30 March 2009

yours truly

[LDS church President Thomas S. Monson was in attendance at Monday's game]

Boone: "Well I want you to know, Thomas Monson's favorite player ever, your truly."
Boler: "RON BOONE!? Oh Ron Ron Ron Ron what are we going to do with you?"

the continuing adventures of Boler and Booner

Boone: "Is that uh... how long has he been here, four years? I think this is the first technical Deron Williams has ever received."
Boler: "He averages one or two a year."

...

...

Boler: "Bernie just told me this is Deron's sixth technical this season."

24 March 2009

Rested, the Jazz begin a telling stretch of games

This story that B. shared with me helped me finally get over the horrible El Heat loss, and I am going to give the Jazz another chance to prove to the world that they are worth something.

The team has had a lot of rest since the road trip failures (two games in eight days) and only have three games this week. Three winnable games. Three should-be wins. They play Houston at home tonight, at Phoenix on Wednesday, and after two full days rest, Phoenix back at The Larry. Anything other than 3-0 would point to this year's team not having much of a playoff future. If they go 2-1, with the loss likely coming tomorrow, when the Jazz face both of their usual stumbling blocks (a road and back-to-back games) in one night, then this team is as it always has been. If they go 1-2, then, barring a late-season about-face, the team might as well be in the lottery, because they don't have what it takes to win a playoff series.

By the way, as a look at the standings will show, the #2 seed in the Western Conference playoffs is up for grabs. Houston just passed San Antonio, and the Rockets have only one less loss than Utah does (four more wins, though). The Spurs have two more wins and two less losses, for a two-game lead over the Jazz. Denver has two more wins and equal losses and New Orleans is one better than Utah in both the win and the loss columns. Portland is also in the hunt, being tied with the Jazz with one more win and one more loss. The Jazz have more games left than all of the contenders, giving them a lot of control over where they finish out.

20 March 2009

don't mess

We make fun of Boler and Booner a lot, but it turns out they're made guys. They have friends in high places. Maybe we should lay off.


17 March 2009

Bolerjack's St. Patrick's Day Special

"It's been one of those nights, Mr. O'Boone."

breaking news

Ronnie Brewer will not be starting tonight because he missed this morning's practice. Chocolate milk hangover?

15 March 2009

Utah@Orlando Live Game Blog

Lee is right. Millsap and AK owe us a big game. Let's hope Korver can keep up his hot streak. Let's hope that riding segways through Epcot Center (assuming that the team did that) cleared their minds of yesterday's brutal defeat.

Boozer introduces the starting lineup: "D-Will. Watch out he's got all these moves. Be careful."

Nice job giving away our secrets before the game, Carlos.

First play of the game, Deron demonstrates the devastating "stand around" defense.

And now the whole team follows suit allowing rookie Courtney Lee to slam it down.

Jazz not looking energetic. I'll try to not be so negative. The Jazz are looking loose and relaxed.

Jerry tossed less than two-and-half minutes into the game. He's right to be irritated, these refs are not playing well together so far. I'm not saying that because I disagree with the calls, but we've already had a call reversed and foul credit re-assigned. Get it together, guys.

I bet when Vlade Divac, Hedo Turkoglu, and Peja Stojakavic played together the air on the Kings' charter plane was filled with really nasty burps.

First time out. Jazz not looking good.

---

Collins is in. That's good news.

Millsap looking sluggish. Ronnie Brewer is exhibiting some heads-up play.

I typed that before he missed a free throw and then immediately sent Orlando to the line.

I was Phil Johnson, this is what I would coach the Jazz to do: MAKE SHOTS!

Commercials. Styx is playing Wendover, but I don't think it's the real Styx.

Kyle Korver's mouthguard has entered the game, with Korver following right behind.

Boler and Booner have a disagreement over whether Deron's slamdunk was a Frustration Slam or an Opportunity Slam.

Collins has a couple of nice fumbles in a three second period. Brevin Knight should never take a shot, ever. Now Collins stands in admiration of Dwight Howard's shoulders while Howard rises for an easy slam.

Korver drops three. Apparently his mouthguard is bothering him.

End of first guarter. Dwight Howard has a double-double. I'm going on break.

---

I love the Ronnie Brewer chocolate milk commercial. So awkward.

That's all I got. I haven't the energy to continue this.

That game was twice in the bag

Used to be that I would expect a huge win after a loss like yesterday, maybe even a blowout win. With these Jazz, though, I expect a four-game losing streak.

Millsap and Kirilenko owe us a big game or two after what they did at the end of regulation yesterday afternoon. As bad as AK picking up that charging foul (which was questionable) instead of backing the ball out, Millsap trying to dunk over whoever that was was even worse. The lead was only four, and since when does he dunk over people? He isn't even good at finishing a lay-up over another player. Also, did you notice how mopey he looked the exact minute he entered the game. I have never seen a player look so affected by the party they went to or the beverages they downed the night before. Or he was sad that his woman broke up with him. Either way, he did not come to play yesterday, which isn't common for him.

AK wasn't much better. He got called for traveling within a few minutes of checking in, and it affected him until he fouled out (which was like a blessing to Jazz fans). He whined about every call that went against him and seemed disconnected from the game. Maybe he was bummed that he was the fourth player off the bench, and didn't enter the game until the beginning of the second quarter. If he made as many plays as Korver has been lately, maybe he'd play more.

