2014-2015 regular season!

[QUOTE]"Progress is winning on the road. Last year we took these guys to the wire and Trey Burke hit a big one that killed us. This time, we really wanted to close it out," O'Quinn said.[/QUOTE]

Jazz are worse this year so don't get too excited.

[QUOTE]Derrick Favors led the Jazz with 21 points, 13 rebounds and a season-high five blocked shots. Enes Kanter had 16 points and Rodney Hood scored 15, but defense was again the problem for the reeling Jazz.

The Magic shot 50 percent against Utah as the Jazz dropped their sixth straight at home.

The Magic posted their largest lead, 65-48, on O'Quinn's 3-point play early in the third quarter.

The Jazz responded with a 10-0 run that included a hard foul on Burke that sparked the Jazz. O'Quinn hit the Jazz point guard in the head during a drive to the basket and was given a flagrant-1 foul after a video review by the officials. Hood made a 3-pointer to cap the surge and bring Utah within 65-58 midway through the period.[/QUOTE]

Orlando played very physical. Jazz didn't.

[QUOTE]"We've just got to find that juice we need for 48 minutes," said Hood, who set a season-high in points. "We've got to stay with it and not get down because we are losing."[/QUOTE]

Tired of hearing about juice.
[QUOTE]___

TIP-INS

Magic: Nikola Vucevic, who averages nearly 19 points and 12 rebounds, missed the game due to a back sprain, his third straight DNP. ... The Magic had lost six consecutive and 27 of 32 games when Vucevic doesn't play since the start of 2012-13. ... O'Quinn had a season-high 21 points earlier in the long road trip against Golden State and then was ejected for his flagrant-2 foul on Blake Griffin against the Clippers and assessed a $15,000 fine on Thursday by the NBA.

Jazz: Guard Alec Burks missed his second game because of left shoulder inflammation. ... The Jazz had won seven games in a row against the Magic, dating back to Nov. 10, 2010. ... Steve Novak hit a challenged 3-pointer to draw the Jazz with 95-91 in the final 14 seconds but then missed two free throws two seconds later.

UP NEXT

Orlando: Magic at Sacramento on Saturday night

Utah: Jazz at Sacramento on Monday night

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT

Asked about O'Quinn's two flagrant fouls in two games, Vaughn said, "If I had a daughter, I'd let (O'Quinn) date her. He's a good dude, so I know there's no intent behind it, but he's trying to be aggressive and protect our paint. I don't have a daughter, though, good thing!"

Copyright

[QUOTE]Utah coach Quin Snyder said the team misses Burks every time he doesn

[QUOTE]Whether it happens now or next offseason, the 23-year-old Burks definitely needs surgery to repair damage in his shoulder, sources told the Deseret News.[/QUOTE]

Sounds like he's needed it for a long time. He had issues with the shoulder when they drafted him. He missed the combine because of it and I'm guessing maybe dropped in the draft too.

[QUOTE]There are some conflicting reports.

Yahoo! Sports reported that the four specialists who evaluated Burks concluded "that an aggressive rehabilitation program can restore the strength in his shoulder" without immediate surgery and that he could return as quickly as within two weeks.

A league source, however, told the Deseret News it's doubtful Burks will be back that quickly if he opts to forgo having surgery in the near future.

If Burks were to have surgery as soon as early next week, it's possible he could be out for the remainder of the season.[/QUOTE]


They might give Philly a run for their money after all!

[QUOTE]For now, the Jazz are simply saying Burks is "out indefinitely" while they deliberate on a game plan.

"It's tough. ... We've played the majority of the year without Rodney (Hood) and now without Alec," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said before Friday's game against Orlando.

Hood, a rookie who just returned from a 10-game absence due to plantar fasciitis, started again Friday in place of Burks. That move that lowers the average of the Jazz starting unit to under 23 years old.

Guards Ian Clark and Dante Exum will likely see extended minutes in Burks' absence.[/QUOTE]

They haven't though.

[QUOTE]"It puts a lot of pressure on your bench," Snyder said. "We

[QUOTE]Kirilenko returned to his native land of Russia to play during the lockout season of 2011-12, and was named the Euroleague MVP. He then signed with Minnesota, where he played in 2012-13 before opting out of a $10 million option for the 2013-14 season to play for Russian owner Mikhail Prokhorov and the Nets.[/QUOTE]

Wonder if he regrets that decision after the Nets season last year and his role now?

