The Utah Jazz were going against the thinnest roster in the NBA. The New Orleans Hornets were without four of their five best players and only had nine players total. Of those nine, three were rookies I'd never heard of. Maybe the Jazz figured they could roll out of bed and beat the depleted Hornets by 20.Look at the plus/minus of the Jazz players:
Paul Millsap -16
Devin Harris -14
Josh Howard -14
CJ Miles -14
Al Jefferson -9
Raja Bell -3
Enes Kanter +3
Earl Watson +8
Gordon Hayward +8
Derrick Favors +10
Alec Burks +11
No negative connotation can accurately capture how bad the starting lineup was. And then Miles & Howard came off the bench and weren't any better. The best line-up wound up being Earl Watson and the four lottery-pick youngsters. At one point the Jazz were down 20 and they fought all the way back to 83-80, but couldn't quite pull off the win.
- Millsap and Jefferson combined for 18 points and 17 rebounds.
- Favors and Kanter combined for 20 points and 17 rebounds.
- Chris Kaman looked like his old All-Star self.
- Devin Harris hasn't looked like his old All-Star self all year. He was outplayed by Greveis Vasquez. Vasquez, Al-Farouq Aminu and Xavier Henry are three sophomores drafted by other teams who've wound up here. This hodge-podge team was 4-23, and now they're 5-23.
- The rumor is that DeMarre Carroll was signed by the Jazz to give them flexibility for trade possibilities. I think Devin Harris is the one they want to move, and they're willing to throw in Miles and/or Bell to make something work.
- Raja Bell was 3-4 from 3-point land. He's their most reliable 3-point shooter. granted, they're the one of the worst perimeter shooting teams int he NBA.
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