GameTrax: Stats and
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By Randy Hill
FOXSportsArizona.com
February 15, 2011
PHOENIX -- As two leaky ships that passed twice within five nights, the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns are attempting to shake up the lower reaches of the Western Conference's prospective playoff bracket.
Let's start with our autopsy of the Jazz, who -- including Tuesday's 102-101 loss at U.S. Airways Center -- are 0-2 in the Tyrone Corbin Era and now have lost 12 of their last 16 games. Suddenly in a freefall, they've gone from contending for home-court advantage in a first-round series to an eighth-place tie with the Denver Nuggets.
"The thing is, our effort is better," Corbin said in his second game as Jerry Sloan's successor. "We played a lot better a lot longer then we did the other night."
After riding an emotional wave to open last Friday's match with Phoenix, the Jazz (31-25) managed a measly 27 points in the second half.
Trailing by two on Tuesday with 3.9 seconds remaining, Phoenix center Marcin Gortat forced a bad pass under the rim by Paul Millsap that was stolen by the Suns' Steve Nash.
The difference between thrill and agony was that close.
"As long as we continue to fight and bring the effort," said Corbin, who had almost four days to tinker between his first two head-coaching dates, "we'll make shots and we'll win some games."
For that to happen, Corbin will need more of everything from point guard Deron Williams, who -- as the alleged last straw on Sloan's aching back -- was greeted by some desert-caliber boo-birds during pregame introductions. In two games since becoming part of a national debate, Williams has missed 19 of 30 shots. Although Williams' job description begins with getting his teammates involved, Utah needs its All-Star to create offense down the stretch.
Williams did hit a big 3 to pull the Jazz to within one point with 1:16 to play, but missed a a go-ahead jumper with 16.3 seconds left.
Thanks to these two victories over Utah, the Suns (27-26) have won 12 of 17 and still have a solid grip on 10th place. But the Suns, who rarely manage to display much end-to-end artistry these days, needed a career-high 31 points from Channing Frye to win Tuesday. Frye scored 19 of his 31 in the first quarter, collected 11 rebounds and provided reasonable defensive resistance against Millsap.
"I think, for us, I was just staying focused and trying to figure out ways to get open," Frye said, "and if I wasn't open, then finding someone else open for a layup. My teammates kept putting me in situations to succeed."
Despite his hot start in the opening quarter, Frye only took two shots from the field in the second quarter.
"I got to introduce our guys to the guy that's making shots," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. "I guess I got to do the playground thing and tell them when the guy is hot we need to try and find him."
Corbin also made things a bit trickier in that department by having 6-7 shooting guard C.J. Miles chase Frye, 6-10, on the perimeter. The Suns didn't exploit the height mismatch until nearly three minutes of the third quarter had elapsed.
The key individual matchup, however, was staged between Williams and Grant Hill, who -- at 38 -- is asked to check nearly every threat standing between the Suns and triumph. Although Williams shot poorly (mostly under the watch of Nash) in Utah's loss to the Suns in Salt Lake City last Friday, the showdown with Hill was made possible by Corbin's increased usage of Earl Watson.
The shorthanded Jazz -- playing without small forward Andrei Kirilenko (ankle), shooting guard Raja Bell (calf strain) and reserve point guard Ronnie Price (sprained big toe) -- were forced to upgrade Watson's minutes in a double-point-guard attack. It wasn't half bad in the beginning; with Nash on Watson and losing contact while straying too far as a weak-side helper, Earl hit three 3s in the first quarter. But his scorched-earth effort was able to scratch for only two more points the final three quarters.
Now forced to work more often against Hill, Williams missed 9 of his 11 shots from the field and finished with 11 points. Mostly deferring to Utah post presence Al Jefferson (season-high 32 points), Williams had 11 assists to go with six turnovers.
"I still say that if anyone should be on the All-Defensive Team, it should be him," Gentry said of Hill.
Speaking of defensive teams, Sunday's fourth-quarter annihilation -- bestowed upon Phoenix by the wacky Sacramento Kings -- was not duplicated with the Jazz in town. Utah, which held a 53-50 edge at intermission, shot a chilly 35 percent in the third quarter and finished just below 46 for the game.
"Overall, I thought we did OK," Gentry said. "The thing that bothered me most is that we just turned the ball over so many times."
Phoenix did turn it over 17 times, but was credited with only three turnovers in the second half. In addition to putting up greater resistance on defense, the Suns were saved by the 3. Frye propelled them to an 8-for-14 effort in the opening half, before the game-saving, 4-for-8 surge down the stretch.
Yeah, the offense can get a bit tricky when go-to candidate Vince Carter (10 points on 3-of-9 shooting) doesn't play well enough to generate any playing time in the fourth quarter. The two-guard struggles extended to Jared Dudley, who missed all four of his shots off the bench. But Mickael Pietrus (11 points) and Frye provided enough assistance for Nash (20 points, 14 assists) to take the Suns home.
Down the hall, the Jazz were attempting an emotional rally built around their injury-related depth problem.
"We knew we were going to have to do it," Miles said. "We had two of our wing guys that play 30-plus minutes out of the game, so we had to find ways to get guys to play."
To hold off the likes of the Suns and Memphis Grizzlies, they'll have to find ways to get guys to play better until everyone is healthy.
