Kyle Korver came up huge, as the Jazz “surged” to a victory in Houston.
Even though the Utah Jazz did not take control of the Houston Rockets until the closing minutes of the game, the Jazz started the second half of the season with a 104-95 victory. Both teams fought hard in this one, but when push came to shove, it was the mental toughness and experience of the Utah Jazz that was the difference in the outcome.
The Rockets had every right to believe that they would beat the Jazz, following a 3-pointer by David Andersen that gave Houston a 93-90 lead with 4:41 remaining in the 4th quarter. However, it was right at that point, that the Jazz decided to wake up and take the game that was seemingly slipping away from them.
One player who really stepped up at the end of the game was seldom-used Kyle Korver, who hit a few big shots, and also had a couple of beautiful assists. Seeing Korver, a guy who seemed to lose his place on the team recently, come up big in crunch time, proved to me yet again that Jerry Sloan always finds a way to push the right buttons for his team. In fact, there was nobody I wanted to shoot the ball more than Korver at the end of the game. He was shooting with confidence, and he was taking shots that bench players usually do not take. If Korver can contribute like that on a regular basis, this already stacked Jazz team, will be even better.
Another player who deserves major mention is soon-to-be father of two, Mehmet Okur. Memo led the Jazz in scoring as he put in 21 points in just under 27 minutes of game-time. In addition, Okur had 8 rebounds and an uncharacteristic 4 blocks. Keep it up, Memo! Your contributions are always welcome with open arms.
The second leading scorer for the Jazz was Paul Millsap, who scored 20 points off of the bench for Utah. This was tremendous for a Jazz bench that was outscored 40-13 by the Rockets’ bench in their last meeting. (Even though the Jazz bench was again outscored by Houston’s in this one, 39-34, the discrepancy was a lot smaller, and it could have effectively been the difference in the game). Included in Millsap’s performance was 12 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Because Carlos Boozer had a quiet game, it was imperative for Millsap to step up. He did exactly that, and the Jazz did not lack too much, as their two power forwards combined for a very respectable 32 points and 20 rebounds.
Finally, I would like to give Deron Williams a ton of credit for his overall performance. Not only did D-Will fill up the stat sheet with 17 points and 15 assists, but Williams played incredible defense on Aaron Brooks, especially in the second half. Brooks, overall, was 5-17 from the field, as he struggled all night to get his shots to fall. In the second half, Brooks shot an atrocious 1-10 from the field. Although Brooks did lead the Rockets with 18 points, he did so on 6 more shots than the next highest teammate. Sometimes a player’s numbers might look decent, but if he achieves those numbers in an inefficient way, the numbers become diminished. That is the reason why Deron Williams deserves credit. Of course Brooks is going to get his, but if he has to struggle to do it, that is the most you can hope for.
Overall, this was a great win for the Jazz coming out of the All-Star Break. They could have folded when the Rockets put up a tougher fight than they expected, but they held their ground. They kept it close enough throughout, so that they could strike at the end of the game, and leave Houston with a victory. If they are able to close games like that out, they will find themselves on the winning side a lot more times this season.
In their next game, the Jazz will head to New Orleans to face the Hornets, who will be without Chris Paul.
LT’S NOTES
– The Jazz closed out the game on a 14-2 run.
– The Jazz were +11 with Korver on the floor.
– The Jazz have won 5-6 on the road, and they improve their overall road record to 11-12.
– Play of the game goes to AK47, who had a patented “steal and score”, which gave Utah a 96-93 lead.