Utah Jazz
EMPTYING THE NOGGIN – Thunder are vastly improved and it showed

SUMMARY: The Thunder use stifling defense, a re-built roster and Paul George excellence to blow out the Utah Jazz
- The final score was a nine point game but it was not close. The Thunder lead by 29 points after scoring 42 3rd quarter points to blow the game out.
- This is Jazz centric but before we go there let me say the Thunder are a considerably better team than the team the Jazz played in the playoffs. Jerami Grant is much better than Carmelo Anthony and Dennis Schroder is an enormous upgrade to Raymond Felton. Nerlens Noel is a much better back up center than whomever they stuck in to that role last year. A team plays 240 minutes a night and they are better in significant way at 75 of them. That is a big deal. They haven’t played many good teams yet but there is a reason they are 13-1 against sub .500 teams. They are much better than sub .500 teams. This is a homecourt advantage team in the West.
- The Jazz have been turning the ball over and the Thunder are the best in the NBA at forcing turnovers and sure enough the Jazz turned it over 20 times tonight.
- The game was 12-10 when Rudy Gobert got called for a questionable 2nd foul and the Thunder took over the game on an immediate 8 to 2 run and the Jazz never got back in the game.
- To score on the Thunder you have to get off the ball and really move it. The Jazz had 30 assists tonight and shot 51%. As the night went on they got more and more comfortable scoring and figuring out how to get shots.
- Paul George was great . He took 10 shots and scored 31 points. He was 5 of 6 from three. He was 10 of 12 from the line. I was a little confused to why our guys continued to give him space to shoot the three point shot.
- Westbrook couldn’t shoot tonight at all. He was 4 of 18 and at one point didn’t hit the rim on a 15 footer. He stopped shooting for a while at that point, Then he was passing for assists. He finished with a triple double.
- Steven Adams is a beast, he had 6 offensive rebounds.
- Thunder looked like the far better team tonight. They are playing well and taking advantage of a soft schedule to get confidence. The Jazz haven’t had many nights were anything but 100% is going to be sufficient and they seem a little rattled in the confidence department.
Utah Jazz
LOCKED ON JAZZ – Utah Jazz aren’t sharp right now with is understandable. Power Ranking Tuesday is all good

The Utah Jazz dropped a game last night to the New Orleans Pelicans. David Locke, the radio voice of the Utah Jazz and Jazz NBA Insider takes a look at the Jazz recent play and sees some understandable slippage from the hot streak earlier in the season. Those signs are most obvious on defense and in first quarter play. The power rankings all have the Utah Jazz on top of the charts and all signs still point to a #1 seed in the West.
Utah Jazz
JAZZ GAME REWIND- Utah falls to New Orleans after late surge

Recap Utah’s game against New Orleans with Amanda Smith.
Utah Jazz
POSTCAST – Utah Jazz show slippage in New Orleans in lose to the Pelicans

Utah Jazz fall to the New Orleans Pelicans and David Locke hosts POSTCAST after the game
-
Utah Jazz2 weeks ago
LOCKED ON JAZZ – Did Clippers write defensive script? Can Rudy Gobert be more dominant? Cord cutting and buy out market for the Utah Jazz
-
Utah Jazz2 weeks ago
LOCKED ON JAZZ – Dwayne Wade has Donovan Mitchell as All-Star Starter, Previewing the Clippers, Quin Snyder Wednesday
-
Utah Jazz6 days ago
LOCKED ON JAZZ – More record setting v. Los Angeles Lakers. Utah Jazz shot clock use tells a story
-
Utah Jazz7 days ago
LOCKED ON JAZZ – Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert are all-star, Mike Conley left off again, previewing the Lakers