The Return.
Kyle Korver, Ronnie Brewer, and lightning rod Carlos Boozer left their former digs with a win tonight. These three all left the roost last year at some point. They sold their house but left the Foosball table behind just to sweeten the deal for the incoming tenants. The new tenants moved in right away and began getting used to the well-oiled Foosball table. Well, with Spring just around the corner, the former tenants decided to pay a visit. It was as if they never left.
Korver and Brewer made big plays late. Boozer largely got owned by his former understudy Paul Millsap. The game turned out to be a defensive struggle with neither team shooting over 50%.
The key to the victory for Chicago? Derrick Rose. For the second home game in a row, Deron Williams was outplayed by one of his point guard peers (Russell Westbrook had 30+ points and 10+ assists last Saturday in the Thunder's victory over the Jazz). The title for best point guard in the league has to be one of the tightest races in the league right now. It doesn't take one long to rattle off the names of those deserving candidates from both conferences. Two games against two of the NBA's best at the point guard position is hardly a justifiable sample size, but the relative ease with which Rose and Westbrook have dominated their respective matchups with Williams is at least a little unsettling for Jazz fans.
The Jazz needed this victory, badly. Defeating old teammates/friends could bring much needed confidence as well as an emotional lift. More frankly, the Jazz win column has been a little more barren these past few weeks. The upcoming all-star break indicates the beginning of the home stretch of the NBA season. The much-coveted prospect of home-court advantage for at least one round of the playoffs is slipping away from the Jazz. The home stretch is not the ideal place to "figure things out." The road will not get any easier for the Jazz.
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