JazzFan 4 Life

The Jazz are getting hot again, after tonight's 105-87 win over the Celtics. Utah has won 8 of its last 9 games and followed up last night's big win over Denver with a drubbing of Boston at Energy Solutions Arena. Let's get into it ...

SWEET MUSIC

Boozer working his way back (16 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists in 23 minutes): Boozer played just 12 minutes last night, finishing with 10 points. Tonight he played mostly in the 1st and 4th quarters and doesn't seem to show any signs of rust around the basket. His jumper looked a little off (particularly when he was open), so he mostly banged his way to his points tonight.

Fisher picks up the slack (21 points on 8-11 shooting): Deron Williams had 2 points on 1-10 FGs, so Fisher took it upon himself to take some shots ... and make them. He played more minutes than Williams tonight (31 minutes for Fisher to Williams' 27 minutes) and looked solid. He moved the ball, played defense (2 steals) and was teamed with Gordan Giricek to keep most of Boston's backcourt playing defense on a night when I'm sure they didn't think they'd have to.

Millsap keeps hustlin' (10 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks): He got 14 shots tonight (which is like 30 for Boozer/Okur/Williams) and although he only made 5 of them, he kept playing defense, running the floor and not playing outside his role. As Boozer starts to work his way back to his normal 28-32 minutes a night, Millsap will resume his role as the energy guy off the bench. But there's gotta be some thought in Jerry Sloan's mind that Millsap deserves to play crunch time minutes if Andrei Kirilenko can't get it together by late March.

SOUR NOTES

What's up with Okur/Kirilenko? All we know is that these guys missed the game (Okur for his back; Kirilenko for his knee). But how serious is Okur's injury? Will he be back in the lineup soon or will this soon balloon into an injury of Boozer-like proportions? AK-47 is always hurt, but he had knee problems two years ago and has had flare-ups with the injury since then. Maybe this injury will help Millsap and Ronnie Brewer get some more minutes, but the Jazz need to get AK-47 back and get his confidence back up. They won't make a long playoff run if he's not a factor.