Perhaps the two most notable things about this game against Germany are:

1. How sharp USA played in a "meaningless game," and
2. How USA strayed from the winning formula it has been using so far in international play.

Because USA could force themselves to play with such sharpness in a meaningless game like this, I'm thinking there won't be any let downs in the medal games to come.

But it's really remarkable how USA strayed from the winning formula it used in previous games. So I should remark on it.

<> Up until now, USA was -4 in rebounding against their opponents, but today USA was +15 in rebounding over Germany! Everyone pretty much rebounded as they have been, except Dwight Howard, Carlos Boozer and Tayshaun Prince stepped up their rebounding efforts considerably.

<> USA found points inside from their big men, most notably Dwight Howard. He scored 22 points in 19 minutes! Carlos Boozer, though, had 6 points and 6 rebounds in just 9 minutes.

<> 59 of USA's 106 points came from forwards and centers, and Carmelo Anthony was only 4 of those 59 points. However, because Kobe Bryant has been playing small forward at times, that number is probably higher.

<> The 18 turnovers USA got from Germany is the lowest of the Olympics. And USA had only 18 points off of turnovers against Germany, which is their lowest point total off of turnovers in the Olympics (they had 28 against Spain, 25 against Greece, 25 against Angloa).

In other words, Germany slowed down the pace, cared for the ball better than other teams so USA scored less in transition, and tried to force USA's bigs to beat them from inside... and USA did!

Because USA has been leveraging their transition game, creating easy points for themselves off of turnovers, I've been wondering if opposing teams would start to slow down the pace, care for the ball better, and try to force Team USA's bigs to beat them from inside in a half court game, and if USA's bigs were up to the challenge. Well, they sure were against Germany.

Other observations:

- This was the first game USA took control of right away. The other games, teams had success against USA until USA found their way, then had their way with their opponents.

- Germany missed 9 of its first 10 shots, and went down 18 to 3 in the early going.

- USA never allowed Germany to score more than 17 points in a quarter.

- Michael Redd, USA's shooting specialist, was 1 of 9 from the floor and 0 of 4 from the arc in his 13 minutes of play.

- USA shot 61.1 percent from the free throw line. Dwight, you are embarrassing us! Germany's Dirk Nowitzki was 5 of 5.

- The player with the most minutes this game was... Tayshaun Prince! Only Prince and Chris Paul had more than 20 minutes of playing time.

- Kobe missed two dunks?! Maybe someone ought to bring out an Aston Martin to motivate him to get jumping.

- The last time USA basketball was beating teams by this much, Color Me Badd and Right Said Fred topped the charts, Wayne's World and Batman Returns were in theaters, and Eric Clapton won a grammy for "Tears in Heaven." That was the original 1992 Dream Team, and their competition then was no where near as good as the "Redeem Team's" competition is now.

If you are a fan of USA basketball, this was a great game, but two numbers indicate Team USA wasn't yet tested where it is weakest: inside. Those two numbers are 28 and 64.

Twenty-eight. Spain committed 28 turnovers versus the United States. For perspective, Spain committed 8 turnovers in their previous game against Greece.

Sixty four. USA shot 7 of 11 (64%) from the arc in the first half. For perspective, that is better than USA's FREE THROW percentage from their previous game (56.5%).

While those 2 numbers are actually positives, they are also anomalies: unusual occurrences that may not happen again.

Of course, USA had something to do with Spain turning the ball over so much, but then again, Spain's zone defense had something to do with USA shooting so well from the arc. If you don't believe that, Spain's halftime adjustments had USA shooting 4 of 14 for 28.5% in the 2nd half.

Anomalies (a.k.a. "luck") probably affect many if not most games, but for success to be consistent, it needs to be based on something a team can consistently do.

If Team USA can consistently shoot 64% from the arc, it hasn't shown it so far. In fact, USA's second half 3-point shooting performance against Spain, 28.5%, is more consistent with how USA has been shooting 3 pointers in the Olympics.

As for turnovers, remember Australia? Earlier this month (August 5,2008), the Aussies slowed down the pace to limit possessions, and were it not for a flat 2nd quarter, Australia could have upset Team USA. Instead of slowing down the pace though, today Spain tried to play at USA's pace, and Spain turned over Group B's leadership to USA. Literally.

I really think USA will earn the gold medal in 2008 Men's Basketball, but I also think teams have seen enough of how USA plays, where it is strongest and where it is weakest, and that opposing teams will try slowing down the pace and caring for the ball to take away USA's easy points, and they will try to make USA grind it out from inside.

