Jazz lack pizzazz
Grizzlies execute well, top 'disinterested' hosts
And the Utah Jazz were just kind of, well, neutral Saturday night in the Delta Center in breaking a five-day layoff with a "disinterested" outing.
That's how Jazz coach Jerry Sloan described it after the Memphis Grizzlies opened with a 9-2 advantage and never fell behind on the way to a 110-94 win — one night after an emotional Friday and getting beat themselves by 10 in Denver by a Nugget team without Carmelo Anthony and Nene, and then having travel problems getting to Salt Lake City.
Utah now travels to play at Seattle tonight at 7 MST against the third-best team in the NBA. "They look excited to play," observed Sloan of the Sonics, comparing them to his wavering team.
"We just didn't seem to have a lot of emotion," said guard Raja Bell.
"When you come out kind of flat, and the other team senses that you're flat, they kind of take advantage of you."
"I guess it kind of looked that way," said Sloan. "It looked like we were disinterested."
Sloan found it "interesting" to watch the Grizzlies continually execute their offense with screens and good shots while the Jazz were pretty much unable to do a thing about it most of the time.
"I think we kind of took our foot off the pedal a little bit," Bell said of the point when the Jazz had cut the lead to one. "Made turnovers at critical times. They executed when it really mattered, and we didn't."
The Grizzlies were up nine at the end of the third quarter and had made it a 26-8 run with eight minutes left in the fourth period. Eventually, they led by as many as 21.
"There guys think maybe it is better to get to the lottery," snapped Sloan about his club. "They played like it."
Carlos Boozer said the layoff was not likely the cause of Utah's sluggishness. "I don't think so. We had really good practices."
Boozer said the team "definitely missed 'Los (Arroyo)," even though the point guard who was traded to Detroit on Friday had played just two minutes in the last five games. "He was one of the best guys on the team, a really good guy."
" I don't think it was because of the trade," said Bell, who was closest to Arroyo since they both played collegiately at Florida International. "I don't know if it was the layoff or what, but we came out flat, and there's no excuse for it."
The loss marked the halfway point of the Jazz season. At 14-27, it is the first time in the last 10 years the Jazz have been under .500 for the first half. The only other time in the last 10 years that they had fewer than 20 wins was in the strike-shortened 1998-99 year when they were 19-6 at the midway point. The Jazz's last full losing season was 1981-82.
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