Anyway, AK and Millsap owe us.

11 March 2009

Boler, Booner

CB: "Turnaround jumper... sweeeet."
RB: "Did you just say sweet?"
CB: "Sweeeeet."
RB: "Sweet. You got that from your son didn't you? Sweet?"
CB: "It's big these days isn't it? Sweet."
RB: "Sweet."

08 March 2009

random photo


two of america's finest.

20 games left

The Jazz finished February with a 10-1 record, putting them back in the thickness of the Western Conference playoff standings. With April being considered a great month if they finish better than 3-5, March is the pivotal month in determining their playoff seeding.

So far, Utah is off to a 3-0 start with twelve games left before deadly April. Though they are on a somewhat impressive 10-game winning streak, most people who talk about these sorts of things think this is where the Jazz come back to earth, crashing, but still surviving (Apollo 13) and earning a playoff berth. These people figure that, although they are now as close as a team can be from the #3 seed without actually being the 3rd seed, they will soon start climbing down the ladder. It isn't unrealistic to feel this way, as eight of the 12 remaining March games are on the road (besides two games, the rest of the current win streak came at The Larry) and four being the rear end of back-to-back games.

Those two things cannot be excuses, though, for a team with the talent that the Jazz have, which is a lot. There's three recent All-stars among their top six players and another who will be a multiple-time All-star and one of the NBA's deepest squads. There's plenty of height, more than enough shooters, and a point guard who runs an effective, efficient offense. Also, they have proven to be good enough to beat any team at The Larry.

Road and back-to-back games are more difficult than games in SLC, obviously, but they are not reason enough that the Jazz should lose to teams like Miami or Atlanta when playing under either of those conditions. If they do continue to consistently drop such games, then the only appropriate reasoning is that this team's toughness does not equal its skill.

I just saw that the Jazz beat the Raptors, so that pushes the winning streak to 11 games and the March record to 4-0. Nice. Getting the road trip off to a winning start has to be perfect for the team's away-from-home confidence.

Here's the rest of the schedule and how they should do. Thanks to utahjazz.com for making this schedule so easy to copy and paste. The rules of the schedule is that the Jazz are not allowed, barrying serios injury, to lose to a team that they are unquestionably better than, no matter the circumstances. Losing to better or near equal teams on the road is okay, but losing to them at home is not. Losing back-to-backs to such teams is less acceptable, but in some cases I might look the other way (but not until it happens -- as of now, it should not occur). Also, sometimes a game is lost that shouldn't be lost; maybe the opponent was on fire, or maybe a team just can't catch a break. Because these games are unpredictable, they will not be predicted, on account of me refusing to take the prefix 'un' lightly. Besides, there are always games that go the other way where a team gets one they maybe shouldn't have. It usually evens out.
*=back-to-back games

March
Tue 10 @ Indiana---Win
*Wed 11 @ Atlanta---Win
Sat 14 @ Miami---Win
*Sun 15 @ Orlando---Loss
Tue 17 vs Washington---Win
Fri 20 @ Oklahoma City---Win
Tue 24 vs Houston---Win
*Wed 25 @ Phoenix---Loss (This game could go either way)
Sat 28 vs Phoenix---Win
Mon 30 vs New York---Win
*Tue 31 @ Portland---Loss
April
Thu 02 @ Denver---Loss
*Fri 03 vs Minnesota---Win
Sun 05 @ New Orleans---Loss (again, could go either way here)
Wed 08 @ Dallas---Win (Dallas, along with San Antonio, is one of the cities that they Jazz can never win in, for whatever reason. Maybe LA, but this history doesn't quite seem to be there. So, even though I don't think the Jazz will win this game, hence the 3-5 prediction given earlier, they should)
Fri 10 @ San Antonio---Loss
*Sat 11 vs Golden State---Win
Mon 13 vs LA Clippers---Win
*Tue 14 @ LA Lakers---Loss

In the 19 remaining games, the Jazz should go 12-7, putting their record at 52-30. Not too shabby. It could go even better if the team can get over their road insecurities. If they can, they could possibly go 14-5 and really set themselves apart from New Orleans, Houston, and Portland, and put themselves in the class of the Lakers and the Spurs -- not only this year, but in the future. The way they finish this season not only improves their playoff seeding, but can be an indicator of the type of team they are going to be next season (assuming they don't lose Boozer or Okur to free agency).

It's all up to March.

04 March 2009

the league trembles in fear

Looks like the other teams in the Northwest Division have taken notice of the Jazz's recent string of success. Denver knows that the Jazz are nipping at their heals and they are obviously panicking, as evidenced by this move. Scary news for those hoping the Jazz could take the division. Let's just hope that Portland doesn't find out about this.

02 March 2009

I know they lost every time they wore them, but....

On utahjazzdotcom today, there is a poll question that asks "Should the Jazz have a throw back jersey night?" with the following response options:
-YES! I miss the old note!
-The new jersey is where it's at.
-As long as they don't wear the short shorts...

I don't know how long they keep their polls up over there, but this is a cause a fellow like me can get behind.

Don't choose the third option, unless you like throwing your vote away on a bad joke.



or, they should go the distance and do these: