Jazz vs. Clippers observations
I’m looking at my game notes and have to laugh at this entry: “No offensive rhythm.”
I wrote it with about four minutes remaining in the third quarter — shortly after Ronnie Price sent a dunk attempt ricocheting off the back of the rim, and then got bumped to the ground by rookie Mike Taylor.
The score at the time: Utah 63, L.A. 60.
The score four minutes later: Utah 75, L.A. 60.
Six minutes later: Utah 78, L.A. 60.
Nine minutes later: Utah 88, L.A. 64.
I didn’t write it down then, but I will now: “Jazz find their rhythm.”
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Simple question after watching Jason Hart (2 points, 2 assists in 14:55) and Brevin Knight (8 points, 6 assists, one steal in 21:35) play on the same court Saturday night: What were the Clippers thinking last summer?
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One of the highlight-reel plays of the game came when Brevin Knight lobbed up an alley-oop pass for a soaring Ronnie Brewer. The most impressive part might not have been Knight’s perfect execution and placement but how he burst past rookie speed demon Mike Taylor before making the pass.
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Trivia buffs, mark down 5:38 of the fourth quarter. Now, record 5:31 of the fourth quarter.
The significance?
The first time: Rookie Kosta Koufos’ first NBA appearance.
The second time: Koufos’ first foul.
We’ll have to wait for his first points, but the would-be Ohio State sophomore missed his first shot at 2:44 thanks in large part to the hand of Clippers’ Chris Kaman.
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If you think seven seconds is fast, that’s about 6.99 seconds longer than it seemed to take Morris Almond to fire up two very-quick-trigger jumpers late in the game.
The five points tied his NBA career-high.
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Utah’s 18-0 run that blew the game open left only one intriguing question to be answered in the fourth quarter: What were the Clippers thinking last summer?
Make that two questions, sorry.
The other: Can the Jazz subs hold onto the ball long enough to set the franchise record for fewest turnovers in a game?
It got scary close. The Jazz only had one measly turnover — a remarkable feat — through three quarters, three minutes and 55 seconds, and it looked like they’d easily best their previous record of six TOs in a game.
Even after Andrei Kirilenko’s wild pass out of bounds at 8:05, the new record seemed inevitable.
But then it got interesting with … an offensive foul/TO by Ronnie Price at 3:41, a shot-clock violation at 2:42, a Kyrylo Fesenko traveling TO at 2:02 and the final two minutes with most of the end of the bench in … eeeeeh, ooooooooh, aaaaaah, phew! All the more impressive, that record.