The Jazz started the season red hot to win 12 of their first 13 games. They did this by scoring over 108 ppg and leading the league in many other categories. Boozer and Williams were dominating and everyone from the rookies to the veterans were making solid contributions.
But in the last two games things have fallen apart. They are only averaging 76.5 ppg, more than thirty points below their season average and can’t seem to be able to shoot. So what is going on and is it panic time for the Jazz?
It is important to remember that the Jazz were not going to win 70 games this year. They are really good, but not that good. So a letdown at some point in the season was inevitable. The alarming thing is not that they have lost two games in a row, but the manner in which they have lost these games that causes concern and reminds me of two seasons ago.
The Jazz run a very precise, efficient offense. Because of the way Sloan coaches and insists they play, the Jazz usually start the season with a slight advantage over the rest of the league. While other teams are still knocking off rust, the Jazz are executing like it is mid-season. This leads to early victories and skewed stats. This early advantage usually lasts five or six games.
After having so much success through the first 13 games, it is unlikely that this slump is entirely attributable to this execution advantage. This advantage started to slide after the sixth game and it was very apparent when the Jazz started having to make wild comebacks in every game to win. They played two motivated, strong opponents and lost.
It seems that the Jazz got a little complacent during that stretch of comebacks. They believe they can win any game, and were on their way to a comeback last night before Memot got ejected. While the Jazz have proven that they can win those games, it is not a very good recipe for success. The Jazz need to get in a habit starting strong and finishing out, and put together a game that they win all four quarters.
I don’t buy into the idea that Kirilenko has thrown the offense out of whack. He was there during the first seven games when the Jazz were leading the league and the they scored 110 points in his first game back. This is a team wide problem.
This team has shown that it is legitimately good. The front line is still the most versatile in the league. Deron Williams is still a great point guard, capable of putting the team on his shoulders and the bench has proven to be deep and able. Slumps happen during an 82 game season. I still say the Jazz win 48 games and are the team that nobody wants to play in the playoffs.
It is not time to panic. Lets see how they bounce back during a difficult week against the Spurs, Lakers and Sonics.
November 28th, 2006 at 6:44 pm
it is true that the jazz jumped out to an amazing start this year but, last night it just seemed like they were last years team but worse. I know A.K. is amazing at defense and has done great things in the past such as his 5X5 but he cant take much longer getting back into the offense or were never going to see the Jazz we saw at the beginning of the year.
November 29th, 2006 at 11:08 pm
The Jazz played an awesome game. I take back about what I said about AK, tonight he proved he was back in the flow, even though he is still shaky on offense he provides all the intangibles the Jazz need. I also really think that DW is really taking on the role of a leader, when it got into crunch time he took the shot on two straight possesion, first was the layup where he took it hard to the hole, then he dropped the three off the ball screen which I thought sealed the game for the Jazz.
This game shows that the Jazz are for real this year, they aren’t going to beat the Bulls wins record but they will be a contender in the West, if we can keep winning big games and finish games down the stretch like we have been doing, I think we will have a great year, if Boozer can stay healthy. Boozer showed that he can man up anybody in the NBA, he overall had better stats that Tim Duncan.
Great Win Jazz lets get another win against the Lakers in the Staples Center