Burnt by the Suns: Jazz lose, 103-98
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by CRS-ONE
Lately it seems like the Utah Jazz like to lose. They lost again last night on the road to the Phoenix Suns, 103-98.
The worst part about last night’s game was that the Jazz fought there way back through the second half of the game, even having a six point lead.
The Suns made a run in the fourth period, and the Jazz answered by Paul Millsap and Deron Williams missing some key free throws. For the night, the team was 17-27.
"As it turns out, we missed a lot of free throws coming down (the stretch), and you'd like to have those back," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "We're a young team trying to figure out what we are sometimes."
Think about that. The Jazz missed an opportunity to score an extra ten points. Compare that to the Suns, who shot 19-21 from the line.
The Suns, a team not necessarily known for their defense, did a good job holding Carlos Boozer from having a monster game. He scored 24 points on 12-24 shooting. They made it difficult for him to score and were smart, not fouling him. Boozer didn’t have a single free throw attempt on the night.
The Suns were lead by Steve Nash, who had 29 points and 11 assists on the game.
Unfortunately for Nash, he had a run in with Boozer’s elbow that broke one of his front teeth. The awful irony is that Boozer’s basketball idol, Karl Malone, did the same to Nash back on December 4, 2003.
The Suns were also helped out by Steve Marion (26 points, 15 rebounds, 5 blocks) and Amare Stoudemire (18 points and 9 rebounds).
Paul Millsap had a big night for the Jazz, stepping into the starting lineup as center Mehmet Okur is out with a shoulder injury. He had 20 points, 13 rebounds on the night.
Andrei Kirilenko had 17 points, 6 rebounds for the night. He showed that his shooting lessons with Jeff Hornacek are paying off, shooting 2-2 from three point land.
Deron Williams shot himself out of the game, shooting 7-17 and had 18 points, 6 assists.
All in all, it was a rough game for the Jazz. Tomorrow night they travel to Portland to take on the Blazers.
For more Jazz stuff, check out Jazzcore.Blogspot.com.