USA's last two wins were impressive, but they scored very little with bigs posting up in the half court.

Against Spain, Carmelo Anthony scored 12 of his 16 points from the arc. Tayshaun Prince scored 9 of his 10 points from the arc. LeBron James scored 6 of his 18 points from the arc, and I don't know how many of the remaining 12 points were scored in transition, but it seemed like a lot, didn't it? That's where his highlight plays come from.

But in terms of good old fashioned back to the basket bigs scoring down low on post play in the half court, USA was probably outplayed by Spain. And Team USA was out rebounded again (39 to 36). Can USA's bigs step up to score inside if opponents are successful at forcing that pace on them? I hope so.

Other observations:

- Less than 2 minutes into the game (1:57 to be exact), Pao Gasol set a screen and Kobe Bryant just leveled him to the floor. Pau smiled, but Kobe walked by Pau without looking at him, much less helping him up or giving Pau a pat, which Bryant did with other Spanish players throughout the game. Commentator Doug Collins said he thought it was a good foul, and Collins was wrong. The only message that foul sent was a message Gasol already knew: that Kobe was more serious about beating Spain than he was about his friendship with Pau. In reality, the only thing that stupid foul did was put Kobe out of the game sooner.

- Team USA was called for 17 fouls in the first half, but as USA took control of the game, refs stopped trying to help Spain and called only 7 fouls against USA in the second half. USA did make adjustments, but it really appeared the the refs did as well.

- Spain's 17 year old guard, Ricky Rubio, didn't looked in intimidated in the least by going up against the likes of Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul and Deron Williams. In fact, he baited a couple of them into fouls.  XPhoneix87 is right when he wrote on BallerBlogger.com that this is a guy to keep an eye out for.

- I was thrilled to hear Doug Collins say that Team USA's mantra is: No bad habits. That's the motto I'm yelling during the practice of every team I've ever coached. You think Coach K stole it from me? ;-)

- It was a 7 point game with 25 seconds left to go in the 1st quarter. Considering the final scores in the Olympics, USA has yet to really dominate a team from the get go. Opponents start off finding success, then USA finds its way and then has its way with its opponents.

- 13 of 16 USA turnovers were James, Bryant, Paul and Wade.

- LeBron James and Chis Paul combined to shoot 14 of 14 from the free throw line, substantially helping USA raise their overall free throw percentage. The rest of the team shot 5 of 10 for 50% from the free thrown line. Tch tch tch.

- When asked to expand on Team USA’s strengths, Pau Gasol said: “They are playing with a purpose and that’s to win and to show everyone else that they are superior. And I think that’s the bottom line. It’s not that they are better individually than two years ago, they are better as a team. They have a better mentality.”

- In a post game interview with Craig Sager, Chris Paul made it clear the Team USA wanted to make a statement with this game. Did they? Well, ask Spain's Pau Gasol.

“They wanted to make a statement in this game, playing against us, and they did,” Pau said. “They sent a message to everybody in the tournament. They didn’t do it before, and now everybody knows that they’re for real, and they’re very serious about this.”

Observations about the USA vs. Angola game have me thinking USA has a problem with their "bigs," or in other words, a BIG problem.

--- Angola's 3 point shooting was about as bad as Team USA's (29%), as was their mid range game, meaning most of Angola's 76 points came inside, which is SERIOUSLY bad news for Team USA. USA's bigs were dismayingly deficient defensively, especially since Angola may be the only team in the Olympics that is smaller overall than the U.S.

--- At half time, Angola was +3 in rebounds. By the end of the game, Angola out rebounded USA by 4 (38 to 34), so USA's rebounding efforts against a smaller Angola team were horrible, and got worse as the game wore on. There was no correction at half time or any other place in the game.

The thing is, the rebounding situation is worse than you think.

53 percent of all Team USA's rebounds came from their GUARDS, not their bigs!

When you consider that bigs are, well, bigger than guards, and that at any given time there are usually 50% more bigs on the floor than guards, you can see that Team USA's bigs are definitely not pulling their weight.

Criticize Kobe's performance all you want, (I plan to), but what hurt Team USA most this game was poor efforts and results from its forwards and centers, both on defense and in rebounding.

