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Kirilenko plays best game of the season

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Steve | 12:55 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008
"Thank you, Jeff Hornacek. I'll keep shooting," Kirilenko said about his part-time shooting coach.

Oh, the wonders of having confidence in your shot. Go AK47, Goooo!!
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mc | 1:25 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008
Hornacek for Coach of the Year or at least Unofficial Coach of the year! What a turnaround in Andrei's shooting! I no longer cringe when he shoots. In fact, I encourage him to take those 3 pointers. I'd be interested to see his 3 point percentage for the last month. It's got to be pretty high.
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Dean | 1:28 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008
Please Kevin Don't trade A.K., If someone has to go let it be Sloan but not A.K.

He is the best passer and defender on our team, and since Hornaceck got a hold of him he has been one of the better shooters. A.K. has been very uselfish this season and has definitely done his part to make things right.

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You go! | 5:29 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008
Hey AK-47, that was VERY mature of you to say that. You've got my respect back. I hope you still got game in you to keep going with the Jazz! GO ASK-47!!
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Yearly Exception | 7:32 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008
With his confidence up, and him looking like a superstar, lets hope he doesn't use his once a year exception given to him by Masha on the Jazz fans and secretly push for a trade before the trade deadline.
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AK 47 (assult weapon) | 8:04 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008
Better not trade him now. He's the best passer on the team. He is a rare talent.
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Jazzaholic | 8:14 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008
The Amazing Andrei performs his magic act once again.
Jazzaholic
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Odogtriever | 8:56 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008
Go Ak!! If he has games like that on the road, how can they lose. Lets just hope the scouting report continues to say let AK shoot the long ball and he will have an easy open shot every night.
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Chizat | 9:25 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008
"Best Game of the Season"

Nov. 30 vs L.A. was Andrei's best game of the season.

Last night was a great game, no doubt, but not his best.

Scoring isn't the most important thing for Andrei to do.
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Henry Drummond | 9:38 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008
I was going to suggest Jeff for Coach of the Year but it looks like "mc" beat me to it. AK certainly is shooting with more confidence. I think Carlos owes some of those points he got last night to AK.

Andre isn't a guy that can be left unguarded on the perimeter or anywhere else anymore. He certainly shows he can shoot even when he is facing an aggressive defense. I noticed he had a bruise on his right eye, no doubt a memento from Ron Artest. He hit the free throws with confidence too. And he was great on defense as always.

Great job AK!
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Moto X | 10:17 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008
Sloan modified the offense for AK to give him more touches. He has also changed the way he communicates with AK. Of course he gets no credit for doing any of that. Yet these problems were the EXACT reasons AK HIMSELF listed as why he was playing/shooting poorly? Hmmm.

So Sloan got the blame when things went bad and he changed those issues and yet when things get better Hornacek gets the credit? Did Hornacek change Sloans behavior? I don't think so.

AK could shoot the ball two years ago I will remind you. Hornacek helped AK regain some of his confidence he used to have but Sloan is the one who has accommodated AK's wishes for touches and how he gets talked to--he deserves a fair amount of the credit.

I am sure it will be excruciating for all you Sloan haters to acknowledge the obvious correlation.
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ijazzfan4 | 10:40 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008
ditto- welcome back AK-47! keep it up!
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JCH | 11:14 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008
The obligatory "fire Sloan" comment comes at 1:28am, barely three hours after the game has ended. Well done, Dean.
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RE:Moto X | 12:31 p.m. Jan. 26, 2008
Credit Sloan for AK late shooting success?
Please, be advised that Sloan took a DIRECT ORDER from LHM to harmoniously work with AK.
Sloan knew what he had in AK, and what did he do? he almost ruined AK career with his old dictatorial antics. It took LHM with KOC as witness, at the season begining to summon Sloan to adjust his old school antics and accommodate AK's talents. So if there is another person to credit, beside Hornacek, it's LHM and not Sloan.
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Naha Yazzie | 1:30 p.m. Jan. 26, 2008
I salute you Mr Sloan as one who is showing an ability to adapt and help a player achieve closer to his potential. This is a part of what coaching is about; working with the players brings team success. An outstanding coach has outstanding "people skills" that empowers,lifts, and enables the players. While you don't do the work on the floor, you certainly have major impact on what the players do while performing on the court. Again I salute you. Your 'old school' style is taking on some freshness; maybe things will keep improving. Twenty years is a long time. To me, you are earning additional time, day by day. Just don't relax and stay in your old school set.
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ID Jazz | 1:55 p.m. Jan. 26, 2008
RE:Moto X @ 12:31
You beat me to the punch but to add to what you said. Is it not also silly that you have a head coach and how many assistant coaches that were, and are not capable of doing what Hornacek has done for AK? Makes you wonder if Hornacek was part of the coaching staff full time what confidence he could instill on the whole team. Don't get me wrong here I think Sloan is a great coach but he is just unwilling to self evaluate what works and what does not work and try to change what is not working. Just once I would like to see him adapt to what is happening with players and game situations instead of sticking to the same things he has done since he became a coach.
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asdf | 2:10 p.m. Jan. 26, 2008
Moto X, what are you smoking?

If anything, Sloan should be ridiculed more for poor job he did with AK last season. The AK slump last year was totally unnecessary. If Sloan was any smarter and utilized AK properly, Spurs series might not have ended up 4-1.
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Ol'pro | 2:26 p.m. Jan. 26, 2008
That's well said ; @RE: Moto X ,@ ID Jazz & asdf !
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Derek | 3:58 p.m. Jan. 26, 2008
Sloan is an all-around, great coach. Yeah, he does certain "things" innefectively, but when the guys are following his overall tactics, the Jazz are unbeatable. Hire Hornacek as a full-time coach, and we will be NBA champs, right? Maybe.
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sam | 10:54 p.m. Jan. 26, 2008
Thanks Larry for telling Sloan that he must
try to get along with the best player on the Utah
Jazz team. Sloan is such an arrogant man, I cant
wait until we as Jazz fans get a new positive and
younger coach. Its time, I used to go to a lot of Jazz games now I do not attend as many. I am sick
of Jerrys bad choice of words and his demeanor.Go Ak
I love to watch you play.Hornacek would be a good fit
but does he have any coaching background?
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