Today’s post brought to you by Jets to Brazil. They’re not that punk, but the lead singer
was in Jawbreaker, so there’s a tie-in to my normal theme in a long-winded way.
As of this afternoon, December 6, 2012, the Jazz are back
to .500 after dropping two in a row on the road, and posting ESA’s first
loss. The loss in Oklahoma City wasn’t
terribly surprising. The loss in Houston
might have ended differently if not for some questionable officiating that
really killed Utah’s momentum. And the
loss against the Clippers, while also featuring some, ah, interesting whistles,
still comes down to the Jazz blowing a 14-point lead.
David Locke has mentioned during some live broadcasts
that, despite losing three in a row and still showing a lack of resolve on the
road, the Jazz are improving as the season progresses. The problem, from a fan perspective, is that
they’re not improving quickly enough.
After yesterday’s ugly-but-we’ll-take-it win over miserable Orlando, I
was reminded that, while the Jazz are improving, most other teams are still
improving as well.
After all, we’re still only a quarter of the way through
the season. Teams are still gelling
after major personnel shake-ups in most big NBA towns. You can bet that Tyrone Corbin isn’t the only
coach still tinkering with line-ups.
Players are returning from injury or getting injured. Every team in the league, as far as I can
tell, is still making adjustments for the better.
What does this have to do with wishing? There are two things on my Utah Jazz Wish
List right now. First, I’d like to see a
team that can hold onto a lead, a team that simply puts its foot down on the
gas in the third quarter until all 48 minutes have been played. I think a lot of fans really wish we could do
that. I also think we would see a lot of
fans give the team a pass for losing to superior squads if we could just crush
the games that we’re “supposed” to win.
But, when you lose games to New Orleans and Washington
every year, I’m not sure that you can ever have a “supposed to win” game. Eventually, this team will likely get to that
point. Assuming minor improvements
continue throughout this season, Utah should stop losing those
head-scratchers. And once the team
begins regularly winning games it’s supposed to win, that boosts confidence and
increases effort against teams that you might not normally beat.
So what’s second on my wish list? I hate to alienate anyone here, but it’s that
fans would calm the hell down. Nearly
everyone I follow (Jazz-wise) on Twitter was all fire and brimstone after the
Houston and Clippers losses (including, admittedly, me). This is still a young team, both in average age
and in intra-team relationships, with a young coaching staff, a brand-new GM,
and a young(ish) owner/CEO.[1] The team is going to suffer some embarrassing
losses, but that’s how you learn.
This applies to both the Trust In Ty faction of online
Jazz Fandom and the Core Four Forever folks.
Jefferson has only been to the playoffs one time in his entire career,
and he’s having to learn how to be on a team that wins more games than it
loses. Even if you think the sun rises
and sets by Favors and Kanter’s future, they are still learning a lot from Big
Al and Millsap (arguably more than they’d be learning if they were doing it by
themselves for 30 minutes a night, but I digress).
While nobody likes waiting around, the Jazz are going to
have to be patient. But that’s always
been the name of the game with this franchise:
steady, reliable soldiers who are willing to do things the hard way
because it’s the right way. Maybe it’s
time some of us take a cue from the team we love so much.
[1]
I am aware that Gail Miller, and not Greg Miller, is the legal owner of the
Utah Jazz. Don’t miss the forest for the
trees here.
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