Game 57 Jazz vs. Celtics: Well, at least half the arena went home happy

Bench reaction on last shot

There are things that Tyrone Corbin does adequately and there are perhaps things he does well. Drawing up end-of-game plays is not one of them. While it could be argued that it shouldn’t have come down to the last play, the Jazz are more likely than not screwed if a game comes down to Corbin drawing up that last play.

Perhaps that is why an impending sense of doom settled over him at the start of overtime…

Side Note: Prior to tip-off, Corbin elected to go ahead and make a change to the starting lineup by (drumroll) replacing Jamaal Tinsley with Earl Watson. His explanation was that Jamaal was injured, but…

I don’t understand why Corbin felt the need to make something up. He could very well have said, “We’re exploring different options to see if there’s something that works better for us.” Fans would have been happy to hear this and the statement would likely have garnered widespread support. Instead, he thought it would be better to come up with an excuse and ends up looking silly when it’s refuted by Tinsley.

Post-Game Quotage
** Q: Coach, this has been the second straight game where all of your starters were in the minus in the plus/minus–
Tyrone Corbin (interrupting): Whatever plus/minus is. However you want to look at it. It’s a numbers game.
Q: Any thoughts on making changes to the starting lineup?
Corbin: I mixed it up tonight. Earl [Watson] started.
Q: Any thoughts on inserting Alec Burks or Gordon Hayward into the starting lineup?
Corbin: No.

** Corbin on the young guys: You know, we’ll continue to learn, and the more they go through these situations, the better off we’ll be down the stretch forward. But you wanna win the ball game, and you know, they’re a little disappointed they didn’t finish it off.

** Corbin on what the Celtics took away from the Jazz: They were doing a good job, I thought, of trying to keep the ball out of Al’s hands. I mean, they were really funneling the middle and they were laying on him and we couldn’t get it in.
** Al Jefferson: I knew Doc Rivers was gonna double-team me. He always do.

** Alec Burks on whether the second unit was tired: We young, you know? We ain’t that tired, you know?
** Burks, asked what it’s like to be playing against a star (Paul Pierce) having a great night: He’s nobody to me, you know? He made some shots. Everybody make shots, you know? It’s just he got a bigger name than everybody else.
** Gordon Hayward on improving everyday: The good thing about this league is, there’s a lot of great players and guys you can learn things from. And I thought for me especially, Paul Pierce, the way he controlled the end of the game, is something that I can really, you know, improve my game on and watch and learn from.
** Marvin Williams on becoming more consistent: I felt pretty good. The thing about me, I just gotta continue to try to be aggressive every night. There are some nights I’ll play like this and then some nights like, you know, against the Clippers where it’s almost like I’m not even there. So you know, I just gotta do better and work to become more consistent. (1320, KALL, 1280)

Random Stuff, etc.
** People still calling Alec Burks “Alex”: Thurl Bailey
** Warning: This might change your opinion of Burks and Hayward forever (read from bottom up; MJ = Michael Jackson):

** The biggest winner of the night was probably Mark Bartlestein. DeMarre Carroll and Earl Watson are the two players on the team that have responded to less playing time by saying they would call their agents. Bartlestein represents both. Seeing as how he also represents literally one-third of the team (Carroll, Watson, Gordon Hayward, Mo Williams and Jeremy Evans), he could possibly be the most important man in Jazzland not on the LHM payroll.

Alec Burks’ Hat of the Day: “Billionaire”

Unintentional Dirty Quote Machines of the Night (UDQM)
** Boler: Big Al trying to find some rhythm down low. He’s got a great touch for a big man.
** Harpring on Foye and 3-pointers: We’ve seen him get hot where he’s hit multiples.
** Harpring: Garnett keeps the ball so high when he shoots.
** Boler on Hayward: Can’t find it, yes he does! (H/T @dianaallen)
** Harpring on Pierce: Favors makes sure he gets his leg on his leg.
** Harpring: I can’t believe I let the Bolerjack beat me. (H/T @FakeMHarpring)
** Marvin on Foye’s last shot: Obviously, he might’ve been a little stiff. He had been sitting down for awhile.
** Marvin again: