Hear Scott Garrard and Coach Tom Nissalke break down the Jazz 111-101 victory over the red hot Portland Trailblazers.  The Jazz ended the Blazer's NBA best 13 game win streak with a strong performance from the entire team.  The game also saw the Premiere of Kyle Korver, who scored 11 points in his first game as a Jazzman.   The Jazz are now 17-16 and will look to build a winning streak with an easier January schedule.  The Jazz next game will be on Thursday Jan. 2nd as they face Gordon Giricek and the Philadelphia 76'ers.  Hear David Locke and Coach Nissalke preview the first Jazz game of 2008, Thursday night at 6 p.m. on 1320 KFAN.  After the preview, Hot Rod will have the tip off at 7 p.m.  

Once again filling in for David Locke, Scott Garrard will do his best to provide a live blog of tonight's game:

END OF GAME, Jazz 111 Portland 101

- Poor free throw shooting down the stretch kept Portland from making any kind of run in the final minutes of this game.

- Korver's shot was off, but the energy he brought to the court was impressive.  This guy will be fan favorite for a long time -- or unitl he opts out of his contract in a year and a half.

- As I previously mentioned, every time Portland made a run, the Jazz answered right back.  This is the kind of 4th quarter performance we haven't seen in a long time. 

- This just in: LaMarcus Aldridge is very good.  Brandon Roy isn't too bad either. 

4TH QUARTER, Jazz 103 Portland 93 (3:54 Remaining)

- Aldridge is well on his way to 40 points.  He has been very, very impressive.

- It may not hold up, but every time Portland has made a run, the Jazz have answered.  This has not something we have seen during this recent stretch of Jazz games.  Portland is throwing every blow they have and the Jazz are taking them and responding with their own. 

- Korver realized his three isn't falling and has been passing the ball well.  Had a nice assist to Andrei for a three and then posted up on a bucket and a foul.  Has five points so far here in the fourth and has reached rock star status here at the ESA.

4TH QUARTER, Utah 89 Portland 83 (10:06 Remaining):

- Brandon Roy just hit a jumper over Korver and attempted another one the next time down the court.  Safe to say Roy likes this matchup.

- Korver attempted two more threes and missed.  This man has never seen a shot he doesn't like.

3RD QUARTER, Utah 83 Portland 74 (2:24 Remaining):

- Jazz on a 22-8 run since last entry.  Offense has really started clicking as Deron has tried to take the game over by slashing to the basket and kicking out.  Jazz have really picked up the tempo of the game. 

- CJ Miles just threw a bad pass on a fast break opportunity and heard about it from Sloan --- but, Sloan left him in the game.  Good to see Jerry let guys work through their mistakes instead of yanking them out of the game.

- Aldridge has 29 points in this game, but has tried to do to much.  His one on one play has taken the Blazers out of their rhythm offensively.

3RD QUARTER, Portland 66 Utah 61 (7:35 Remaining):

- Jazz picking up a slew of careless fouls which has already put them in the penalty.  Portland is again crisp on offense and getting every look they want.

- Jazz offense has slipped back into 1st quarter mode.  Korver hasn't played yet, and small pockets of the crowd are chanting "Bring Back Korver".   For some reason, most of those doing the chanting are women.  Not sure what that's about.

- Coach Tom Nissalke just mentioned that Texas could have had LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Durrant, and CJ Miles all on the same team.  Impressive.

HALFTIME Jazz 52 Portland 50:

- Korver missed his next two shots, but the spark he brought to the court, and the spark he brought to the crowd turned this game around in a hurry. He picked up a steal and a block shot to turn the arena into a bizarre circus like atmosphere. Suddenly, the Jazz are hustling more, playing better defense and look like an entirely different team. 

- Jazz ball movement looked much better against the zone late in the second quarter.  Certainly helped Utah starting hitting some outside shots to help stretch that d.

- People will talk about Korver and Memo's play as to why the Jazz have the lead, but remember it was Harpring that hit three straight shots to help keep the Jazz close with Portland when it appeared that the Blazers were close to blowing this game wide open.

2ND QUARTER, Portland 41 Jazz 40 (5:12 Remaining):

Kyle Korver hit his first three -- and yes, the place erupted.  Wow.  Korver is the most popular man in Utah right now.  Massive riots at the Fanzz store to purchase his #26 jersey.

2ND QUARTER, Portland 39 Utah 35 (5:46 Remaining):

Kyle Korver has checked  into the game -- TO A STANDING OVATION.  If he hits a three, this place will officially erupt.

2ND QUARTER, Portland 38 Utah 31 (6:50 Remaining):

- Being a college basketball nut, I have a massive man crush on the Portland zone.  To get an NBA team playing defense like this - all of them on the same page, collapsing the lane, and all disciplined in their roles is amazing. 

- If the Jazz continue to stuggle against this zone, you may see Kyle Korver sooner than we thought.  Someone is going to have to hit an outside shot.

- Matt Harpring has hit back to back shots to trim the Portland lead to seven.  He is carrying this team right now offensively.

END OF 1ST QUARTER, Portland 29 Utah 23:

- No use sugar coating this thing, Jazz look uninspired and uninterested in playing defense.  Sure Portland is making a their outside shots, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of energy or desire on defense.  Aldridge and Roy are on fire with a combined 17 points in the first quarter.

- Jazz were down by as many as 12 points, but did catch fire with a late mini run thanks to their point guard play - which does not include Deron Williams.  Suprisingly it was Jason Hart who got the Jazz out of their offensive rut and provided a much needed spark.

- Portland is really fun to watch.  They are very loose and do not look like a team feeling the stress of a 13 game winning streak.  They are making the extra pass, playing solid defense, and everyone seems to be making plays.   Don't overlook the play of Steve Blake.  He has brought a ton of veteren leadership to this team and Brandon Roy credited him for the Trailblazers success.  He forced Deron into two early turnovers.

1ST QUARTER, Portland 15 Utah 10 (5:45 Remaining)

- Portland quickly goes to the zone and the Jazz struggle hitting the outside shot.  Once again, Portland has quickly exposed the Jazz' achilles heel on offense.

- LaMarcus Aldridge is lighting up the Jazz with eight early points.  He has an impressive arsenal; turnaround jumper, slashing to the basket.  Jazz have no answer for his athleticism.

PREGAME:

- Despite still injured, Andrei Kirilenko will not only play tonight, but will also start.

- Kyle Korver will play tonight -- a significant amount of buzz around the newest Jazz acquisition in the arena. 

I had a chance to sit down with the newest Jazzman following his press conference today.  We talked about his initial thoughts after being traded, and his thoughts on the Utah Jazz. 

Click Here to hear the entire interview.

Locke Offensive Rating (Looks at efficiency and the ability to get a shot off)

I devised this rating to value the efficiency of a players use of a possession coupled with his ability to get a shot off.   In other words, a player maybe very efficient but it only does you any good if he has the talent to get the shot off. At the same time, a player may put up good numbers, but if his use of a possession is poor it hurts the team.

            Any score under 0 implies that the players is below replacement level, in other words the top 300 players in the league.   Using a possessions above the league average is a big deal. Imagine if a team has every player in their rotation using a possession above the league average or if 4 of the 5 players on the floor do.  

Season	Korver	Giricek	Lea Avg	Top 30
07-08	3.4	-8.6	8.5	23
06-07	18.2	15.0	10.0	24
05-06	15.2	-5.1	8.5	23

What this means:   Korver was a far better player when he was playing off some the primary players such as Iverson and Webber. When he had to create his own offense or was not around players that drew attention he really struggled. I would anticipate he returns to the 06-07, 05-06 numbers which are strong in the NBA. 

Season	Korver	Giricek	League Avg
07-08	.090	.032	.232
06-07	.156	.113	.233
05-06	.148	.014	.227

What this means:   For the past three years, even when Giricek was at his best Korver has been better. Moreso, neither of these players do a lot, they are shooters and Korver maybe better.

Season	Korver	Giricek	League Avg
07-08	242	121	430
06-07	330	288	432
05-06	282	164	429

What this means:   Same as above Korver is better in all three years. This also shows that these are one dimensional players. 

Since it is clear that both of these players are one dimensional players let’s look at how good a shooter they are and how they use their possessions.   We will look at shooting ability in three ways, Effective Field Goal % (which weighs shooting % for three point shots), Pts per Scoring Opportunity (includes trips to free throw line and Pts per Field Goal Attempt.

Season	EFG%		Pts per SO		Pts per FG
07-08	51%	46	1.03	.93	1.10	.93
06-07	57%	57	1.14	1.13	1.26	1.25
05-06	58%	48	1.15	.96	1.23	1.03

Here is how they use their possessions.   At the end of each possession a player can do one of 4 things when the ball ends in his hands, shot a 2, shot a three, go to the line or turn it over. 

The %’s below represent the what the player does when the play end in his hand. For example in 05-06 on 48% of the possessions that end in Korver’s hand he shot a 3 whereas in 06-07 it was only 29% of the possessions.

Season	2 pt FG		3 pt FG		Free Throw			Turnover
07-08	44%	55	40%	28%	6%	.4%	10%		17%
06-07	51%	54	29%	25%	9%	8%	11%		13%
05-06	35%	69	48%	13%	6%	5%	11%		13%

What this means:   It jumps out to me that Korver didn’t shot the three as much last year. My guess is teams started defending him and wouldn’t allow him to have that opportunity. He also went to the line more last year. With the Jazz I would guess his numbers from three shot back up.

Giricek’s .4% of his possessions being free throws is shocking.

      Hear Scott Garrard and Coach Tom Nissalke break down Utah's 104-98 loss to the Boston Celtics on Saturday night.  Energy Solutions Arena saw the Jazz play well, but turnovers late kept the Jazz from turning in a win.  The Jazz fall to 16-16 on the year, but will look to get back above .500 when they play Portland in The Energy Solutions Arena Monday Night.  Scott Garrard and Coach Tom Nissalke will preview the Jazz/Blazers at 5 p.m. followed by Hot Rod with the call at 6 p.m.  1320 KFAN is the home of the Jazz and Utah's sports leader.

Once the trade was made today I texted a group of NBA people who I rely on for information and insight on the NBA.

NBA assistant coach -- "It is a steal for Utah. He can play in the offense and what does Sloan care about a player 3 years from now. Korver may start for you."

Long Time NBA GM -- "As a basketball decision, I like it a lot for the Jazz. Korver will win a handful of games for them and they have plenty of young players so the protected first round is not valuable to them."

VP of Basketball Operations -- "I like it for both teams, Philly wants to create as much room as possible for the summer free agency and Utah not only wanted to move Giricek, but they get an excellent shooter back which is something Kevin's been looking for. Also, Korver's contract is fairly reasonable and Utah has the room today and in the future to handle it. Korver also fits with Brewer and Miles so my initial reaction is positive."

Director Of Pro Personal -- "You got a volume shooter, who doesn't defend. Great range. Can really put up numbers, good teammate I think.

Fomer NBA Head Coach -- "I thought it was good for both. Utah got one of the best 3 pt shooters in the league. Philly got cap space and a 1st round pick."

I will add more as they come in.

He certainly is no David Locke, but Scott Garrard will do his best to provide a running account of tonight's game:

FOURTH QUARTER -- FINAL MINUTE:

Boozer goes 1-2 from the line -- tied up at 98 all...you have to hit both free throws.

Jazz can't get a stop -  Paul Pierce makes it 100-98. 

Miles badly misses a three (is now the time to make sure everyone gets their shots!?!) and Pierce nails both free throws.  Jazz down 102-98 with 11 seconds left.

Just like their football counterparts, Boston made the plays when they needed to.  The Patriot and Celtics games were very similar tonight.  Both got scares, but both took care of business when it counted.

That's what championship teams do. 

Final Score Boston 104 Jazz 98. 

FOURTH QUARTER: Boston 98 Jazz 95 1:55 Remaining:

Rando just forced a steal on Williams and Allen nailed a gorgous three.  Could be the key moment of the game.  Rando has been overlooked as one of the keys to Boston's success.

FOURTH QUARTER: Jazz 91 Boston 90 4:55 Remaining:

Memo just banked in a miracle three -- someone is living right on and off the court.

