JazzFan 4 Life

This was probably the biggest game of the year thus far (in terms of the division standings and confidence for the Jazz). Looked like it wasn't going to be a good game for the Jazz early on, but they managed an exciting 116-111 win over the Nuggets.

SWEET MUSIC

Young guys step up (Paul Millsap: 6 pts, 6 reb, 2 blocks Ronnie Brewer: 12 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal): Andrei Kirilenko left the game in the second quarter with an ankle injury and it was looking like Melo was going to light us up. Enter Brewer, who took over for Kirilenko's replacement (Gordan Giricek) and promptly made an alley-oop jam to get the Jazz back into it. Brewer had a key steal of Melo in the 4th quarter and was a factor in the game with his defense and hustle. Millsap did his usual hustling, hard-nosed play throughout the game, but came up with 2 critical blocks down the stretch to preserve Utah's win.

Boozer punches his ticket for Vegas (25 points, 19 rebounds, 2 assists): This type of performance wasn't that outstanding for Boozer as he's had bigger stat-type games this year. But it was the way in which he got most of his rebounds and abused Denver's big men of Marcus Camby, Nene and Reggie Evans. Boozer had as many rebounds as Camby, Nene and Evans combined. He's a shoo-in for the All-Star game now.

Bench comes up big (reserves outscore Denver 46-11): We mentioned Brewer and Millsap, but Giricek and Matt Harpring also played big for the Jazz. More than his 11 points, Harpring did a great job of frustrating Nuggets forward J.R. Smith and played physical with Melo to make him get some dumb fouls down the stretch. Giricek had 13 points, but his three 3-pointers kept Denver honest in the middle.

Defending the 3 (Denver: 4-11 on 3-pointers): Utah did a much better job of sticking with Iverson, Melo, Steve Blake and Smith on the long ball. I couldn't beleive Boozer actually ran toward a 3-point shooter with the game winding down (as he did with Blake's late 3). If he did that more often this year, we might have a few more wins. But overall, whatever the problem has been with perimeter defense wasn't a problem tonight.

SOUR NOTES

Where have you gone, Memo? (14 points, 5-17 FG, 0-6 on 3-pointers): A little disappointing to see Okur not step it up in a big game or when the Jazz needed him. Makes me wonder how he'd do in the playoffs if the going got rough. There were stretches last night where he all-but disappeared and if it weren't for Boozer, the Jazz would have lost easily.

Stop starting Fisher (25 minutes, 2-8 FG, 2 assists, 3 turnovers, 8 points): On the Jazz's second possession of the game, he couldn't get the ball past halfcourt and had it stolen away by Iverson. He missed all of his open jumpers and had a bunch of stupid fouls. By contrast, the Brewer/Giricek combination played 2 minutes more than Fisher did and scored 25 points. I think Fisher is a great backup PG, but he can't handle the two-guard position at all. Maybe the solution lies in what was done tonight ... play Brewer and Giracek roughly the same amount of minutes?

Kirilenko's injury (14 minutes, 2-3 FG, 1-1 on 3-pointers, 4 assists, block, 7 points): When he went down in the 2nd quarter trying to block Marcus Camby, it looked pretty bad. But he was able to walk off the court on his own. Who knows when he'll play again, but the injury didn't look too serious. It's moments like these in the NBA that give struggling players (Giricek) and young guys (Brewer) a chance they want to prove themselves.