Utah Jazz: With Korver ailing, Brewer makes most of minutes

Since Kyle Korver joined the Jazz nearly a year ago, the Utah Jazz's rotation at shooting guard has pretty much been set in stone.

Ronnie Brewer, as a rule, starts the game and the third quarter. Korver, meanwhile, starts the second and fourth quarters.

But there was a change on Saturday night at EnergySolutions Arena. Brewer, who led the Jazz on a third quarter run that turned a close game into a rout, was left on the court to start the fourth during Utah's 101-79 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. It seems the third-year pro was playing so well that acting Jazz head coach, Phil Johnson, left him in the game.

Well, that and the fact that Korver has a sore wrist.

"I felt like he was playing well," said Johnson of Brewer starting the final period. "And the other thing is that Kyle has a hurt wrist and I didn't want to take chances with him."

Brewer admitted that it was different starting the fourth.

"I was surprised," he said with a laugh. "I usually play the first and the third. That's been successful for this team. I've been playing well. Kyle's been playing well. But Kyle had an injury a little bit, so they wanted me to go out there and play a little longer to start the fourth to get a good run going and continue what we started in the third."

Brewer was a big reason the Jazz finished the third quarter on a 15-0 run. After the Clippers tied the game at 60 with 4:55 to play in the third, Brewer put on a show. During that stretch he scored and was fouled for an old-fashioned 3-point play, made a crowd-pleasing alley-oop dunk, nailed a 3-point jump shot in addition to rebounding, playing strong defense and even blocking a shot.

"I thought Ronnie Brewer played very, very well in the second half defensively and offensively he got us going with hustle plays," said Johnson.

Brewer scored 11 of his 16 points in the third quarter.

"We got some defensive stops which led to some fast-break points," said Brewer in explaining the third-quarter run.

Brewer's three-point jumper from the left angle with 55 seconds left in the third quarter showed a new-found confidence in his outside jumper.

"That's what the offseason is for, to work on your shot and to get better," said Brewer. "As a basketball player you strive to get better every day. I took it on myself to improve and coach (Jerry) Sloan challenged me to improve my shooting percentage and that's what I tried to do. I feel a lot more confident in shooting the ball and I'm just trying to shoot when I'm open."

And if Brewer keeps it up, he may find himself finishing games in addition to just starting them.

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E-mail: lojo@desnews.com