Utah Jazz: Is selfishness to blame for woes?
PHILADELPHIA — Over a late-night meal on Wednesday night in Boston, after they were blown away 105-86 by the 8-1 Celtics and had lost for the third time in their last five games, Deron Williams was talking with a teammate.
The root of the Jazz's woes was the topic of discussion, and the subject was as sore as when the dentist must dig deep into a canal.
"A lot of it's a little bit of selfishness," Williams said Thursday. "When we build leads, we start looking for our own shot and worrying about scoring instead of getting stops.
"We went to dinner last night, and a couple of us were talking.
"We looked at Boston, and, you know, Paul Pierce has 10 points (actually 13 by game's end Wednesday), K.G. (Kevin Garnett) has 10 points (actually 18), Ray Allen has 10 points (actually 15), (Rajon) Rondo has 14 points, somebody else has 12 points — and they're on the bench happy," the Jazz point guard added. "They don't care who ... gets the glory. They just want to win. Until we figure that out, we're not gonna be a good team."
Williams was so down after Wednesday's game that he used his Twitter social networking account to vent.
"We got to change something bc (because) what we doing ain't working right now!" he tweeted. "Don't know what but something?????"
Before practice Thursday morning at Boston's Suffolk University in advance of tonight's game against the Philadelphia 76ers, Williams expounded.
"Not like trades or anything," he said.
"We just have got to change something. We've got to, you know, find something that works, whether it's lineups or whatnot. We've got to do something different.
"I didn't mean to tweet it was the end of the world," Williams added. "Just, we've got to do something. I know the fans watching, I know the fans sitting at home, they're not happy with us right now. I'm not happy with us either."
In the wake of it all, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said Thursday that an opening lineup change will be considered for tonight's game vs. the Sixers.
He did not, however, commit to making a switch, or say which possible change was being considered.
"We'll see what happens," he said. "We'll discuss it with our coaches. We've already discussed it. We discuss it all the time."
Sloan benched starting power forward Carlos Boozer in favor of backup Paul Millsap early in both the first and third quarters of Wednesday's loss to the Celtics, and he replaced starting center Mehmet Okur with backup Kyrylo Fesenko early in Wednesday's third quarter as well.
Recent comments
without SLoan, GDOG
todd from santa ana | Nov. 13, 2009 at 9:35 p.m.
I was at the game with the Kings. It was a joke. There is no hustle...
Anonymous | Nov. 13, 2009 at 5:03 p.m.
Boozer for Dwight Howard. Make it happen.
JR | Nov. 13, 2009 at 4:53 p.m.
- Cougars beat Utes in overtime 1:11 a.m.
- UVU beats SUU; USU wins big 12:57 a.m.
- BYU spikers end season with a loss 12:55 a.m.
- Iverson may be headed to 76ers 12:34 a.m.
- Credit Coug defense for win 12:33 a.m.
- Aggies blow away T-birds 12:32 a.m.
- Mo steals show in Cavaliers' victory 12:31 a.m.
- Editorial: Facilitate Big Brother? 12:22 a.m.
- Mom befriends wife of PTSD vet 12:21 a.m.
- Political clash over U.S. debt 12:21 a.m.
- Cave to be sealed with body inside
- Predicting the unpredictable: BYU wins
- Hall mouths off about hate of Utah
- Vegas, Poinsettia bowls or bust
- Cougars beat Utes in overtime
- Glover gives Utes last-second upset
- BYU football: 5 keys to victory
- Cougars turn back Wildcats'
- Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
- BYU is champion of the state
- Cougars beat Utes in overtime
396 - Hall mouths off about hate of Utah
150 - Thunder rolls by Jazz
136 - Cave to be sealed with body inside
115 - Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
115 - Editorial: Poor welcome for Palin
113 - Rivalry Week is highly profane
88 - Hall's legacy measured today
75 - Y. focused on 10-win season
73 - Letters: C02 causes warming
70
It's finally time for the game that everyone has been waiting for all...
Its finally here, the big game. No matter what the circumstances are, it...
watch out for next year for sure, the negatives are just closet (and...
And something else, I generally follow players from the state schools when...
I could care less that Max Hall said what he did. The feeling is mutual BYU...
Dear Max, probably could have done without that comment. Probably would've...
As a Utah fan, let me first say congratulations to Max Hall, the Cougars, and...
Geno's and Pat's are good.. but, they are mostly for tourists, the real...
(You even got a middle initial... how's that for 'ya Max) It's nice to see...
Even today, I still cannot get enough of this movie or Charles Gitonga Maina....
...disappointed with Max Hall's comments that he hates everything about UofU....
Over the last few days I read comments of people complaining about tasteless...