Rebounds per minute for FORWARDS & CENTERS:

0.286 - Carmelo Anthony
0.200 - LeBron James
0.200 - Dwight Howard
0.182 - Carlos Boozer
0.143 - Chris Bosh
0.071 - Tayshaun Prince

Rebounds per minute for GUARDS

0.313 - Dwayne Wade
0.267 - Jason Kidd
0.222 - Kobe Bryant
0.190 - Chris Paul

And of course, Angola's rebounds per minute stats blow away all Team USA's big players.

--- There is no other way to say it, I'm disgusted the Team USA only shot 64% from the charity stripe (16 of 25). 7 of the 9 free throw misses were Team USA big men.

--- Unlike the rest of the country, I'm not that worried about Team USA's outside shooting. USA's 3-point shooting stats are deceptive. As a team, they did shoot 5 of 21 (23.8%), but if you remove Kobe's 0 of 8, then they shot 38.4 %. Not great, but not the end of the world either. Before his finger injury, Kobe was the most devastating perimeter player in basketball. He's not so good now, but I don't see him shooting 0 of 8 again. I'm thinking USA's perimeter game will be adequate against Greece tomorrow, provided a team-first mentality prevails.

--- This team has lost its focus, and many players are thinking of themselves before their team. Often a man ahead was ignored so the man with the ball could dunk or shoot. Deron Williams over dribbled. Chris Paul let his man blow by him so often I could swear the crowd started to yell, "Ole'!" Kobe, even if you were 8 out of 8 from the arc, those aren't the stats nor the acts of a defensive stopper. Carlos, you are a role player on this team, and your role is to defend and rebound, not blow gimmies around the basket. Dwight, trash talking? Against ANGLOLA? Really?! Come on, guys, get back on task.

--- Scoring for the United States declined by quarter as the game went on, scoring a record low 16 points in the 4th quarter. I'm sure much of this was a motivation problem, and some of it is (hopefully) a sportsmanship thing, not wanting to run up the score and embarrass Angola. Angola's scoring, by the way, increased.

--- I LOVE how clear the floor was out of bounds at the baselines and the side lines. This should be the rule for NCAA and NBA basketball as well. I can't STAND to see players flying into camera men or cheerleaders, or worse, not diving for loose balls so they don't collide with these people. There is enough money in both college and professional basketball to give the players some breathing room and still make a profit.

--- Team USA did manage to get the ball into post, especially to Dwight Howard, but usually they did it in early offense before Angola's defense was set.

--- I was embarrassed by Dwight Howard's trash talking. First of all, he isn't playing well enough to have the right. Second, even if he was, this is Angola, not the 1992 Dream Team. Get over yourself and play basketball, Dwight.

--- Only one player got up early and scouted the Greece vs. Spain game with the coaches: Kobe Bryant. When asked about that, LeBron James said that if Kobe was there, then the whole team was there because Kobe would share any information he obtained. My goodness that is LAME! Those guys had a chance to peek at the cards of their two greatest adversaries, and slept through it! ARGH! Can spoiled millionaires ever grasp it? TEAM comes first, you come second!

[Added after I originally posted this]

Restating what I've written before...

It is scary for us to pin our hopes to a team that "turns it on and off" like our current Team USA does. It would be so much more reassuring if they would just play at their full potential all the time and crush everyone, even if destroying their opponents and running up the score is seen as poor sportsmanship.

We are all hoping that as the competition gets tougher, so will they, but it's an uneasy feeling not knowing for sure whether or not they actually will, given that USA has lost before.

One thing that will help is right now all players are getting lots of minutes, regardless their production. I'm sure the minutes will be less for players who aren't proving themselves productive once the heat is on. That will help with the final score as well as the box score.

Also, there is one point that probably can't be ignored.

It is just the nature of competitors to raise their level of play as the level of competition rises. It's just who and how they are.

I remember back in the day, I lost games of horse to middle schoolers, and later that day hit 7 3-pointers in a row during a tournament.

There is just something about real competition that brings out the best in some people. Even in the NBA, some players play better against some players and some teams, the challenge just brings out the best in them. Take for example, how Gilbert Arenas plays when he plays against Kobe.

And there are a LOT of these kinds of people on TeamUSA. They need the challenge to be their best.

And TeamUSA has yet to face a team that has challenged them enough to bring out the best in them.

At least that is what I am hoping is going on!

USA! USA! USA!

Just a quick note on Carlos Boozer. I recently read someone's comments saying Carlos Boozer is just a scorer and doesn’t play defense. It’s like the stuff they keep saying about Kobe Bryant — too many people just parrot what they hear from someone else, without thinking or researching.