FOURTH QUARTER: Boston 90 Jazz 88 (5:59 Remaining):

Jazz on a 5-0 run helped by Tony Allen missing two free throws.  Crowd back into this game, especially after Memo drained a three from the left wing. 

Deron Williams is simply killing Eddie House.  It's not even fair.

Jazz still can't get stops though.  Allen bailed them out on the free throw line, but Boston is still getting to the line.  Paul Pierce has exploded in the second half.

FOURTH QUARTER: Boston 83 Jazz 78 (9:55 Remaining):

Boston on a 7-0 run to open the fourth quarter.  Jazz have lost their composure and are commiting stupid turnovers.

It truely is amazing how quickly this game has gotten away from the Jazz.  That's the sign of an elite team like Boston -- they wait for you to start making mistakes and they make their run and put the foot on the throat.  This game is certainly not out of reach at this point, but it seems like the cream is rising to the top.

Speaking of which, the Pats are cruising and Eli is imploding.  Who called it?

END OF THIRD QUARTER: Jazz 78 Boston 76:

You are always going to see a drop off when your star point guard goes out of the game, but it is remarkable how much different this team is without Deron Williams out of the game.  Jason Hart came in late in the thrid quarter and the Celtics quickly went on a run to cut the Jazz lead to two.

Should be an interesting fourth quarter -- Jazz will be fortunate to hold on as Boston appears to have gotten themselves in a groove.

Patriots have just taken the lead over the Giants. 

3RD QUARTER, Jazz 67 Boston 61 (6:14 Remaining):

Carlos Boozer hit his first shot since the first quarter.  Jazz still playing well even without his offensive production.

After Boston had cut the Jazz lead to 1 (58-57), Jazz responded with an impressive 7-0 run to take the momentum away from Boston.

Okur deserves some love here -- hit a big three point shot in that 7-0 run and then responded with a block shot on the defense.

Deron Williams is having his way with the Boston backcourt.  They have no answer for him.

Patriots just scored a touchdown to trim the Giants lead to 28-23.  Let the collapse begin.

HALFTIME, Jazz 56 Boston 49:

The play of Ronnie Brewer and CJ Miles has been the story of the first half for the Jazz.  Miles scored 11 in the first half while Brewer added 6 and bothe have brought a ton of energy to the game.

- Matt Harping only played eight minutes in the first half.  It appears that he has the training staff has put him on some strict minute restrictions.

- Giants lead the Pats 28-16 in the third quarter.  It's really going to brutal for the Giants when Eli blows this lead.

2ND QUARTER, Utah 43 Boston 39 (5:39 Remaining):

Jazz Dancers just did some type of 'Ode to Rebecca De Mornay in Risky Business' performance.  Impressive.

CJ Miles has looked good early with nine points including several big outside shots -- has responded nicely to getting the starting nod in this game.  Defense is still suspect to say the least.

Crowd cheered when they flashed the halftime score of the Giant/Patriot game.  Why all the hate for New England?  If they can shut up that no talent hack Mercury Morris, and the 72 Dolphins then I'm all for it.

2ND QUARTER, Utah 38 Boston 36 (8:11 Remaining):

- Ray Allen has 11 points and has yet to miss hit shot.  Prettiest shot in the NBA.

- Jason Hart's shot?  Not pretty. Not pretty at all.

- Glen Davis has very quietly put together an impressive season.  Just moments after entering the game for the first time he has two big offensive boards and a bucket.  Guy is just a freaking beast.

1ST QUARTER, Utah 29  Boston 28:

- Carlos Boozer with eight points and is mid range jumper looks good.  Side story here, during Boozer's first year with Utah, David James and I commented on how Boozer would struggle against better power forwards in the league, i.e. Brand, Duncan, and Garnett.  As the years have gone on, Boozer has played better in these situations and has begun to elevate his games against the elite players instead of backing down.  This first quarter is a good indication of this.

- Boston still is having their way inside.  If the Jazz oustide shooting slips, it could be a long night.

- Matt Harpring is having a bigger impact in this game then I though.  Matt is still suffering from stomach issues and is set to have several invasive procedures I'd rather not think about.  Because of that, I thought his minutes in this game would be limited.  Not the case.