[QUOTE]Kirilenko, who considers Salt Lake City to be his second home, has been on a leave of absence from Brooklyn since Nov. 21 because of personal reasons.

The Jazz signed Murry, a Wichita State combo guard who played for the New York Knicks last season, as a free agent in late August.

Murry has dressed but hasn

[QUOTE]The Jazz are now 4-29 when missing any of the following over the last two years: Trey Burke, Alec Burks, Gordon Hayward or Derrick Favors. This team is not built to sustain injuries. It is built to allow the players to develop and this is the downside of building a team for development.[/QUOTE]

It's the positive side of tanking. Little depth and talent. :applause:

[QUOTE]Just look at last night

[QUOTE]Favors finished with 21 points, 13 rebounds and a season-high five blocked shots for the Jazz.

"He protects the rim for us," Snyder said of Favors.[/QUOTE]

:coleman:

[QUOTE]"We've got to find a way to close out games," Favors said. "We need to just go out there and play the next game (Monday against Sacramento). They're a good team and we've got to be ready to play them."

Utah also got 16 points from center Enes Kanter, a career-best 15 from Hood, who was filling in for the injured Alec Burks at shooting guard, and 13 more plus 11 assists from point guard Trey Burke.

"It's tough on us," Burke said. "It may not sound right, but I think we have a positive spirit right now. We've been in most of these games. Out of the (eight) losses, we've been in at least six of them that were one- or two-point games. That still means we lost, but we are in those games."

And Hood, who Snyder complimented for his high energy, effort and hard work, said the Jazz have "just got to find that juice we need for 48 minutes. It's not X's and O's because Coach is putting us in a great position to win every game. But we've just got to figure it out. It's a hard thing to do.
"We've got to stay with it and not get down because we're losing," Hood said. "We are prepared really well and just some shots didn't fall tonight. It's a process."[/QUOTE]

Tired of the juice thing already.

[QUOTE]For Orlando (8-14), coached by former Jazz point guard Jacque Vaughn, Tobias Harris had a game-high 22 points and seven rebounds, and he scored 12 of his points in the game's final 6:06 to help preserve the visitors' victory.

Victor Oladipo added 20 points, Kyle O'Quinn contributed 13, Ben Gordon chipped in with 12 off the bench, and Channing Frye scored 11 more for the Magic.

"(It was) a great effort by Utah," said Vaughn. "It's a tough place to play; it always has been. They were searching for a win and we were also, so it boiled down to us playing together and being extremely tough down the stretch."

O'Quinn, who was called for a flagrant foul on Burke's drive to the basket midway through the third quarter, said his team's willingness to share the ball proved pivotal in the win.

"Everybody can do a little something for this team," he said. "We don't have a guy on this team that is a six- or seven-time All-Star that can do anything. We have to play together, and the best way to do that is starting on the defensive end and sharing the ball."

O'Quinn also said that Oladipo, a second-year guard out of Indiana, was fired up to face Burke, the former Big Ten Player of the Year out of Michigan.

"He is the real Big Ten Player of the Year," O'Quinn said of Oladipo. "We were joking with him that they had a Big Ten battle. He played great. He played with a chip on his shoulder. I guess something with Trey Burke in the past maybe; whatever it was, it worked for us tonight."

EMAIL: [email]rhollis@desnews.com[/email][/QUOTE]

[QUOTE]On whether it

[QUOTE]he Jazz were OK offensively, but they had difficulty putting the ball in the hoop at times.

Turning point: As has been the case all season, the first half

[QUOTE]

[QUOTE]"They

[QUOTE]Where the Jazz would really miss Burks is on the second unit, where an already thin bench loses even more firepower. Utah

[QUOTE]Tony Jones: Breaking: Jazz guard Alec Burks cleared to return to practice, is listed as questionable for tomorrow at Sacramento Twitter @Tjonessltrib

Tony Jones: Burks participated in practice this morning. He told the tribune that he intends to try and play this week. Twitter @Tjonessltrib

Tony Jones: Burks: I'm thankful that the diagnosis came out positive. It makes you appreciate things. I just want to try and take things day by day. I want to make sure my shoulder is rehabbed Twitter @Tjonessltrib[/QUOTE]

some good news though if it's going to affect his play he might be better off getting the surgery

[QUOTE]Over the weekend, the Jazz received a bit of surprising, and welcome news. Burks has been cleared to practice, and is considered questionable for Monday

[QUOTE]"It

[QUOTE]Corbin recently injured his Achilles tendon and has missed the Kings