2014-2015 regular season!

[QUOTE]the Jazz notched their 16th victory on the year, a number that would have them hanging around the playoff picture in the East but instead has them lottery bound and focused out West.[/QUOTE]

They'd be in the hunt in the west if they weren't tanking.

[QUOTE]But as Utah plays out this second half of the season with an eye on the future, it seems other things have started to fall into place.

"I think from the start of the year, we've known what we've wanted to do and we've gotten better and better as the year's gone on," said Ingles. "

[QUOTE]One of the issues at the heart of Jazz coach Quin Snyder's surprise change to his starting lineup Thursday night in Milwaukee, interesting Exum for usual starter Trey Burke, is the coach's desire to pick up the pace. Right now, the Jazz are the third slowest team in the NBA, averaging 92.86 possessions per 48 minutes. Only the Heat and Knicks are slower.[/QUOTE]

That's aa Trey!

[QUOTE]Ultimately, it doesn't matter as much to Snyder if the Jazz take more shots early in the clock as it does his players push the ball for the chance to get early shots, even if things eventually settle down into a half-court set.

"I still want the ball to come up the court quickly, and if we get something then good," Snyder said recently. "The whole point of pace is if you shoot quickly the assumption is it's a good shot.

[QUOTE]Jody Genessy: Hayward on being underrated: "I see myself as one of the elite players in the league. Whether you

[QUOTE]Adrian Wojnarowski: After Elliot Williams' second 10-day contract expires tonight, Jazz will not re-sign him for rest of the season, league sources tell Yahoo. Twitter @WojYahooNBA [/QUOTE]

Not surprising. Have to keep some flexibility ideally. Get a pg so you can send Exum to Idaho where he belongs.

[QUOTE]Down 24 at halftime and the game is virtually over. Very little chance you are coming back to win.[/QUOTE]

Especially with your best player on the bench half of the game. Obviously winning isn't something they are trying to do.

[QUOTE] It is nice the Jazz had some fight and brought the game back and gave us some entertainment but the reality of the final outcome is they got beat in the 1sthalf that is it.

Jazz rallied to within 4 but never got to the top of the mountain. The Celtics made a quick surge to get it back to 11 and that was it. Tayshaun Prince and Tyler Zeller were terrific for the Celtics. Zeller is a nice NBA player. They got him for free in a salary dump by Cleveland. He is a solid rotation player.

Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart are probably the toughest most physical defensive combo in the NBA and they dominated the Jazz guard. Dante Exum was physically overwhelmed tonight and finished with 0 field goals. Trey Burke who made some shots in the 2ndhalf after a poor first half had 0 assists.

Trey Burke

[QUOTE] In the 2nd quarter, on offense:

Trey Burke went 0-5. 1 of these was a long-range huck at the buzzer, so let

[QUOTE] process and experience is the name of the game for Dante Exum right now, and he got a stern reminder of that tonight in Utah

[QUOTE]Favors maintains what

[QUOTE]Stevens, who recruited Hayward out of Brownsburg High School, said his collegiate pupil has become a respected player in the league.

[QUOTE]Burke put up points in bunches for the second consecutive game after scoring 19 against the Nets on Saturday. He played the fourth-quarter, crunch-time minutes Monday.

"I see him as a sixth starter," Snyder said before the game.[/QUOTE]

if only you had 5 starters. You got 3 or 4 anyway. Too bad 3 of them are bigs.

[QUOTE]"That group has struggled to score and I think he gives us that. I'm going to keep on him about defending the position and continuing to improve in that area, too. ... There's probably more opportunities that come to him because there's a little more need to create."

TIP-INS

Jazz: Forward Jeremy Evans did not play due to an illness. ... The Jazz outscored the Celtics 44-36 in the paint. ... The biggest Jazz lead was two points, three times in the first quarter.

Celtics: The Celtics have won two of three, including a narrow three-point loss to Golden State last week. ... All 10 players who saw the floor scored. ... The Celtics are now 4-4 on the second night of back-to-back games.

UP NEXT

Jazz: Host the Clippers on Wednesday.

Celtics: Visit the Timberwolves on Wednesday.

Copyright

[QUOTE]"They're both young guys," Snyder said. "Probably the biggest difference is Dante was either playing in Australia, in essentially an Australian high school league, or was out for an entire year. Marcus played against tougher competition. You can see that in his competitiveness and his ability to play the game at a pretty high level."[/QUOTE]

Which is it? He was either out for the year or playing high school ball? :confusedshrug:

[QUOTE]There are plenty of teams in the league that show consistency.

At this point, the Jazz aren't one of them.[/QUOTE]

Your max player is as inconsistent as they get and most of your players aren't in a postion to be consistent. They shouldn't be starting or shouldn't be in the roation or shouldn't be in the league.

[QUOTE]Maybe you can chalk up Monday's 99-90 loss to the Boston Celtics as youth, a callow team coming off a big win, digging itself a hole early that it couldn't emerge from. Truthfully, Utah's done this more than a few times over the season, playing well one night and struggling the next.

And that's why the Jazz locker room was so disappointed following the defeat.

"Really, this is just about playing the game the right way," Utah point guard Trey Burke said. "Some night's, shots aren't going to fall and we know that. [/QUOTE]

You more than anyone should know it. Amazing the quotes that come from this guy! :roll:

[QUOTE]But how we maintain and stay in the game tells a lot. And once we start prioritizing defense more, then we can find a way to be more consistent."[/QUOTE]
:facepalm

[QUOTE]The Jazz fell back into old habits in losing on Monday night at EnergySolutions Arena. They turned the ball over too much. They missed a bunch of wide-open shots. They missed eight free throws, many of them important. Most importantly, the Jazz in the first half wilted under physical pressure.

When Boston pushed underneath, it usually got what it wanted. When the Celtics used their considerable girth inside and strength on the perimeter, they forced Utah out of its offense and scored easy baskets as a result of the giveaways.

"They definitely were real physical with us and we didn't respond," Jazz forward Gordon Hayward said. "We were passive out there at times, and we let them dictate where the ball was going and that's how we got down by so much."

Monday night proved to be a performance Quin Snyder characterized as soft. And it proved to be a performance that highlights Utah's need to find the need to find the needed consistency in order to take the step of winning regularly.

Burke scored 18 points, but missed a lot of contested shots. Dante Exum didn't play well in his third consecutive start, going scoreless in 25 minutes. Joe Ingles played a terrific floor game

[QUOTE]Enes Kanter, whom Snyder said "played with passion" Monday. But the starting backcourt of Ingles and rookie Dante Exum combined for just two points.[/QUOTE]
bench him!

[QUOTE]The loss killed Utah's shot at its first three-game winning streak since last February with difficult games against the Los Angeles Clippers and the Golden State Warriors next on the schedule.

[email]afalk@sltrib.com[/email]

Twitter: @tribjazz[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE]As for the guard line Monday night against Boston, there was not a lot to talk about

[QUOTE]Trey Burke, who scored 18 points while excelling in his new reserve role for the third-straight game.