Rocky Mountain Review – Game 1- Atlanta Hawks vs. Utah Jazz Game Summary

On the first night of the Rocky Mountain Review fans were treated to an Almond Joy; and one very exciting game. The game featured 13 lead changes; the teams were tied 12 times; and both teams enjoyed a last second shot. Luckily for the Utah Jazz, theirs occurred with a little under five seconds to go.

Dropping behind after the tip; the Jazz responded with an alley-oop from Dee Brown to Ronnie Brewer that ignited the arena. The Jazz and Hawks fought back and forth throughout the first quarter; with the Jazz taking a slight lead into the end of the quarter at 18 to 16.

However, the Hawks did their best to fight back in the second quarter, and turned things over to the third overall selection in this years draft, Al Horford. Horford ended the night leading all other scorers with 18 points on six of twelve shooting. However, it Jamirus Jackson of the Hawks that infuriated the home team crowd with a buzzer beating shot at the end of the quarter to send the game into halftime tied at thirty-three

The second half featured the same up and down battling as the first half; and unfortunately, the intermission did nothing to rectify the plethora of fouls and turnovers that had marred the first half. For the game the Jazz committed 21 turnovers that lead to twenty-six points for the Hawks, while the Hawks only committed 16 turnovers and allowed only 16 points on those turnovers.

At the start of the fourth quarter the Jazz held on tightly to a one point lead; which would come in handy with about 5.9 seconds left. With 11.7 seconds the Hawks inbounded the ball to Acie Law the IV. Time quickly dwindled as the Hawks put the ball into the hands of Shelden Williams who was able to score and draw a foul on Milsap.

Following the free throw, the Jazz trailed the Hawks 63 to 62 with 5.9 seconds left. Coach Ty Corbin drew the play for new Jazz man, Morris Almond. Almond wrapped around a screen on the inbound play and got the shot off; as the ball eeked it’s way toward the hoop; it was noticeably short. Luckily for the Jazz; on this night the Jazz didn’t feel like a nut; Paul Milsap ripped down the rebound and quickly put it back up for a score and foul. Milsap missed the subsequent free throw, but by the time the Hawks were able to control the rebound; there was only enough time for a heave from the opposite side of the arena. The final score Utah Jazz 64; Atlanta Hawks 63, giving the Jazz their first victory of the Rocky Mountain Review.

In his first game as a Jazz man, Morris Almond scored twelve points on six of fourteen shooting; in addition he grabbed three rebounds and one assist. Other players of note; Kyrylo Fesenko also had his first game as a Jazz man in which he blocked three shots, grabbed one rebound, and harassed several others. Paul Milsap filled his stat sheet nicely, scoring twelve points on five of six shooting, grabbing nine rebounds, two assists; and four blocks.

For all the games stats you can go to this page http://www.nba.com/jazz/Revue/2007_Rocky_Mountain_Revue_Schedule.html; which is providing recaps and stats for the games; that’s only if you don’t like mine.

As an added bonus for readers of Utah Jazz Fan Addicts; I have taken the time to include a few other statistics that I think are interesting. The stats are calculated using formulas outlined in the book Basketball on Paper by Dean Oliver, http://www.basketballonpaper.com/. The statistics included provide a little more insight into the game that we all love an follow. A brief description of the statistics are included below:

1. Possession – Period between one team gaining control of the ball and the other.
2. Scoring Possession – A possession in which the team scores at least one point.
3. Floor Percentage – Fraction of a team’s or individual’s possession on which there is a scoring possession.
4. Offensive Rating – Points produced per 100 possessions.
5. Efficiency – As it is used here; it is based upon the Jazz’s formula for calculating how efficient a player is. Incorporates all the positives and negatives a player contributes divided by minutes played to provide an assessment of their overall capabilities.
6. % Team Possessions – Percentage amount the player uses of the team possession.

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Basketball is a game of back and forth, back and forth; so it should come as no surprise that in this game each team had the same amount of possessions. In addition, each team shot relatively the same amount; as well as scored about the same 64 – 63; which is why the scoring possessions and floor percentage were about the same. The offensive rating of 86 for each indicates that if the game would have gone to 100 possession each team would have scored approximately 86 points. Finally, efficiency is giving us an indication of each players approximate value; think of John Hollinger’s per calculation for ESPN, or a batting average in baseball. Percent of team possessions is interesting; but is more useful when used with efficiency statistics; as it indicates whether the player who is using the most possessions is also bringing the greatest returns for the team.

In this game, both Rafael Araujo and Morris Almond dominated possessions, and both were somewhat efficient in their use of the ball. Araujo’s numbers were aided by his ability to make shots at a 66% clip; and grabbing six rebounds. On the other hand, Almond’s scoring drove his numbers; but his less than 50% shooting hurt him.

What’s interesting about this game is that the players with the highest efficiencies used low amounts of the team’s possessions. In this case Paul Milsap and Matt Lojeski were both highly efficient; Milsap scored twelve points on five of six shooting and two from two from the line, he grabbed nine rebounds, and had four blocks. Lojeski’s efficiency was primarily from scoring. I enjoy looking at games this way; as it gives you a different perspective of what truly went on in the game.

Be back later with the wrap up of game 2 and game 3.