- Paul Milsap with four points, but without AK has stepped up his energy.  BIg question is can he do it throughout the entire game.

 

Korver Scouting Report

            Offenisvely he is a dynamite shooter …  Can carry a game for a stretch if he gets hot …. Able to put up big numbers ….  Defense  must stay with him at all times …   Gets himself open without the ball …  Uses screens. … Creates floor space for teammates …  Limited ability to handle or create off the dribble … Will spread the floor …  At a disadvantage if being asked to make the play.  At his best when playing off of other players … lacks foot speed and jumping ability … not great in traffic or finishing at the rim.

            Defensively, size helps …. 6’7 allows him to cover up some weaknesses …. Non existent rebounder …. Need others to pick up the rebounding slack if he is playing the three …. Poor foot speed …. Try to isolate and make move.  Stronger than most give him credit.

 

Initial Reaction: 

Wow, I am shocked the Jazz got that much talent for Gordon Giricek who was essentially done with the Utah Jazz.  I give kudos to Kevin O’Conner for not panicking and just sending Gordon down the river.

            Korver has a special skill, he can shoot.  He addresses some of the areas that are crippling the Jazz right now.  He is a zone buster.  He provides scoring with the second unit, though I think he will end up closing games. 

            I like Korver as a  player.  I like shot makers.  That is a rare skill in this league and he is probably one of the 10 best shooters in the NBA.  His size at 6’6 allows him to play both the 2 and the 3 which is nice in the Jazz system.

            He is great fit for the Jazz who are desperate for a three point shooter and he is one of the best.   He has played a lot, three years of over 2200 minutes.  Experience is needed in the backcourt.

            He is a 4 year college pro who understands how to play the game.   Time will tell, but the initial thought of how he integrates into the Sloan system is that it will highlight his positives and limit his negatives. 

            The draft pick is not a huge issue since it is protected and the Jazz have an extra from the Gugliotta trade.  The Jazz are already young enough and unless they hit the tank and our drafting top 10 very few players would help them at this point. 

Kevin O'Connor and the Utah Jazz announced this morning that they have traded shooting guard Gordon Giricek and a protected first round pick to the 76ers for forward Kyle Korver.

 "We made a trade which we feel improves our team this year," said general manager Kevin O'Connor.

Korver (6'7", 210) is in his 5th NBA season out of Creighton is averaging 10 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.3 assists this season in 26.3 minutes.

Korver averages 40.9% from three point range and holds the 76ers franchise record for 3's made in a season (226 in '04-'05).  He also ranks second on the team's career list for 3 pointers made (661) and has twice been selected to participate in the NBA All-Star Weekend Three-Point Shootout.

There are just two years left in the current BCS deal and already there is jockeying beginning for the next cycle.  Here is some free advice for the MWC and the Las Vegas Bowl

       David Locke and Coach Tom Nissalke break down the Jazz 123-109 Friday night loss in LA.  In  a game that saw the Jazz down by as much as 34, Nissalke and Locke talk about the disbelief of the Jazz poor performance and  what the Jazz must do to compete with the 24-3 Boston Celtics on Saturday night.  Tune in to 1320 KFAN Saturday night at 6 p.m. to hear the Jazz pregame show followed by the Jazz and Celtics live at Energy Solutions Arena at 7:00 p.m.  1320 KFAN is the sports leader and the home of the Utah Jazz.

Beep! Beep!

Are we seeing things or not? Are the Jazz now good? Are the Mav's in a one game slide?? Really its a combination of the two. The Jazz are finishing up a horrible month regarding road games piling up, back to backs, 4 games in 6 days etc. Not enough prep time for each game. In the NBA many times, you just have to "wing it " when it comes to getting ready for each game. In most cases, what suffers is your defensive prep, you don't have time to really figure out what needs to be done to handle something new a team may have just added so you walk through it during "shoot around" if you even have time. They had that time to get ready for Dallas and it showed as they took Dallas out of most things they wanted to run. In most cases you stick with one offensive "way" [plus options] during the season but have to change around alot on on "D" so if you don't have aggressive people who will get after it each night you can look terrible and worse yet, look soft! UGH.

