THE APOCALYPSE THAT IS THE JAZZ’S OPENING GAME

That explosion in the distance is the Jazz’s 2009-2010 season.

Well, pack it in Jazz fans, because this season is over.  No championship for this team.  Everything that was true about last season is true this season.

1.  The Jazz get injured all of the time.  It only took 16 seconds this season.

2. They can’t play defense and give up easy baskets all of the time

3. They can’t win on the road.  So how are they going to get a top seed if they can’t win more than 20 games or so on the road?  The answer is that they won’t.

4. They have no heart.  Did you see the way they just stood around and watched the Nuggets get open dunk after open dunk in the 4th quarter?  Trade Boozer and rescind that contract for Millsap.

5. You can’t win while turning the ball over.  So much for Deron Williams’ commitment to protecting the ball.

If you aren’t disgusted by this post, then chances are you agree with it.  And I wouldn’t be surprised for many Jazz fans to nod their heads in agreement with the above points.  As Jazz fans, we get our feelings hurt a lot.  Don’t you dare say that Chris Paul is better than Deron Williams, or make some ignorant comment about Utah or Mormons.  And we are the most personally insulted when our team doesn’t win a championship or “give their all” for a win.

But the truth is that the Jazz played their hearts out for about 43 minutes on Wednesday.  Did they hang their collective heads a little early?  Sure.  But they gave it their all until the Denver lead was 11 with about 5 minutes to go.  They were in a position to win in Denver and just couldn’t close the deal.  But the season isn’t over and this isn’t the same Jazz team from last year.  Here is what I saw from the game that gives me a lot of hope.

Deron Williams isn’t only an all-star, but an MVP candidate-

With one game in the books, it is too early to start handing out awards, but Deron is better this year than last year.  And for much of the season, Deron was a top 5-10 producer in the entire league.  He averaged about 22 points and 11 assists from January to April.   On Wednesday Williams put up 28 points and 13 assists on 9 of 15 shooting from the floor.  And the best part was that he didn’t even open up his entire arsenal in the opening game.  He was on the road and playing a team with a good defensive plan and length in the interior.  Against inferior teams, Williams will have a heyday with half the effort.  The Jazz system isn’t really one for helping players pile on stats, but Deron’s shooting ability, mixed with his size and ability to get into the paint means that he is becoming almost unguardable.  And he is improving his free throw shooting, so he is going to put up big numbers.  If the Jazz have a good record this season, Deron will be in the MVP discussions.

The Jazz didn’t play good defense for the whole game, but they did play good defense-

Especially when Fesenko was in early in the game, the Jazz challenged shots at the rim and rebounded well.  The defensive rotations were nice and for much of the game, the Jazz forced players like Anthony Carter and Kenyon Martin to take outside jumpers.  The real problem was that the Jazz failed to recognize the hot hand and force someone else to beat them.  Chauncey Billups was getting open jumper after open jumper in the second quarter and if the Jazz could have stopped him, they would have been able to enter halftime with a lead of 9 or 10.  They have the ability to play good defense though, something we didn’t see enough of last season.  It needs to still improve, but I haven’t felt this encouraged about the Jazz defense on the road in awhile.

Fesenko looked better than decent when put in a very difficult situation-

Things looked bleak for a minute when Okur was rolling around on the floor holding his leg and ankle.  But Fesenko, who really was put on the spot in a difficult situation, played very well.  He was large, protected the rim, and rebounded.  And he didn’t commit a single foul in his 11 minutes.  And the best part was that he didn’t cost the team offensively.  Granted, he looked completely uncomfortable with the ball at the top of the key.  But then he started setting screens and rolling off of them for monster dunks.  I could live with that.  If Fesenko can just set a screen and then roll, he is so big that the guard will be able to find him. And unlike every other backup center we have had for the past 10 years, big Fes finished at the rim with layups and dunks.  And that dunk over Carmelo was fantastic.

Millsap and Boozer both had poor games-

This doesn’t seem like a good thing, but I am going with the law of averages here.  I thought pretty much every Jazz player played an average game other than Deron, Fes, and Okur.  But Millsap and Boozer were pretty atrocious.  Their final numbers don’t tell the story.  At the beginning of the fourth quarter, I believe Boozer was 1-11 from the field.  He isn’t going to do that very often, if ever again.  In fact, I doubt that we will see more than 5 games this season when both Millsap and Boozer aren’t producing.  Just a hunch.  If one of them plays well, the Jazz have a big, big lead in the Denver game.  I’m not making excuses, but just showing that the Jazz have room for offensive improvement.

This was a loss to the Nuggets, division champs of last year-

Again, I am not making excuses.  It was sad that the Jazz didn’t win and even more sad that they played so poorly down the stretch.  But it isn’t losses on the road to teams like San Antonio, the Lakers or Nuggets that is killing the Jazz the past few seasons.  It is the fact that they lose to teams like Milwaukee, NY, Charlotte, etc on the road.  If the Jazz took care of business against those teams, then they would have a shot at a top 3 seed.  So until the Jazz start losing to teams like those mentioned consecutively, I am not worried.  And to be honest, the effort on Wednesday would have been good enough to beat those mentioned teams.

The bottom line is:  it is a long season.  The Jazz have some time to get their act together.  And I know it feels like the team doesn’t care and that they are just talking up a good game, but they do care.  I promise.  There is nothing wrong with expecting them to give it their all.  Just look at what Deron tweeted after the game:  ”My bad Jazz fanz too many careless turnovers and (sic) stupid foul on Chauncey ! We back at home fir the next one!”  The team knows they need to do better and they will.  In 60 games when we are leading the division and playing for home court advantage in the playoffs, you won’t even remember this disappointing first game of the season.