Off-beat Jazz still too much for Toronto
The Jazz on Wednesday night opened a three-game trip by holding on to beat Toronto 92-88 at Air Canada Centre, winning their fifth in a row and leaving coach Jerry Sloan about as giddy as he may ever get.
"I don't care what the score is," said Sloan, whose now 7-2 Jazz went into Wednesday's play averaging a league-high 111.9 points per game. "I don't pay any attention to that.
"As long as you win," added Sloan, who apparently was willing to overlook Utah's season-worst 42.9 percent field shooting, "they'll never know if it's 90s and 200s at the end of the season."
Sloan actually praised his club's late-game defense, and credited Utah's offense for reversing course following an opening half in which it scored just 39 points two nights after it had 65 in the first two quarters of a 117-93 win over Sacramento.
That's 10 fewer points than the Jazz's previous first-half low of 49, which came when they lost to Houston during the only other outing this season in which they failed to surpass the century mark.
That was particularly the case down the stretch, when clinging to an 85-83 lead 23-point, game-high scorer Carlos Boozer fed Deron Williams for an easy layup and, after Raptors star Chris Bosh answered with a dunk, Boozer scored down low on a nifty feed from Andrei Kirilenko.
"A.K. has really good vision," Boozer said of Kirilenko, who dished a game-high 11 assists and now has 39 assists in his last four games. "He's able to squeeze balls in some places where it doesn't seem like the ball should be thrown there."
Kirilenko just missed out on a triple-double for the fourth occasion in as many games, this time coming up two points and one rebound shy while also making five steals and blocking two shots.
Boozer, meanwhile, also pulled down a team-high 14 rebounds marking his NBA-leading eighth double-double in nine games.
And Williams finished with 22 points, including 11 during a fourth quarter in which he hit 5-of-5 from the free-throw line.
"He got a little bit more aggressive," Boozer said of Williams, who wound up shooting 8-of-15 from the field. "You know, we needed him to. They were doing a good job of clamping down in the paint, and D-Will started to mix it up a little bit with some crossovers, some jump shots. And it was the right time."
Credit someone who didn't even play for that.
"I don't think I was being as aggressive as I should in the first half, and I just wanted to come out in that fourth quarter and be a little more aggressive, look for my shot a little more," Williams said. "(Reserve guard) Ronnie Price actually said something to me when I was on the bench asked me if I was gonna shoot any more. I took his advice, and put it up a couple times."
Recent comments
jazz's just doing great...just as AK does his thing. go JAZZ!
jazzKiiFanFromManila | Nov. 16, 2007 at 12:16 a.m.
AK avg. 12.0 pts, 9.75 ast, 9.25 rbs over the past four games. That...
AK Triple Double | Nov. 15, 2007 at 10:20 p.m.
Ak is more like a point forward now. I really think that is all he...
odogtriever | Nov. 15, 2007 at 3:45 p.m.
- Funds for new courthouse approved 1:48 a.m.
- Godfrey vetoes Ogden budget 1:48 a.m.
- Odd Fellows Hall move 1:47 a.m.
- 2 country groups to perform 1:47 a.m.
- Rumor has Boozer with Bulls 1:20 a.m.
- Jazz in back of line for free agents 1:19 a.m.
- Okur signs two-year extension 1:18 a.m.
- Marion to Mavs, Stackhouse to Griz 1:16 a.m.
- Price for redistricting plan challenged 1:04 a.m.
- Basketball campers learn service 1:02 a.m.
- Rumor has Boozer with Bulls
- Stadium of Fire flag burning was fake
- Jazz in back of line for free agents
- Okur signs two-year extension
- Restaurant destroyed by fire
- Jazz won't meet Lopez on Europe trip
- A primer for the 6th Potter film
- AK will not play for Russia this summer
- Jazz rally for OT win at Orlando
- Blazers may offer Millsap a contract
- Bronco collecting a galaxy of recruits
139 - Letters: Palin mistreated
136 - Teachers struggle with district cuts
134 - Blazers may offer Millsap a contract
123 - Rumor has Boozer with Bulls
88 - Fairness of BCS debated
81 - Moon landing: Let's hear from you
74 - Chaffetz eyes challenging Bennett
72 - Services bids farewell to Jackson
70 - Letters: Time for a revolution
69
Real Salt Lake striker Yura Movsisyan travelled to Europe over last...
Two California high school receivers have given the University of Utah
The recent Poly camp in Bountiful opened the eyes of recruiters to at...
"Hermione Granger (Emma Watson): .... And she's come to have certain feelings...
Stadium of Smoke - cough, wheeze, cough!
There is so much more to Dave than ever could be told. We've know him as the...
A very realistic, fair assessment D-News. Well done.
California is the poster child of how too many social programs and unions can...
This is normal in the business world, take out several loans on the same...
It is a well know fact that the need for meaningful service practically never...
Americans advanced across a relatively unexploited landscape, and logged old...
My apologies in advance for the violent example I use to make my point below....
It feels like I'm living in the twilight zone. Global warming when the...