First, Boozer is currently the #2 rebounding power forward in the NBA. That alone shows Boozer isn’t just a scorer, but it also shows a willingness to do hard, dirty work, doesn’t it?

More to the point though, Carlos Boozer is 4th in the NBA in steals per game at his position.

Steals? Were you expecting blocked shots as evidence of Boozer’s defensive prowess?

Carlos Boozer is undersized for his position, so naturally he won’t be a leading shot blocker, but he has hit the weights to get strength and bulk, and works hard to make his position defense is very good.

Besides, going for blocks puts you out of position for rebounds, so Booze defends by keeping his man away from the rim, forcing him into tough shots, then grabbing the rebound. That is solid, heady team defense … but it doesn’t really show up in box score statistics though, does it?

The best I can do is point out that Boozer is #1 among NBA power forwards (beating Duncan and Garnett) in efficiency rating, which takes into consideration team defense while he is in the game.

Carlos has always defended. I’ve known him since he was playing for the Juneau Douglas Crimson Bears in Alaska, and he played solid defense then. I’ve played pickup games with him, and he played defense then, blocking shots and forcing us into more difficult shots (or into deciding not to shoot at all).

Besides, you can’t rise to the top of Coach K's system at Duke if you don’t defend.

Seriously guys, it’s time to let go of the myth that Carlos Boozer doesn’t play defense.

End of quick note!

There are a couple of posts here debating whether or not Derek Fisher is a "hero" for leaving the Utah Jazz to relocate to a place with the medical specialists his daughter, Tatum, needs.

"Hero" is an interesting word, isn't it?

Last week some punk killed a prison guard, took his gun, stole a car, led a chase through neighborhoods, then ran into an Arby's and put a gun to some kid's head while yelling at everyone else to lay on the floor.

Suddenly, a 5' 5", 60-year old man lunged at the 6' 1", 27-year old man with the gun. As they wrestled, the punk got a knife and slit the throat of the elderly man, but the elderly man hung on and just would not let go of the gun. In the end, this elderly Arby's customer got the gun and pointed it at the punk until police could come in and arrest him.

This Arby's customer sounds like a hero to me, but he sincerely doesn't see it that way. He insists that he just did in that moment what needed to be done, and that if anyone else in those circumstances would have done the same.

I wonder about that, but maybe he is on to something.

Sometimes, a hero is simply someone with the courage to do what should be done.

My mom got pregnant in high school. She could have made many decisions, but she dropped out of school to have and raise me. As a Native American, single mom with no education, she didn't exactly choose the easiest road for her life, but she did it for me. Consequently, to me, honestly, my mom is a hero, but I know others would look at her life and judge her differently and never see that.

Again, heroes are often just regular people who find within themselves the courage to do what should be done.

In some instances, that courage is summoned for a single, sensational act.

In other instances, that bravery is tapped every day as people step up to do the right thing despite tremendous adversity.

So, is Derek Fisher a hero?

Well, hopefully we can all agree that to his daughter, he probably is.

Additionally, I feel that someone who gives his life for someone else -- whether it is a single, sensational act as a soldier might do, or through daily sacrifices, as a good parent might do -- is a hero.

So to me, the question isn't whether or not Derek Fisher is a hero. The question is, "What are people so focused on that prevents them from seeing it?"

Usually I watch games alone, but last night 7 people came over to watch the Spurs play the Jazz.  Some were Spurs fans, some were Jazz fans, and some I'm sure, were just there for the popcorn and Krispy Kremes.

As a point of disclosure, I should inform you that I am a Jazz fan, and I am a Spurs fan -- and I am a Krispy Kreme fan.

At any rate, the bipartisan crowd of 8 at my house thought the officials did their usual shaky job of calling the game, however, rather than just moan about it like we all tend to do, the raucous crowd at Energy Solutions Arena really got themselves worked up over it.  

And I mean REALLY worked up. The abuse this crowd heaped on the officials was criminal.  It knew no gender, male and female alike were equally ugly.  And from what the cameras let us see, it knew no race, it knew no age -- and unfortunately, it knew no boundaries. I found myself embarrassed for them, because they lacked the good sense to be embarrassed themselves for their behavior.

And it wasn't just a few bad apples giving the whole bunch a bad rap.  While may have been just a handful of fans who threw things on the floor, thousands were screaming, "Ref you suck," and humiliating this crew within earshot of the internationally piped ESPN microphones.  

In time, it looked to me like the refs had just had ENOUGH of the abuse,  and in the fourth quarter they defiantly decided the crowd wouldn't get what it demanded.

In a game where both teams were clearly playing physically, the Spurs shot 16 free throws in the fourth quarter before the Jazz shot their first, with just 3:21 remaining in the game.  And by the time the quarter was done, the Spurs shot 25 free throws, and the Jazz shot 2. Keep in mind, in the regular season the Jazz led the NBA in free throw attempts.

If you are a Jazz fan -- or a Suns fan for that matter, you might think there is an NBA conspiracy to get the Spurs to the Finals.  

Thankfully, the Jazz PLAYERS are quite a bit classier and smarter than  that. To the Jazz players' credit, they did not get caught up in the whinging.  In the post game, Carlos Boozer simply said that the Jazz were shooting jump shots and the Spurs were shooting free throws.  

Carlos is correct.  In the fourth quarter, the Jazz attempted 10 shots outside the paint, while the Spurs attempted 4.  

The Jazz shot 250% more outside shots than the Spurs in the fourth quarter, no wonder they didn't get to the free throw line!

Now NBA refs deserve some measure of grief for how they do their job, although I have to say they did a better job than usual of ignoring flopping.  

But the Spurs deserve no ire.  They are a class act -- especially coach Gregg Popovich. I hated to see the Spurs players being pelted with things as they walked to the locker room, and I was sorry the on court post game interviews canceled because of security reasons.  The fans were way out of line, and frankly, the Energy Solutions Arena security didn't seem to be that interested in protected the Spurs as well.

Now, about the game.

In the fourth quarter, I noticed that the Jazz was running its offense out of position.  In the fourth quarter, their spacing was much closer than it normally is, and it looked to me like Deron Williams and Derek Fischer were the main offenders ... they were cheating and coming in rather than staying out where they are supposed to be.  Did you notice that the Jazz kept throwing the ball away by throwing it too far out?  Throwing it to where Deron Williams was supposed to be?  

The poor spacing of the Jazz was the best thing that could have happened to the Spurs defense.  It shortened the distance Spurs defenders had to travel to get to Jazz players, allowing them to swarm Boozer and not pay a penalty for it.  It definitely made both shooting and passing much harder for the Jazz.  This resulted in desperate outside shots by Williams, Kirilenko, Fischer and Brown.  

It was a 1 point game going into the fourth quarter.  If Sloan would have had his attention on his players rather than the refs, I truly think he could have made adjustments and been competitive in the fourth quarter -- or at least been on the sidelines in the fourth quarter.  That was quite a mental lapse for such an experienced coach.  

Instead, the team lost all composure, broke down, became frustrated, and then stupid.  In the end, the Jazz fouled the Spurs like a canary fouls the newspaper on the bottom of its cage.  

Now, about the Jazz fans.

Generally speaking, the home team will get a friendlier whistle, but there is an old saying about biting the hand that feeds you.  If there is a game 6 in this series, Jazz fans may want to remember that one.

The fans didn't want to see the fact that there were legitimate basketball reasons for the foul disparity.  The poor spacing and outside shooting of the Jazz gave the officials little reason to call fouls.  

But likewise there were legitimate human (and humane) reasons for the foul disparity: the Jazz fans gave the officials little reason to call fouls as well.  

Unfortunately for Utah, if fans in San Antonio, Dallas, Oakland, or Detroit are obnoxious, people just think their fans are obnoxious.  However, if Utah fans are obnoxious, people connect the dots in weird ways and refuse vote for Mitt Romney.  Fair or not, Utah fans are judged differently and need to be aware of that and behave differently.

Look on the bright side: at least it wasn't a 26 point loss! :-)

I have 3 children attending college in Utah, and 4 more who want to when they graduate high school.  It is my personal experience that Utahans are honestly among the greatest people I have ever known -- until you get them at a sporting event or behind the wheel of a car.  

Once they remedy those two things, there will be no limit to the amount of good these people will do in the world.

In the meantime, I am impressed that both the Jazz and Spurs players conducted themselves so well under those circumstances.  The Spurs are probably the team of today, but the Jazz may well be the team of tomorrow.

I'm sitting here watching the draft lottery wondering why; there isn't anything that is going to happen that I wouldn't be able to read about in much less time. I guess I'm just anxious for some basketball.

In an hour, game 2 of the Western Conference Finals tips off, and I'm sitting here wondering, "Are all the pundits right?"

According to all the experts, the Cleveland Cavaliers are a one man team, so if you stop him, you stop the Cavs. However, in game one the Pistons did shut down LeBron James, and yet the game was so close it literally came down to the very last shot.

Not too shabby a performance for the Cavs -- especially on the road! And it turns out that the Pistons aren't the only team in the East that can play defense.

Also according to virtually everyone, the Spurs will dispatch the Jazz without fanfare. At a glance, game one of the Western Conference Finals did little to challenge that notion, but upon closer examination, this might be a competitive series after all.

Game One was close after the first quarter, and the Jazz outscored the Spurs in both the 3rd and the 4th quarter. The difference was a tremendous let down on the part of the Jazz in the 2nd quarter where they only scored 16 points (to the Spurs' 31).

In other words, when Boozer, Fischer, Okur and Kirilinko, four out of the 5 Utah starters, were on the bench with foul trouble, the Spurs made a run. That was the difference in the game. Consequently, it looks to me like the Jazz weren't as far from being the Spurs on the road as one might think.

All this has me wondering, are the pundits right? I think, based solely on their game ones, both Cleveland and Utah have very good chances of advancing to the NBA Finals.

Speaking of NBA Finals, how's this for weird: the Pistons have been in the Eastern Conference Finals EVERY year for the last 5 years, and the Spurs have been in the Western Conference Finals 3 of the last 5 years, yet they have never met in the NBA Finals. Weird, huh?

Also, if it turns out that the Spurs and the Pistons aren't in the Finals, then that means Carlos Boozer meets his old team, the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals. You think he'll get booed?

The great philosopher, Mike Bibby, once said, "In this league, teams will let you back in. You've just got to play hard."

Well, he should know. The last time the Jazz played Sacramento, the Kings blew a 21 point lead and lost to the Jazz. Tonight, the Jazz blew a 16 point lead and lost to the Kings.

But wait! There's more!

The last time the Lakers played the Rockets, the Lakers blew a 27 point lead and barely eeked out a win. This time the Rockets blew a 21 point lead and eeked out a loss.

The Jazz / Kings game started off very close. They were tied after the first quarter, and the Jazz were up by only 1 point at halftime. Then the Kings scored only 13 points in the 3rd quarter.

In the 4th quarter though, it was the Utah Jazz who self destructed. For instance, the 5 Jazz starters combined to score a whopping 6 points in the 4th quarter! Derek Fischer sealed the loss for the Jazz by taking a long, ill-advised baseline jumper with 10.4 seconds left in the game. The Jazz did not need a 3 pointer, they only needed 2 points to win, plus they could have got a better shot and had plenty of time to do so, but Fischer seemed determined to be a hero. The long rebound went to the Jazz and Deron Williams clanked another 3 as time expired.

As for the Lakers / Rockets game, it was an object lesson in hard work.

The hard work the Lakers did was in two phases. Phase I: dig yourselves a huge hole. Phase II: dig yourselves out of it. In the first quarter, the Lakers had 9 turnovers and 10 points. The first quarter was amazing really, unless you are a Laker or a Laker fan. Vladimir Radmanovic had his first 2 shots blocked by Yao Ming, who had 4 blocks in the first quarter alone. The Lakers turned the ball over their first 4 possessions (2 blocked shots, a traveling violation and a three in the key). When the first quarter ended and the dust cleared, the Lakers had shot 34% for the quarter, and the hole the Lakers dug for themselves was 19 points deep. The score was 29 to 10.

Phil Jackson was the most animated, active and agitated I have seen him in years, and for once he was not shy about using his time outs at all. After one of the time outs, it seemed as if he told Kobe, "Okay, go ahead and bail us out." Kobe moved from the navigator's chair over to the gunner's.

Kobe only attempted 2 shots in the first quarter, and his only 2 points of the first quarter came from free throws. In the second quarter, Kobe scored 17 of the Lakers 24 points.

"We had a couple baskets here and there from other guys as we went along, but I had to go to Kobe to get accomplished what we had to do in a win," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.

For the game, Kobe Bryant shot 45% overall -- 63% from beyond the arc -- scored 53 points, had 10 rebounds and 8 assists -- which would have easily been a triple double if Kwame Brown could catch or make a lay in.

Said Houston Coach Jeff Van Gundy of Bryant: "I don't know if he imposed his will, but he imposed his skill."

Yao Ming sure looked good too though. He had 35 points, 8 blocks, 15 rebounds, good passing and a very smooth shot, although his shooting percentage this game was only 43%. In fact, Yao was a man among boys I thought. He carried himself with dignity, while Kobe whined the whole game long. Kobe has done better than that in the past; I hope this isn't a new direction for him.

Interestingly the Lakers outscored the Rockets in every quarter but the first, nevertheless, the Lakers never lead until there was just over a minute left in regulation.

I've decided Vladimir Radmanovic is stealing paychecks. Instead of starting him for the injured Lamar Odom, I'd give Ronny Turiaf a try. Ronny won't spread the floor with his outside shooting, but then again Radmanovic isn't exactly a marksman from out there and isn't getting enough respect from defenses to spread the floor anway, so why not have a hustling, rebounding big out there instead? Or , if you want a shooter, start Brian Cook.

Also, I watched some of the game between Dallas and Philadelphia. I feel bad for the 76ers; they seem to have some good guys and were working pretty hard out there. They deserve better.

Well, it is WAAAAY past my bed time!

I've decided it is a waste of time to get wrapped up in Iverson gossip. Until there is actual news, there really isn't much of substance to discuss. There are only so many hours in a day, and as much as I love basketball, there are only so many of those hours which I am willing to budget to hoops. It's like fantasy leagues ... all that time spent in la-la land is time I couldn't invest in analyzing and studying the game -- the REAL game... although I do think it would probably be fun for social reasons. At any rate ...

I watched Jerry Sloan get his 1,000th win last night at the expense of the Dallas Mavericks. The crowd and players were generous in their congratulations to Sloan, as was Avery Johnson who I'm deciding is a pretty classy guy. It would have been nice if Mavs owner, Mark Cuban, who was in attendance in Utah would have made the same classy effort, but if he did, no camera or reporter seems to have caught it.

Maybe it's just as well; Sloan himself seemed almost annoyed by the appreciation showered on him. The Jazz players signed the game ball and presented it to Sloan. Apparently Sloan responded with underwhelming enthusiasm. Either Jerry Sloan wasn't too excited about getting 1,000 wins, or he did a brilliant job at hiding it. Perhaps Jerry Sloan just didn't want an infamous NBA bogusball, regardless who signed it.

As the game played out, Carlos Boozer and Dirk Nowitzki seemed keenly aware that they are going head to head in All Star voting. For instance, both players have averaged 16 shots per game this season, but Nowitzki shot 19 shots and Boozer shot 25 last night. And last night was the most motivated I have ever seen either of them to play defense!

The crowd was motivated too and the game's frenzied atmosphere was evidenced by 5 technical fouls. Speaking of technical fouls, has the increase in technical fouls been explicitly addressed by the League? There seems to be a lot less of them called, and not because players and coaches are better behaved. While I agree with the crackdown on whiners in principle, in practice the NBA's officiating is so inconsistent that all they are doing is making the whiners look justified.

Anyway, while it was fairly competitive early on the Jazz never trailed the entire game. By the fourth quarter, despite the intensity of the Jazz fans, I was struggling to resist the temptation to see what was happening on other channels.

What impressed me about the game was how the Jazz controlled it. If the Mavs missed, they ran back to play defense. If the Jazz missed, they got the ball and tried again. The Jazz out rebounded the Mavs 42 to 26. The Jazz defended the paint and still challenged the perimeter. The Jazz were 2 of 7 shooting 3 balls, the Mavericks were 3 of 20. The Jazz play basketball from the inside out, and the Mavs, for this game at least, played from the outside in, which rarely wins.

But that's Jerry Sloan, isn't it? Hard nosed defense, simple pick and roll offense, rebounds, hustle, teamwork, fundamental, proven, effective. Sloan is the polar opposite of gimmicky former Mavs coach Don Nelson. Hopefully young coach Avery will learn from both.

Before we discuss tonight's game between the Jazz and the Lakers, let's first get one thing out of the way: don't blame the Jazz's back to back games. Every team in the NBA gets back to backs in their schedule, and the Jazz couldn't ask for better circumstances to help them win theirs.

First, the Utah Jazz is a young team. Second, they are a very deep team. Third, all their key players are healthy. Fourth, it is early in the season. Fifth, the 1 hour and 50 minute flight from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles isn't exactly grueling. Sixth, the Jazz have only lost one back to back game all season.

