Sweet music & sour notes -- Rockets vs. Jazz
Thursday, November 02, 2006
OK, so it's been a little while, but we're back at it with some sweet music & sour notes from the season-opener vs the hated Rockets ...
Sweet music
* The two-headed 2-guard (C.J. Miles & Ronnie Brewer): 21 points (7-10 FG combined), 2-3 (3-pt FG), 5-7 FT, 5 rebounds, 2 steals -- Hard to know where to start, but needless to say it was great to see Gordan Giricek in warm-ups all night and the youngsters getting it done. Miles got off to a hot start, including two 3-pointers in the first quarter. Brewer came off the bench and looked a little tenative at first, but once he got that mid-court alley-oop from Deron Williams (more on him later), you knew he was feeling more comfortable. Brewer did a great job harassing T-Mac and had a couple of nice drives to the basket.
* Carlos Boozer sighting: 24 points (10-18 FG), 19 rebounds, block, assist and a steal -- Well, after two years off (more or less), he showed up to play on opening-night. The nifty fade-away jumpers over Yao and Mutumbo were great, but there wasn't a lot of driving to the basket going on (which is usually his thing). He adds a Karl Malone-like dynamic to the offense on the pick and roll, but as usual, can he keep it up all year and can he stay healthy.
* Deron Williams: 18 points (7-14 FG), 10 assists, 3 reb -- He's picking up where he left off last year and you can tell his teammates have confidence when he's in the game, running plays and arranging the offense. It's always cool to see the Jazz point guard look back to the bench as he heads up court for the play call (just like Stockton used to do). He's still not very quick, but he gets to the basket somehow.
Sour notes
* Kirilenko struggles: 5 points (2-3 FG), 4 reb, block, 4 fouls -- A very un-Kirilenko type of stat line last night. AK-47 got hung up on pick and rolls quite often, his lateral movement seemed a little lacking and just seemed to be out of sync on defense. On offense, it's not a good sign if your best all-around player gets 3 shots and a second-year player gets 5 (Miles). Hopefully his back/leg are not giving him trouble.
* Memo off to a slow start: 17 points (4-15 FG), 0-3 (3-pt FG), 9-11 FT, 5 rebounds, 2 steals -- He scored around his average from last year, but the poor shooting from the field and his shot not falling is not a good sign. Luckily, Miles and Derek Fisher were able to hit some deep shots to keep the inside open, but Okur is counted on for some outside shooting. He's got to do better.
* Matt Harpring: 5 points (2-4 FG), 5 rebounds, 5 turnovers -- He did his usual Harpring thing (hit a few jumpers, foul people), which makes me wonder why he was brought back instead of letting Miles/Brewer get his minutes. As the year goes on, I'm sure Harpring will serve a valuable role (esp. if AK-47 gets hurt).
Sweet music
* The two-headed 2-guard (C.J. Miles & Ronnie Brewer): 21 points (7-10 FG combined), 2-3 (3-pt FG), 5-7 FT, 5 rebounds, 2 steals -- Hard to know where to start, but needless to say it was great to see Gordan Giricek in warm-ups all night and the youngsters getting it done. Miles got off to a hot start, including two 3-pointers in the first quarter. Brewer came off the bench and looked a little tenative at first, but once he got that mid-court alley-oop from Deron Williams (more on him later), you knew he was feeling more comfortable. Brewer did a great job harassing T-Mac and had a couple of nice drives to the basket.
* Carlos Boozer sighting: 24 points (10-18 FG), 19 rebounds, block, assist and a steal -- Well, after two years off (more or less), he showed up to play on opening-night. The nifty fade-away jumpers over Yao and Mutumbo were great, but there wasn't a lot of driving to the basket going on (which is usually his thing). He adds a Karl Malone-like dynamic to the offense on the pick and roll, but as usual, can he keep it up all year and can he stay healthy.
* Deron Williams: 18 points (7-14 FG), 10 assists, 3 reb -- He's picking up where he left off last year and you can tell his teammates have confidence when he's in the game, running plays and arranging the offense. It's always cool to see the Jazz point guard look back to the bench as he heads up court for the play call (just like Stockton used to do). He's still not very quick, but he gets to the basket somehow.
Sour notes
* Kirilenko struggles: 5 points (2-3 FG), 4 reb, block, 4 fouls -- A very un-Kirilenko type of stat line last night. AK-47 got hung up on pick and rolls quite often, his lateral movement seemed a little lacking and just seemed to be out of sync on defense. On offense, it's not a good sign if your best all-around player gets 3 shots and a second-year player gets 5 (Miles). Hopefully his back/leg are not giving him trouble.
* Memo off to a slow start: 17 points (4-15 FG), 0-3 (3-pt FG), 9-11 FT, 5 rebounds, 2 steals -- He scored around his average from last year, but the poor shooting from the field and his shot not falling is not a good sign. Luckily, Miles and Derek Fisher were able to hit some deep shots to keep the inside open, but Okur is counted on for some outside shooting. He's got to do better.
* Matt Harpring: 5 points (2-4 FG), 5 rebounds, 5 turnovers -- He did his usual Harpring thing (hit a few jumpers, foul people), which makes me wonder why he was brought back instead of letting Miles/Brewer get his minutes. As the year goes on, I'm sure Harpring will serve a valuable role (esp. if AK-47 gets hurt).
1 comments:
Anonymous
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1:31 AM
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I think Boozer could really be looking at a huge season