More thoughts on The Comeback Part III
3-point shots after the Jazz’s traveling Comeback Show made another riveting rally, this time in Orlando:
POINT 1: Jerry Sloan isn’t the “I told you so” type, but he could have given the media a “Neener, neener” quote on Wednesday night in Orlando.
Here’s why: Prior to tipoff against the Magic, the Jazz coach claimed he wasn’t overly concerned about the seemingly tough back-to-back schedule that included games at Miami on Tuesday and in Orlando on Wednesday. For two things, he referred to the beautiful Florida weather and the short “20-minute flight” from Miami to Orlando.
Mostly, though, it’s his belief that teams shoot better on the second night when they play in consecutive days.
Almost on cue – and is if they were trying to prove their coach right – the Jazz not only shot better against the Magic in the immense cavern called the Amway Center than they did at AmericanAirlines Arena against the Heat. But Utah also warmed up in the second half to dig out a win from a double-digit deficit.
After its rough first-half shooting, when it hit only shot 38.2 percent, Utah ended up hitting exactly half of its shots (37-for-74, which mathematicians will tell you is 50 percent) in the 104-94 victory. The Jazz shot 48.4 percent against Miami.
Utah shot progressively better throughout the game, too.
1Q: 7-for-19 (36.8 percent)
2Q: 6-for-15 (40.0 percent)
3Q: 10-for-19 (52.6 percent)
4Q: 14-for-21 (66.7 percent)
Sloan’s response: “We ended up shooting much better in the second half because we had a better shot selection.”
POINT 2: Rashard Lewis‘ 3-pointer from the left corner hit the side of the rim, soared softly up and then dropped into the bottom of the net. It gave the Magic their biggest lead at 74-56 with 1:36 remaining in the third quarter.
It made me scribble this in my notes: “It was that kind of night.” And I meant for the Magic. At the time, Orlando had hit 10 of 21 from long distance.
A moment and a 9-0 run by the Jazz to end the third quarter later, I wrote this on Twitter (@DJJazzyJody): “Don’t give up yet, Jazz fans. Your team isn’t. Utah ends third quarter on a 9-0 run and trim Magic lead to 74-65.”
An hour later, Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy rattled off this beauty of a quote after that Jazz run turned into a massive 24-2 surge for Utah:
“We opened the window at the end of the third quarter. The third quarter was just ridiculous professional basketball – the three straight turnovers, and they were just all absurd.”
POINT 3: One thing that helped spark the Jazz’s latest comeback was going to a zone defense there for a while, beginning at the end of the third when the Magic’s ridiculousness started.
Have to admit, I thought it was a curious move to go zone on a team that was shooting about 50 percent from 3-point land. But it worked wonders.
“We played a little bit of zone, and that helped us some,” Sloan admitted. “We weren’t able to match up with Dwight Howard inside, so we tried to zone him some. Fortunately, they missed some shots.”
Orlando missed a lot in the fourth quarter. The Magic only shot 5-for-19 in the final 12 minutes, getting outscored 39-20.
Check out this insightful and in-depth look at why the Jazz’s match-up zone worked so well by NBA Playbook’s Sebastian Pruiti (and thanks to @Lockedonsports – play-by-play announcer David Locke on Twitter – for the link).
ETC: The loud fan sitting right behind press row actually had some moments. He went after Andrei Kirilenko early on, bellowing out, “Kirilenko, get a haircut!” that sounded funnier in person than it does in print. Soon after that, he loudly yelled: “Ruh, roh, Shaggy.” Perhaps it evokes good childhood memories, but I’m pretty much always down with Scooby-Doo humor.
The fan later yelled at the Jazz: “Thank you for beating the Heat last night.”
No, the fan did not thank the Jazz later on for beating the Magic. The Jazz fan a few seats to his right was pretty pumped, though.
Had to have some more fun on Twitter during the game, a night after Paul Millsap’s 46-point explosion: “Paul Millsap has four points so far in Orlando. During the Jazz timeout, however, he flew back to Miami and hit a couple of threes for fun.”
Lastly, I was sitting right behind the Jazz’s TV broadcast crew of Craig Bolerjack and Matt Harpring. I got a kick out of how excited Harpring acted when Kirilenko banked in a go-ahead 3-pointer in the fourth.
Harpring obviously prefers one of his two former teams that were playing each other a little more. He laughed and grabbed Boler a half-hug in excitement at that point of the Jazz rally.