Everyone knew the Jazz played the Spurs previous night, and still no one predicted that would result in a Laker victory because we all know the Jazz are as well equipped to handle the Lakers on a back to back as any team could hope to be. And the back to back did not visibly nor statistically affect any Jazz player. Their main man, Carlos Boozer, had a great game: 26 points in 33 minutes on 11 of 16 shooting. He exceeded his average. And Andre Kerilenko had more points this game than he has had in any game since his return from injury.

The Utah Jazz scored 102 points, which is exactly what their season average is, so please be real: the Spurs are NOT the reason the Jazz lost tonight, the Lakers are, so we should give credit where credit is due.

Also, this was one of those games which can't really be analyzed statically from the box score because the significant garbage time of the 4th quarter skews the stats. One thing is sure though: the Lakers out rebounded the Jazz the whole game long.

The Jazz's success hinges on their rebounding. In the loss to Golden State, the Jazz were out rebounded 52 to 48. In the loss to Orlando, the Jazz were out rebounded 45 to 36. And now in the loss to the Lakers, the Jazz were out rebounded 43 to 34.

After the rebounding edge, three things killed the Jazz: 1) Kobe Bryant's mind-bending performance, 2) Phil Jackson's adjustments from the previous Jazz / Lakers game, and 3) the Laker supporting cast stepped up and executed the game plan well.

If there is anything more important in sports than the will to win, it is the will to prepare. Accordingly, the Lakers brought a consultant into practice to help them prepare for the Jazz. The consultant, Tex Winter, showed them how the triangle offense should be run against a Jazz zone.

Leading the way was Kobe Bryant's 52 points, on 19 of 26 (73%) shooting, but it wasn't the 52 points, it was how difficult and ultimately demoralizing his shots were. Additionally, Kobe dunked on Boozer, Kirilinko, and Okafur. So much for the "Kobe Stopper," Andre Kirilinko.

Anyway, I'm way too sleepy to finish this, besides I see that AK47spiderman has just posted something on this game and he always has good stuff, so I'm going to end this here and hit the sack.

Cheers!

There is no mystery as to why the Jazz beat the Lakers tonight. In fact this game's analysis is so simple it can be done with one word: rebounds.

The Jazz out rebounded the Lakers all game long, but when the game was on the line, the Jazz had 4 times the number of rebounds than the Lakers. In the 4th quarter, the Jazz out rebounded the Lakers 16 to 4.

The Jazz work ethic compensates for their occasional lapses in judgment and execution, while the Lakers, who can't be bothered to do the dirty work, ruined a solid offensive performance.

The Jazz are first in the league in rebounds this season and have out rebounded their opponents by an average of 11.41 rebounds per game. To give you an idea of how astounding that is, the second best rebounding team, Cleveland, out rebounds their opponents by 6.08 rebounds per game. The Jazz average almost double the rebound differential over the #2 team. 

Good things happen for teams who rebound. When you rebound, you get to run out on fast breaks, and the Jazz's 45 to 27 rebounding advantage over the Lakers translated into a 22 to 6 advantage on fast break points. And when you rebound, you get the ball in the paint, which gave the Jazz 18 more points in the paint than the Lakers.

All those easy fast break and paint buckets really pad your shooting percentage stats as well. Subsequently, the Jazz have the best shooting percentage in the NBA (50.2 %).

The Jazz went heavy on the high pick and rolls in the final quarter, and outscored the Lakers 32 to 20. Even when the Lakers defended the Jazz well and the Jazz missed, the Lakers lack of interest in rebounding gave the Jazz another chance at executing its offense. If you give someone enough opportunities, eventually they'll score against any defense.

There was one bright note for Lakers fans though: they did about as well as a team that won't do the dirty work can expect to do. The offense executed well and wasn't often bothered too much by the Jazz's defense. There were 16 lead changes and 13 ties, but you had the sense that it wasn't going to last. The Jazz was scoring low with Boozer while Lakers kept the game close with unusually good shooting from the 3-pont line. When that cooled off, the rebounds got long and the Jazz ran.

Kobe had a great game, but once again it was obvious he was holding back to make his teammates step up. Kobe had 18 shot attempts and made 9 of them. Luke Walton had 14 attempts and made 4. I'd like to see 7 to 10 of Luke's shots go to Kobe and see Luke Walton put more effort into rebounding.

Another thing I noticed is that the Utah fans are disappointingly obnoxious. I can't believe the abuse they give the officials. I wish the league would do more about that!