The final buzzer sounded in Denver last night and questions started flowing through my mind. How did this just happen? Why did the Jazz fall apart? What did that 8-0 preseason mean? What is the future of this Jazz team?........
After the anger and disappointment settled a little I started thinking of things a little more rationally. This was a big game for Denver and they were ready. After being beat by the Jazz in the first round earlier this year, I'm sure Denver has been looking forward to this Jazz game with a little bit of revenge. I'm sure George Karl's return was a big factor in the Nugget's win, but I think the Jazz beating really just came down to the fact that they didn't play well. HOWEVER, I believe the Jazz learned a lot of valuable things from this game that will help them through the rest of the season. First, keep the turnovers to a minimum. The Jazz have a terrible record when they have over 20 turnovers in a game. I'm not saying that if they had 3 less turnovers they would have won the game but this is certainly one area they can focus on. Second, and probably most important, this is Deron Williams team! Whether he likes it or not, this is his team more than ever and he needs to command every game. When the game starts getting away, Deron needs to be the go to guy that everyone looks to to bring things back together.
We could go on about how the Jazz could improve but last night after thinking about what went wrong and how I could justify the loss, I remembered that it's the first game of the season and that Jerry Sloan will take care of the team...and the fans. I then went to bed and slept soundly. Look out Suns!!!