Jazz Run Over Badcats…er Bobcats

January 9, 2013 - General - Tagged: , , - 7 comments

 

Bobcats’ Paint Defense

Thank goodness.

When you have a weird, inconsistent team that doesn’t well on the road, that’s the thought that is running through Jazz fans’ heads after a solid win against a struggling Bobcats team.

You never know which Jazz team is going to show up when this team hits the road. The defense particularly suffers when the Jazz enter a hostile environment.

 

Whatever Charlotte may be, tonight it was not a hostile environment.

Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson led the charge in the first half, heading to the locker room with a combined 27 points and a 19-point lead.

If teams are going to let the two best players on the Jazz toy with them all game, I’m sure the players and coaching staff are not going to complain about that.

Things changed in this game when Alec Burks was given the reigns as the team’s backup point guard and got the second unit running in the second quarter. For whatever reason, Earl Watson could not get things rolling with the bench guys tonight, and Ty threw Randy Foye back into the game, taking Watson out. The Jazz were down two when Earl checked out, and by halftime Alec & Co. had stretched the lead to 19 and pretty much buried the Bobcats.

Sometimes the truth hurts. I love Earl Watson as much as the next guy, and he really endeared himself to fans last year by leading the Jazz through some tough times and standing up for his teammates when he needed to. This team is deeper, more skilled, and one year older than last year, and with Alec Burks and DeMarre Carroll playing well alongside a rejuvenated Jamaal Tinsley, there isn’t much reason to give Earl a ton of burn.

Gordon Hayward continues to come into his own. He’s shooting from deep at an insane rate since the beginning of December, and his numbers in the early part of January are unreal. I’m willing to overlook the fact that he didn’t hit a two-pointer because if he’s shooting 80% from three, I’d rather just have him shoot those anyway. The confidence that he is playing with is allowing him to not only lead the bench unit, but is showing the coaching staff and his teammates that he is ready to be a leader among the veterans of this team. It’s not going unnoticed among his teammates.

Gordon “Elmer’s” Hayward has been holding this Jazz team together with his play. A lot of talk lately has circled around a nickname for Gordon, though none of them seem to have hit the spot, at least not for me. Recently, @My_Lo has introduced “The Vanilla Cobra,” and we’ve heard “G-Time” and other monikers. Even Thurl “Big T” Bailey weighed in on the issue on Twitter:

Later in the evening, he referred to Hayward as Commissioner Gordon. We can do better guys. Hayward deserves better. Throw some ideas into the comments section below, and let’s see what we can come up with. Something legendary is brewing.

Game Notes & Observations

  • Enes Kanter had a rough game, going 1-6 from the floor and turning the ball over twice. You’d like to see him go out and attack a team with weak big men and show off a bit, but it just wasn’t there tonight. Looking forward to him battling with Zaza in Atlanta on Friday.
  • DeMarre Carroll shot well from the floor, and his hustle continues to make a difference, but he was the only starter with a negative +/-, coming in at -4 for the game.
  • Al Jefferson and Randy Foye led the team with 32 minutes apiece, and also led the team with a +24 and +23 +/-, respectively.
  • Michael Kidd-Gilchrist makes me drool.
  • Jeremy Evans and Kevin Murphy got some garbage time burn, but it was very late in the game before Ty decided it was safely in hand. They each notched three minutes, and contributed to the fact that Charlotte got this game within ten and made it look a lot closer than it was to those who watched it.
  • Gordon Hayward is shooting 68% from three in five January games, going 13-19. Keep it up!

Also, more of this please:

 

About the author

Braeden Jensen

Braeden is a Canadian-born sports fan who has spent 22 of his 25 years rooted in Utah and developing completely irrational obsessions with the Utah Jazz and NBA basketball, as well as BYU football and basketball. After barely catching the Glory Years of the Jazz as a 10 year-old, he’s making up for it now. A husband of one and father of two, he hopes to instill his fandom in them early and create the next generation of Utah Jazz fans. The future looks bright! Social media was made for sports fans, and if you’d like to connect with him you can find him on Twitter @CanadianBraeden.