It's Gotta Suck to be a Knicks Fan Right Now

Deron Williams summed up the Jazz win against the Knicks by saying “A win is a win…good, bad, ugly — it doesn't matter." That quote about sums up the Jazz first road victory of the young season last night at Madison Square Garden in New York. The game wasn’t pretty, but I’m not complaining (about the win anyway). It was in New York after all, where the Jazz for some reason win about as often as it snows in Phoenix.

This game emphasized to me more than anything the importance of the three-pointer. Jerry Sloan traditionally hasn’t run plays for it, and he also doesn’t respect it because he says it is not a high percentage shot. Well, teams all over the league are proving him wrong in that respect, and many teams run regular plays for the three-ball on a consistent basis. The shot from the corner is a walk in the park for a lot of these guys anymore, and the Jazz haven’t defended it very well lately. It also doesn’t help that a big three-pointer gets as much reaction from the crowd as a big dunk; so, as a result, it can be a big game changer and a momentum builder.

I think the Jazz played a good, solid game last night, but the thing I liked the most is that they utilized the three-ball, and, in a large part, that won them the game for them. I think the word is out that the Jazz tend to buckle under the zone, because more and more teams are coming at them with it. The Jazz are stacked with offensive weapons that can beat you one-on-one, but they get flustered by the zone, so it only makes sense. The only way to beat the zone and force a man-on-man defensive scheme is to nail your shots. The Jazz did a great job of that last night, and it kept the Knicks honest.

On the defensive side though, the Jazz still need to get better at locking up the perimeter. The Knicks shot themselves back into the game plain and simple. Their shooting gave them confidence, and then they started getting physical with the Jazz down low. Our bigs tend to back off when the other team starts going to the hole in those situations, and the Knicks played it well. All-in-all, the Jazz kept their composure and won the game. It shouldn’t have been that close, but props to Utah for not folding in the fourth the way they have against Denver, Houston, and Dallas this year. Who knows, maybe the Jazz will learn something from this victory? One thing is for sure, they need to keep their energy up in the fourth and hold double-digit leads. The game isn’t won until the final buzzer goes off, I don’t care how big your lead is.

On a side note, it has to suck to be a Knicks fan right now. They will have a lot of money next year, so the off-season could be big, but I doubt they will win more than 30 games this year, and the Jazz have their pick. Honestly, it is probably better that the Jazz have their pick because it seems like Knicks management blows lottery picks about as often as they lose games. Who knows, they could land Bosh and Bron-Bron next summer and pull a Celtics on us, but I just don’t know if they can pull that off (hopefully).

Effort Grade: B+. It may not have been pretty, but they wanted the win, and I think they played hard.

Wes Mathews update: Is this kid the real deal? I think so…he’s playing his guts out, not forcing anything, and defending better than anyone on the team. Yeah I said anyone…Note to Utah’s vets: your rook is showing you up.

Players of the game: C-Booz, Dwill, and AK: Geez 47, where did that come from? Maybe you should do it more often. AK looked composed and comfortable on the perimeter, and his shooting from three (4 for 4 in the third alone) busted the zone. Carlos may not be shooting the ball as consistently as we would like game to game, but he is coming around, and his rebounding has been huge. Dwill had a bad back, and it was affecting his shot, but his passing made up for it. It was probably his best passing game so far this year.

Next up: Boston in Boston. The Jazz use to win in ‘the Garden’ as much as they currently do in the other Garden in NYC, but the last few years they have played well there (I won’t insert some cliché ‘luck of the Irish’ joke here even though I secretly want to). The Celts have been playing better than anyone in the league, but we know the Jazz can hang with them (and beat them) if they play the way they are capable of playing.

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