Look for the Jazz to come alive the rest of the way. LAL, Boston and Portland are tough ones to finish this month with BUT look for them to make their move starting in the new year. The Lakers are a surprise, Boston is terrific and the former "Jailblazers" are shocking the league! The zone Portland uses is terrific. Best I have seen since Jack Ramsey was in the league and it was illegal to use!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Gordon Giricek met with the coaches and management today and was back on the floor for practice with the team. 

Hear what Jerry Sloan had to say about the meeting, the return of his shooting guard and what his approach will be toward Giricek and playing time.

Listen to Gordon Giricek talk about what he did while being away from the team, whether or not Salt Lake is where he'll want his future to be and how difficult or easy it will be to return back to practices and games.

and finally, Andrei Kirilenko discusses the importance of teammates supporting Giricek during a time like this and trying to continue on with the long term mentality that the team wants to have. 

For more on the current state on the Jazz and what to look forward to in the coming days, tune into 1320 KFAN, the sports leader.

       Hear David Locke and Coach Tom Nissalke break down the Jazz' 99-90 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night.  The Jazz beat one of the West's best and improved to 16-14 on the year.  Coach and Locke talk about what went right and how the Jazz were able to play above their recent slump.  Listen to 1320 KFAN for David Locke and Coach Tom Nissalke's analysis of each of the Jazz games and stay tuned to 1320 KFAN for all things Utah Jazz.  Locke and the Coach will be on the air Friday night at 7:30 p.m. for the Jazz/Lakers pregame, followed by Hot Rod Hundley calling his 2,901st Jazz game in Los Angeles versus the Lakers.

Every Jazz game this year David Locke will be keeping a live blog with analysis and breakdowns.
Put any questions in on the comment zone and I will get to them during the live blog.

HIT REFRESH AND THE LATEST UPDATE WILL BE ON TOP

Final Score - Jazz 99 Mavs 90
Strong win and a great crowd.
Good balance.
Holding the Mavs to 90 points is very impressive defensive work
Dirk Nowitski was not impressive in this game. 
The Jazz had great starts in the 1st and 3rd quarters. 
Okur was 2 of 10 and he nailed back to back huge shots.
CJ had another good outing off the bench.


1:44 4th Quarter -- Jazz 96 Mavs 89
Mavs are living by the three -- they have 5 in the quarter
Jerry Sloan just popped off the bench and called a play, he has done that rarely this year.  However, with the close game losses he may be taking a bit more control.
He called the C play and it lead to back to back Boozer baskets.
The Mavs went zone and Memo hit back to back tough really tough fade away jumpers that busted the zone and got the Mavs back into a man.

5:37 4th Quarter -- Jazz 88 Mavs 80
Very impressive stretch by Deron Williams.
The Mavericks are running pick and rolls to create a switch and then posting Deron up.  He stopped Howard and Stackhouse on back to back possessions.
On offense he answered with a 16 foot J.
Jazz have 5 stops in a row.

8:26 4th Quarter - Jazz 84 Mavs 80
Jazz are playing very well and lead by 10 but Devean George just hit back to back three's.
If Devean George is going to beat you maybe you have to tip your hat and say ok.
Jazz are defending well, the Mavs aren't in a rhythm. 
Harpring just got an open 15 footer off a great pick from Memo
Milsap has been a beast on the boards.
Ronnie Brewer left with an injured hand or finger

End of 3rd Quarter -- Jazz 78 Mav s 70
I swear if the Jazz run a two for one at the end of the quarter end this year it will be one time too many.  They haven't made it work yet.  It costs them 2 to 4 points a night and that has been some games.  It kills me even more when the front end of the 2 for 1 is a Jason Hart pull up three. It is always two bad shots for us and 1 good shot for them.
Jazz had good energy the whole quarter.
For the most part they executed the offense on each possession.
The Jazz have altered how they are guarding the pick and roll and it seems effective
Holding the Mavs to 70 points in 3 quarters is really impressive.


10:09 3rd Quarter -- Jazz 55 Mavs 48
Nice surge by the Jazz to open the half.
Good energy.  AK hit a 16 footer and Brewer hit two 15 footers in the early offense.
D-Will go his knee bumped and is gutting it out.

