I usually like the in depth analysis, but this one disregards a major point. From what I saw, and am seeing, they in fact are drawing a lot of contact from big bodies, from Lakers hacking their arms and shoulders, etc. that simply are not being called (on the Jazz end of the court). Also, Fesenko doesn’t look like he gets blocked here.

A more complete analysis would show examples of how the Jazz can make baskets when “fouls” are not being called down low (“blocks”). Were there any examples where they finished strong with dunks, or the bigs passed out of traffic? Boozer and Milsap are great with both left and right hands. Did that help them last night? Pump fakes and quick moves might work sometimes, but how can the Jazz score when they are getting hammered in the paint without getting the calls? That would be a more interesting analysis to me.

There were instances of both teams not getting calls the entire game. Both games of the series the refs have been “letting them play” and due to the Jazz’s physical, gritty, defensive style of play this is not surprising.

But the free-throw discrepancy was only 8 points in the Laker’s favor, with 10 of those coming solely from Kobe. You can complain about the home team getting more calls, but there were numerous times while watching the game that fouls should have been called on both sides.

Nice passive-aggressive comment on the officiating, jambalaya.

It’s a valid observation, though: Even as a Lakers fan I think the officiating has favored the Lakers (more so in Game 2 than in Game 1), although hacks were missed on both ends. I’ll be interested to see how things shake out in SLC.

Fouls aren’t called on both ends, and not because it’s the Lakers (if you saw the LA/OKC series, you realize refs generally reward aggressive defense). In any case, the Lakers got the typical home calls and those will be balanced out in Utah, which still doesn’t solve Utah’s problems.

The one point I disagree with here is really the bringing the ball down issue. While it’s true that big men are taught to keep the ball up high, the downside to that, at least in terms of keeping the ball high to get a quick shot, is that you don’t make a strong move. Pau Gasol is great at doing exactly what is suggested here for the Jazz, but it’s also the reason he takes “finesse” shots in the lane – he doesn’t bring the ball down and gather himself to make a strong move. It goes both ways, if the Boozer starts taking these rushed shots and missing them, then we’re wondering why he doesn’t gather and go strong for contact instead of trying to flip the shot up before LA can react.

Jazz fans complaining about officiating… priceless!

@Brian Tung

I agree. I have no complaints about Game 1. Game 2 was almost difficult for me to watch. I don’t want to argue about why calls go one way or the other (ie star treatment, home court advantage, or official corruption). I just want to see examples of how the Jazz can score, even if they are not getting calls in the paint.

Frankly, I prefer fewer calls to more calls…I have to DVR so I can fast forward through free throws, but I still catch up to real time in 3-3.5 hour games, and when teams are scoring a major portion of their points with free throws I may as well watch a free throw contest.

I´m pretty sure i saw a lefty layup by Millsap in the first game, not sure if it was in the third or in the fourth. I´d bet for the third, though. I´m not trying to open a discussion -i totally agree with you for what i´ve seen so far-, simply pointing to a play you could use.

Your blog is the best tactical analysis i read, by the way.

I think the biggest problem the Jazz have isn’t regarding lack of foul calls but just that they are a horrible team. Boozer isn’t near good enough on defense to make up for his mediocre and clumsy offensive game and outside of Williams they don’t have any shooters. Combine that with the fact that Sloan doesn’t care if they win or lose on a per season basis and it just adds up to one giant crap fest. They’re lucky they got to play denver in the first round or they would have had another extra early exit.

@Jammars

I think you meant to say that the Lakers are lucky the Jazz played the Nuggets in the first round, since they dominated you all year. I’m not sure how you can say that Boozer’s game is clumsy or mediocre, since he (and Millsap) have basically overachieved throughout their entire careers, given their lack of size and athleticism. The only real “talent” that the Lakers have is for being a lot taller than we are. As for not having any shooters, we did shoot 42% from 3 and make twice as many 3′s as the Lakers in the last game, so I’m not sure where that comes from. And does a guy who’s taken his team to the playoffs in 19 of the past 22 years sound like someone who doesn’t care if they win or lose? Basically, I’m saying you’re an idiot. There are valid ways to attack the Jazz, but none of yours had any basis in reality.

The real problem with the JAzz is that so much of their cap space is tied up in Kirilenko. 16.5mil this year 17.8mil next year. Just imagine how much more talent Utah could get with that money. Having that much of their cap space on someone who isn’t worth morth than 6-7mil means they can’t get the pieces they need to really compete at the highest level.

12 points in 29 minutes probably isn’t worth 16.5 million per year.

Just sub out Kirilenko for Bosh or Pau Gasol and the Jazz would be right up there with the top teams in the league.

Maybe the Jazz will be able to trade the expiring contract next year for some top talent.

I appreciate this info and know the Jazz’s bigs aren’t doing everything they could be to avoid getting blocked, but I have to agree with Jambalaya. In the first example given, Boozer may have brought the ball down, but the thing that stands out to me is Lamar Odom standing in the restricted area of the court. Boozer collides into him and is then blocked by Bynum. With his progress toward the basket stopped by Odom it’s no wonder Bynum is able to disrupt the shot.

Fun Fact: Boozer played for 61 minutes and took 31 shots before he shot his first free throw of the series. Pau Gasol played 40 minutes (and blocked 5 shots) before committing his first foul.

@Jammars I wouldn’t exactly call the Jazz a horrible team. However, they have been forced into bad decision making by very disciplined players like Gasol down low. I would also like to see you ask Sloan that question ha ha. Fanboyism aside. I think the officiating will even out by the end of the series as it usuallly does. However, the Jazz need to quit worrying about the refs and stay aggressive and good things will happen. No-call-Paul came to play that’s for sure. Only Utah man to play hard the whole game.

Okay, to say the Jazz are “a horrible team” is ludicrous. The Lakers played near perfect, while the Jazz played awful…and they were still right there at the end.

Good stuff, Bass.

Former Jazz man Jeff Hornacek made several comments on the SLC radio broadcast that the Lakers have put major focus on keeping Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer out of the lane. He mentioned that whenever Boozer would bring the ball down in the lane the two closest players for the Lakers, usually their bigs, would collapse to the middle, leading to all of the scoring by Paul Milsap. Hornacek said the Jazz need to develop a play where Boozer catches the ball and makes a move into the lane. Opening up a cutter on at least one side down the baseline to the hoop. A quick dish will have the bigs covering Boozer in the middle of the lane with the baseline open.

I always feel bad for jazz fans and other people who don’t understand the rules of basketball when they talk about the restricted circle and the ball in the low post.

I think the Jazz deserve credit. For being an extremely limited club they’ve done really well to finally make it out of the first round. But, when your star player is Carlos Boozer who can’t play defense and very limited post up moves theres only so much your team can ever do.

I just feel bad for players like Deron Williams stuck on a team that will never contend.

Carlos needs to rewatch his own vid on post moves, evidently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcSoL9iCM90

well i wouldn’t say that having 20 TOs is playing perfect. the lakers carelessness with the ball was the only reason why this game was no old-fashioned blowout.

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