First, Los Jazz:
| Advanced Box Score Statistics | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starters | MP | TS% | eFG% | ORB% | DRB% | TRB% | AST% | STL% | BLK% | TOV% | USG% | ORtg | DRtg |
| Paul Millsap | 37:34 | .437 | .412 | 5.1 | 27.0 | 15.2 | 17.0 | 10.8 | 5.0 | 9.8 | 22.8 | 96 | 78 |
| Al Jefferson | 32:58 | .407 | .385 | 11.7 | 30.8 | 20.5 | 0.0 | 3.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 18.9 | 102 | 97 |
| Devin Harris | 32:05 | .527 | .464 | 0.0 | 3.5 | 1.6 | 19.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 10.5 | 25.0 | 109 | 111 |
| Josh Howard | 21:49 | .388 | .333 | 4.4 | 5.2 | 4.8 | 14.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 24.9 | 98 | 110 |
| Raja Bell | 15:17 | .333 | .333 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 8.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 8.3 | 89 | 111 |
| Reserves | MP | TS% | eFG% | ORB% | DRB% | TRB% | AST% | STL% | BLK% | TOV% | USG% | ORtg | DRtg |
| Gordon Hayward | 37:43 | .647 | .588 | 0.0 | 9.0 | 4.1 | 13.9 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 4.7 | 23.5 | 135 | 107 |
| Alec Burks | 31:10 | .768 | .750 | 0.0 | 7.2 | 3.3 | 10.4 | 1.6 | 0.0 | 9.3 | 14.5 | 144 | 107 |
| Derrick Favors | 22:36 | .222 | .222 | 34.1 | 39.9 | 36.8 | 6.1 | 0.0 | 16.8 | 18.2 | 20.5 | 78 | 90 |
| Jamaal Tinsley | 20:56 | .600 | .600 | 0.0 | 5.4 | 2.5 | 35.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 28.6 | 14.1 | 104 | 110 |
| Enes Kanter | 12:52 | .200 | .200 | 15.0 | 35.1 | 24.2 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 | 16.7 | 19.6 | 56 | 94 |
| Team Totals | 265 | .483 | .442 | 30.9 | 80.9 | 53.9 | 51.2 | 12.5 | 6.7 | 8.7 | 100.0 | 106.5 | 100.7 |
Now, Los Lobos:
| Advanced Box Score Statistics | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starters | MP | TS% | eFG% | ORB% | DRB% | TRB% | AST% | STL% | BLK% | TOV% | USG% | ORtg | DRtg |
| Kevin Love | 41:02 | .456 | .435 | 5.5 | 32.9 | 20.3 | 5.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 6.8 | 33.2 | 90 | 103 |
| Luke Ridnour | 37:41 | .699 | .667 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 2.8 | 69.9 | 4.0 | 3.1 | 23.7 | 20.7 | 127 | 105 |
| Martell Webster | 36:54 | .694 | .500 | 0.0 | 10.4 | 5.6 | 4.3 | 1.4 | 0.0 | 21.7 | 11.5 | 113 | 109 |
| Nikola Pekovic | 36:32 | .644 | .583 | 12.3 | 13.2 | 12.8 | 11.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 6.1 | 20.9 | 134 | 111 |
| Wesley Johnson | 36:02 | .455 | .389 | 3.1 | 10.7 | 7.2 | 0.0 | 1.4 | 3.3 | 9.2 | 14.0 | 89 | 106 |
| Reserves | MP | TS% | eFG% | ORB% | DRB% | TRB% | AST% | STL% | BLK% | TOV% | USG% | ORtg | DRtg |
| Jose Barea | 18:08 | .619 | .625 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 48.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36.0 | 35.4 | 84 | 117 |
| Wayne Ellington | 17:47 | .340 | .200 | 6.3 | 16.3 | 11.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 15.3 | 84 | 110 |
| Derrick Williams | 16:28 | .375 | .375 | 0.0 | 35.1 | 18.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.6 | 20.0 | 14.1 | 59 | 99 |
| Anthony Tolliver | 12:28 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 116 | ||||
| Anthony Randolph | 11:58 | .425 | .400 | 0.0 | 8.1 | 4.3 | 16.3 | 12.7 | 0.0 | 14.5 | 26.6 | 79 | 87 |
| Team Totals | 265 | .538 | .488 | 19.1 | 69.1 | 46.1 | 61.1 | 7.7 | 8.9 | 14.8 | 100.0 | 100.7 | 106.5 |
Those hefty oreb% and to% differences worked out to 8 extra boards, 6 fewer turnovers, and a whole heap of extra possessions.
This is where having a floppy-haired rebounding thief of a point guard really helped out. Extra possessions are fun. They help win lots of games, especially on teams willing to hand large chunks of minutes over to players who don't shoot all that well. On nights when their best player has his lunch handed to him, these little things matter...a lot. It will be really interesting to see exactly where the loss of Rubio will impact this team the most throughout the course of the season.
For those of you who missed the game, the broadcast was supposed to appear on NBA TV but, thanks to the genius of the NBA's fan-friendly approach (%), it was removed sometime earlier in the year and fans were left scrambling for League Pass or (REMOVED BY SPACE ALIENS).
It was a fairly frustrating game to watch. The first 3 quarters were filled with bad basketball, not too many big runs, cruddy shooting, and all around uninspired play. Then came the 4th quarter, which consisted of a 15-4 Utah run and a 19-7 Wolves run to send the game to overtime.
Martell Webster continued his streak of amazing brain-fart late-game play by allowing Paul Milsap to have an open look on the lob to win the game as time expired. Milsap missed and the game went into overtime where Our Beloved Puppies found other ways to lose the contest.
The tilt also featured a scary moment when Kevin Love look to have seriously injured his thumb. Thankfully, x-rays were negative and it appears to be "just" a sprain.
One final thing: In real time the reffing appeared to be pretty awful; mostly slanted against the Wolves. However, in retrospect, the foul count was 22-23 and the Wolves out-shot the Jazz at the line 33-27. I know this isn't the most accurate gauge of how well the refs were performing, but it certainly doesn't seem to have hurt the good guys as much as I thought it did last night. (Not like it matters when your best player has a .435 TS% on 23 shots and 10FTAs...that's a lot for even the worst reffing in the world to overcome; that's essentially 16 turnovers--14 missed shots and 5 missed free throws).
Quick note about the trade deadline: The problem this team has with inaction is that "we just couldn't find the right deal" can be applied at every step of the way. Eventually, the talking point becomes the motto. I think the current front office is well into Motto Land. Here's a list of 2012 free agents. Who are they going to spend that vaunted cap space on? I am increasingly baffled by the inability of the front office to fix the very obvious flaws surrounding a playoff caliber core group of players.
Also, when I hear that "Jamal Crawford is just Michael Beasley at a different position" coming from the mind of a guy who has assembled one of the most positionally mismatched rosters in the league, it makes me think he doesn't understand the importance of shifting minutes from bad players to slightly less (or even good) ones. Crawford v. Beasley isn't the gig. Handing bad Beasley and bad Wes minutes to Martell Webster and Crawford is. Somehow, I think that's worth the risk of handing out $3 mil to Derrick Fisher.
Until later.