Halftime  -- Jazz 47 Mavs 46
The Jazz trailed until AK dunked with :02 left in the quarter.
The Jazz went on a 16-0 run to start the Mavs went on a 46-31 since.
The Jazz just stopped running their offense that was so effective in the first half.
The Mavs were able to get out and run and got lots of easy baskets,
The Mavs are the #1 offense in the NBA so you knew they were going to come back but not this quickly.
I will mention this again I am sure but the key here is the Jazz are 3-7 in games decided by 6 or less and the Mavs are the opposite - 8-4

5:11 2nd Quarter -- Jazz 40 Mavs 32
Having Memo on the floor really changes everything.  He is very active defensively as well.
The Mavs have gotten an offensive rhythm.  This is not going to be easy it will be a night long struggle to hold the lead.
The Jazz have stopped executing the offense instead going 1 on 1, both Deron and AK took 18 footers.  The jazz are getting what they want when they run a play.
Jazz had 18 of the 29 1st Quarter points in the paint

End of 1st Quarter -- Jazz 29 Mavs 18
Very strong quarter. 
The Jazz defense was very good.  They handled the pick and roll. Lots of help from the bigs.
The Jazz seemed more active than they have been in a long time.
The Mavs are not a strong defensive team by nature.  They have to be forced to play it.
The Jazz execution is good and the shooting is in rhythm.  The Mavs aren't breaking the rhythm at all.
the big question is can the jazz bench have a decent start to the 2nd quarter
Jazz forced 8 turnovers by the Mavs and committed only 1.

8:03 1st Quarter -- Jazz 14 Mavs 0
Great start for the Jazz
It all opened with Boozer taking Dirk in the post.  Immediately I wondered would he have been able to do that if Memo had been out of the game.
The Jazz are terrifically active on defense, stealing and getting into passing lanes.
Boozer has 10 points.
Avery has called two timeouts and shuffled most of his line-up. 
Energy Solutions is going nuts.

STARTING LINE-UPS
Jazz:  Deron, Ronnie, AK, Carlos Boozer, Memo Okur
Mavs:  Devin Harris, Eddie Jones, Josh Howard, Dirk Nowitzki, Erick Dampier

STATS -- 2007-08 SEASON
Note: Efficiency Stats are based on possession.  Therefore, equalizing for pace of play.  Efficiency rankings are based upon 100 possessions.   Example: The Jazz average 111.1 pts per 100 possessions

Pace:  Jazz 93.4  possessions per game (9th in NBA) Heat 90.6  (15th in the NBA)
Offensive  Efficiency: Jazz 112.0  (5th in NBA) Mavs 115.0  (1st in the NBA)
Defensive Efficiency: Jazz 107.8  (17th in NBA)  Mavs 109.3  (23rd in the NBA)
Jazz Defensive Glass: Jazz Def Reb % - 76%  (21st in NBA)  Mavs Off Reb % - 27% (16th)
Mavs Defensive Glass:  Jazz Off Reb % - 32% (1st in NBA)  Mavs Def Reb % -73% (19th)

Officials
Ron Garretson, Leon Wood, Gary Zielinski

1320 KFAN provided you the best coverage of the dramatic ending of the Las Vegas Bowl.  Click on the following names to hear the interviews from the players and the coaches.

Bronco Mendenhall, Austin Collie, Max Hall

Austin Collie One On One With PK -- And yes, he makes reference to a higher power again!

Harvey Unga One On One With PK

Robert Anae One On One With PK -- Why didn't BYU take a knee before halftime? 

UCLA Interim Head Coach DeWayne Walker, Chris Horton, Chris Markey

Max Hall One On One With PK

Eathyn Manumaleuna

Jan Jorgensen One On One With PK

The Utah Jazz lost at the buzzer to the Miami Heat as Dwayne Wade connected on a jumper giving the Jazz their 9th loss in their last 11 games.  David Locke and coach Tom Nissalke break down the game exclusively right here on thefansports.com.  You can hear David Locke and coach Tom Nissalke before and after each Jazz Game on 1320 KFAN, the sports leader.  The next broadcast is coming up on December 26th when the Jazz host the Dallas Mavericks at the Energy Solutions Arena.