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Utah Flash battle to overtime but fall in home opener

Great write up, James!

JR Giddens had a monster game:
o 34 points (team high)
o 73.3 percent shooting
o 12 of 14 from the free throw line (86 percent)
o 5 blocks (team high)
o 7 rebounds
o 6 assists (team high)
o The key rebound that set the Flash up for their final (albeit unsuccessful) play

JR only missed 2 free throws all night (out of 14 attempts). Unfortunately for the Flash, both of the misses came in the crucial fourth quarter, and one of those misses came with 35 seconds left in regulation.

Nevertheless, JR did everything for the Flash though. In fact, I believe he was selling popcorn during time outs!

If the Celtics ever call Giddens back up to the NBA, the Flash are REALLY going to miss him!

Dontell Jefferson had a good third quarter, but that's it.

The Flash had 3 turnovers in the last 2:14 of overtime, and 2 of them had Jefferson's finger prints on them.

And Giddons grabbed that last rebound with 16 seconds left, and Jefferson just dribbled them away never looking to pass, and hucked up a horrible 3 point brick for the Flash's final shot.

Groan!

What ever happened to playing for the tie at home? They should have let JR drive to the inside and possibly draw a foul.

Once again Mr. Anderson, thank you for bringing the Flash to Utah County. The game was exciting, plenty of dunks, close game, free stuff, exciting half time show, kid heaven, etc. We all need to go out and support this team. It is a lot of fun to watch. I have never seen a team have more exciting games in a season. Last year almost every home game was close and exciting and it looks like it will be the same this year. Let's just hope Mo doesn't take too many shots away from Giddens, Walker, and Jefferson when the Jazz send him down. Great job last night Flash! And to the staff. No thanks to Travis Quinn and Kyle Flanigan though.

"Fun as Always," I'm not sure I follow your reference to Travis and Kyle. Were you teasing? I don't know Kyle, but Travis has been FANTASTIC for me to work with in getting tickets, etc.

Back to the game: I feel like this game was lost in the 2nd quarter.

The Flash defense held the Jam to an average of exactly 21 points per quarter... except for the second quarter. In the second quarter the Flash�s defense gave up 33 points.

If the Flash had not had this defensive lapse in the second quarter, they would have won the game by 12 points in regulation (33 - 21 = 12).

In that second quarter, the Jam shot 60 percent from the 3 point arc (3/5), and 53 percent from floor. The Jam�s shot 32.5 percent the other 3 quarters and OT.

Worse, exactly half of all the free throws the Jam shot all game were in the second quarter. The Jam shot 16 free throws, making 12 of them (75 percent).

Young players need to understand, the first minutes of a game are just as crucial as the last.

Amen. They are young but did you see that Bill Walker dunk? Can I get some more of that? Amazing young talent. That was one of the most fun games I have seen played in Utah. Too bad flash did not pull it out.

lobo fans miss u jr

J.R. Giddens had an amazing game. DNel struggled a bit but in the end he stepped up and won the game!! That's a true Duke player :D

Travis and Kyle are great. Just teasing some friends. I'm always see you on here and I wish we had more fans like yourself. Our fan base is growing and hopefully our games will have as good of attendance or better then opening night. Where are your seats?

Sorry for the late response. I'm glad to see you were teasing Travis because he is seriously helpful.

Our tickets are on row 2, right behind the guy doing the p.a. system.

Another thing that impressed me about last Monday's game...

The Utah Flash was significantly smaller than the Bakersfield Jam. Specifically, the Flash has one player 6 ft. 9 in. or taller (Brian Jackson), and the Jam has FOUR, and one of them is an NBA player assigned to the Jam.

Nevertheless, not only was the Flash just minus 1 in total rebounds to the Jam, the Flash was plus 2 in points in the paint, and the Flash had a mind bending 10 blocked shots to the Jam�s 2. Wow! That�s INSANE! No wonder the Jam�s shooting percentage was low all game (except the 2nd quarter).

Also, 59.4 percent of the Jam�s rebounds came from 2 guys (Hendrix and Lewis). The next time the Flash play the Jam, they might want to employ a team-wide strategy to keep those two guys off the boards.