4 Blocks 4.9 11.3 Steals 7.3 22.4 Turnovers 16.1 Projected Starters D.J Augustin Point Guard Tony Wroten Jr. Alec Burks Shooting Guard Iman Shumpert Harrison Barnes Small Forward Carmelo Anthony Paul Millsap Power Forward Amar'e Stoudemire Al Jefferson Center Tyson Chandler Injury Report D.J Augustin (Twisted Ankle) Day-to-Day Brandon Roy (Sore Foot) Day-to-Day

[Liam_93]

Knicks have a big thrid quarter to dismantle Jazz



NEW YORK CITY -- Just when the Jazz were starting to looks good the Knicks come and spoil the party and Carmelo Anthony had a monster game in the process carrying the Knicks through the first two quarters before everyone started chipping in.

It wasn't as one sided as the scoreline suggested as the Jazz had a good opening quarter leading the Knicks by 6 points at one time that was after Melo had got going early and the Knicks had rushed out to a 10 point lead but the Jazz didnt play all bad at all the Knicks were just draining everthing and they played good D not to mention Carmelo Anthony was unguardable chalking up 12 points in the first quarter.The Jazz were behind by at most 6 ponts in the second and their offensive rebounding got them back into it. Melo was trying to do too much at one point but he got hot as soon as he made his next bucket and after that shooting over 50% for the whole game. The teams went in at 51-54 at the Half with Melo on 24 points and carrying the Knicks through the first half but in the second half Shumpert, Amar'e and even Smith (who recently said he was testing free agency) all chipped in in the second half.


Alec Burks hit a nice circus layup in the second Q

When the Jazz players look back on the films they will wish they shot better out of the gate in the second half and they would have probably kept it close if they had defended better too in the thrid quarter because they came out of the second quarter 1/7 while the Knicks trounced them and coming out of the half on 75% shooting on the way to a monster third quarter where the game was won and lost that and the Jazz were just diabolical at rebounding the ball in the 3rd quarter (to be honest they didn't do much right in the 3rd quarter)and Carmelo Anthony continued to make contested shots and layups just bothering the Jazz D and you could see the frustration coming for George Karl. In the 4th the Jazz looked like a completely different team but they had dug themselves into a deep hole with their poor 3rd quarter that it wasn't enough and when the Knicks visit Utah they will want their revenge.

George Karl was able to give a few words:

"Apart from the 3rd quarter we were great and if we had concentrated more on the fundamentals we could have easily matched them for scoring but we didn't now everyone want to forget that game and go into the next one and come out with a win and get back to where we were before this game"

Well the Jazz will face the Hornets and one of the best scorers in the league in Eric Gordon and hopefully they can walk away with the W.

Utah Jazz (21-19) at New York Knicks (21-20)
Jan 25, 2013 1 2 3 4 Final Utah 28 23 20 31 102 New York 28 26 36 28 118 Top Performers Utah Jazz Harrison Barnes (20 pts, 4 rebs, 7-14 FG) Al Jefferson (19 pts,12 rebs, 7-12 FG) New York Knicks Carmelo Anthony (35 pts,9 rebs, 17-26 FG) Amar'e Stoudemire (20 pts, 13 rebs, 9-12 FG)	Team Stats Comparison UTH NYK FG Made-Att 39-90 49-95 3PT Made-Att 5-22 8-12 FT Made-Att 19-25 18-18 Rebounds 44 54 Assists 20 21 Turnovers 8 6 Steals 4 7 Blocks 4 7

[Liam_93]

Matchup Preview *|* January 27, 2013
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New Orleans Hornets (21-24, 7-15 Away)		Utah Jazz (21-19, 12-7 Home)
Stats Comparison 93.2 Points Per Game 100.9 93.8 PPG Allowed 103.5 .424 Field Goal % .431 .764 Free Throw % .789 .329 3-Point % .387 47.7 Rebounds 54.7 4.8 Blocks 7.2 7.3 Steals 11.0 15.2 Turnovers 22.2 Projected Starters Damian Lillard Point Guard D.J Augustin Eric Gordon Shooting Guard Alec Burks Trevor Ariza Small Forward Harrison Barnes Carl Landry Power Forward Paul Millsap Chris Kaman Center Al Jefferson Injury Report Marco Belinelli (Strained Achilles) 1-2 Weeks D.J Augustin (Twisted Ankle) Day-to-Day

[Liam_93]

Big 4th Quarter leads Jazz past Eric Gordon and the Hornets



SALT LAKE CITY -- The Jazz were able to recover quickly and get straight back on the winning track after that horrible night in New York but at the expense of the Hornets and Eric Gordon almost prevented the W with a big 29 point night in Utah.

Both teams started poorly with the Hornets shooting 1/10 out of the gate and the Jazz shooting 1/9 no one could seem to find the basket with stray layups and air-balls. Alec Burks had another big night and showed why he could be a big part at the 2 for the Jazz for years to come he score 9 of the Jazz first 10 points. In the second the teams seemed to get back on track shooting better but both still had field goal percentages in the low 30's. Eric Gordon began to pick his game up for the Hornets and Alec Burks continued his scoring in the second too for the Jazz. It was a tightly contested 2nd quarter with a deep Wesley Johnson 3 putting the Hornets up by one going into the break 44-43.


Eric Gordon drains three of his 29 points over J.J Redick


The Jazz's second unit played a big part for them in the 3rd quarter with Jordan Taylor having good scoring numbers again for the Jazz and with Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap having poor scoring nights but both in double digit boards (A.J 11 rebs and P.M 16 rebs) Enes Kanter and Derrick Favors would be key off the bench scoring wise for the Jazz. The Hornets were trying to do too much from the perimeter in the 3rd and it allowed the Jazz to keep up with them in scoring. Relief for the Hornets as Damian Lillard was injured while jumping for a rebound but he would return in the 4th. The forth quarter would be key for the Jazz as the Hornets would take the biggest lead of the game at 11 but the Jazz would fight back and play some stellar defence and cash in on plenty fast break opportunity's and open 3 pointers with D.J Augustin having a huge last quarter and racking up 11 assists for the game and the Jazz would be able to walk away with the W.

Next up for the Jazz will be a visit from Phoenix and a showdown with Steve Nash and the Suns.

New Orleans Hornets (21-25) at Utah Jazz (22-19)
Jan 27, 2013 1 2 3 4 Final New Orleans 20 24 22 33 99 Utah 19 24 21 37 101 Top Performers New Orleans Hornets Eric Gordon (29 pts, 4 rebs, 13-29 FG) Damian Lillard (19 pts, 5 rebs, 8 asts) Utah Jazz Alec Burks (21 pts, 3 asts, 8-14 FG) D.J Augustin (17 pts, 11 asts, 7-15 FG)	Team Stats Comparison NOR UTH FG Made-Att 41-95 37-85 3PT Made-Att 7-26 10-23 FT Made-Att 10-14 17-22 Rebounds 49 53 Assists 19 25 Turnovers 6 12 Steals 8 2 Blocks 4 5