So I have finally calmed down from watching this game tonight, two words strike me about tonight's game, seriously unreal. This game had more up and downs than Paris Hilton's mattress on a Friday night. The Utah Jazz showed us something tonight, they showed they had heart. No Mehmet Okur, No Andrei Kirilenko, Carlos Boozer banged up, and Deron Williams banged up, they somehow managed to steal a game from the Denver Nuggets. This game reminded me of the Buster Douglas vs Mike Tyson fight back in 1990. Nobody on this planet gave Douglas a chance to beat Mike Tyson similar to that of nobody giving the Jazz a chance to beat the Denver Nuggets, me included. As the game wore on and on, you slowly started thinking "Well hell, the Jazz get a stop here and score, it'll get interesting." Then you started saying "We get a bucket here and it might be over." So in comparing this game to the heavyweight bout, let's go through the rounds and quarters.
Rounds 1-4. First quarter
What Buster Douglas did to Mike Tyson that night was beautiful. He'd pop Mike Tyson with a few jabs and then he'd throw an occasional hay maker, Tyson had never been hit like this before. The Jazz were doing the same thing, they moved Deron Williams off the ball and let Wes Matthews handle it to get D-Will more looks. Williams not handling the ball as much means he has more energy to get other guys involved (Boozer and Fesenko). What does this do? Williams hits his first five shots and gets into the rhythm of the game. It would have been quicker for Williams to just say to the Nuggets "Ok, I'm just going to kick everyone's ass now." One thing I also saw that is never done, is Matthews played Carmelo Anthony very physical. When Melo bumped and pushed, Matthews pushed right back and never backed down. They made Melo work for everything they had, instead of Melo bending them over the knee and spanking Matthews and Miles, they grew up a lot tonight.
Rounds 5-7 Second Quarter
By the middle of the bout, Buster Douglas has started the thoughts of "Well, he's nailed Tyson with 4 or 5 jabs, one hay maker could do it." Douglas never left his game plan, pop Tyson with a few jabs and then get inside to the body and heavy hits to the head. The Jazz game plan was very similar, attack the basket and keep attacking Melo with double teams. I love what I saw from Fesenko in the 2nd quarter, he battled with Nene, had a few put backs and dunks but overall just changed a lot of shots. The Jazz finally broke the game wide open. The pick and roll made an appearance (shocking) and totally caught the Nuggets off guard. Here is why, Charles Barkley said it perfect. "With Fesenko not camping outside to bomb threes like Okur does, it gives Boozer a chance to roam in the paint and knock down open jumpers, you have to defend a running 7 footer." They blow it wide open and take a 12 point lead into halftime. I sent numerous text messages because I had no idea what to think. I had thought the Jazz would be down by 15 to 20 by now.
Rounds 6-9 Third Quarter
In round 7, Buster Douglas took Mike Tyson's best punch, and he was still awake. Same thing happened to the Jazz, they took the Nuggets best shot. Mike Tyson tucked his right hand into his stomach and delivered a crushing uppercut to Douglas' jaw. If anyone else took that uppercut, they would have had feces running down their leg. I was a little woozy in the 3rd quarter, Melo was starting to abuse Miles and Matthews like a redheaded stepchild. You knew the Nuggets would make a run but you never thought it would be a 14-0 run to tie the game. Like I stated above, the Jazz took the Nuggets best shot, on the ropes bloody and tired, but they were still awake. Then the Midwestern-hippie-looking-tube-sock-wearing-straight-toothed-Jonas Brother-hair-wearing sharp shooter delivered, Kyle Korver. When the Jazz had four second round draft picks and an NBA D-Leaguer on the floor, Korver stepped up. He banged three straight shots to end the third quarter. You could smell the blood coming from the Nuggets.
Round 9 (Greatest Round in Boxing History) 4th Quarter
Buster Douglas creates the biggest upset in boxing history. Tyson (Nuggets) have the intent to come out and end the fight after knocking down Douglas. Douglas never backs down and delivers three straight hay makers to knock Tyson to the canvas and his mouth piece flying out of his mouth quicker than a Jerry Sloan expletive. The two exchange hay makers, the big one coming from Chauncey Billups pulling up and bombing a three right in D-Will's grill. I then received a text message from Ike "The Slinky" Tingey saying, that is Utah's last lead. I agreed, but boy were we in for a show. In a game where we saw Kyle Korver have a charge called against him for the first time in his career to Paul Millsap taking more shots to the face than a prison inmate, the final knockout blow came from Kyle Korver. Williams set up a beautiful play and Korver caught the ball in the corner and his shot never hit the rim, all net. Which sent the Nuggets to the canvas with Melo crying like a kid that got his first physical and sending the Nuggets to a playoff loss.
Jerry Sloan deserves praise for this victory. Even though he called a timeout in the 3rd quarter two possessions too late, but he showed tonight that he can make adjustments. He threw multiple looks at Melo, he made Chauncey work all night for his shots, and he made the other Nuggets beat the Jazz, which they didn't. I saw a different Jazz team tonight, a Jazz team that was them against the world. No one on earth gave the Jazz a chance to win, but they did. They now have Jazz fans believing that they can beat the Nuggets. Sure it's only one game, but all it took was one punch for Buster Douglas to knockout a bully, and the Jazz knocked the hell out of a bully tonight.
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