Thursday, October 16, 2008

Wow . . . possibly the best ever pre-season game?

Remember that game that I mentioned below, the one that was supposed to be the worst ever pre-season game? Well, turns out that I was wrong. (And not the last time for that either . . . ) Paul Millsap did play, and so too did Andrei Kirilenko. Furthermore Gerry McNamara played for the Jazz as well. 'Melo suited up for the Nuggets and the game went into over time and ended 120-119 in favor of the home team. That seems pretty exciting . . . especially with some of the crazy passes and plays that we got to see. (And a special appearance by Mateen Cleaves)

Deron did his work (22 and 8), Almond took his shots (11 fga), C.J. played point (which I WAS right about) and AK made some good blocks (3) and assists (3). All of that is great but we need to make a special point to laud the Rookie Kosta Koufos for some really good play!

Kosta finished the game with 11 points (5-7 fg, 0-4 ft, 1-1 3pt), 7 rebounds (3 offensive), 1 block and 1 assist. Additionally, it seems like only one of our two young center prospects can have a good game on any given day -- as Fes finished with 1 rebound in 5 less minutes of action.

But back to Kosta, he hit a three in OT to make it a one point game, so that was pretty clutch -- especially for a Rookie! So that's impressive. Not so was going 0-4 at the FT line when he was above 90% during the RMR.

Kosta flips it up for two Kosta is a very good FT shooter . . . just not last night though
  Photographed by Garrett W. Ellwood for NBAE/Getty Images Photographed by Garrett W. Ellwood for NBAE/Getty Images

Sure that looks like the difference in a one point loss, but hey, he's a rookie so back off -- he's only going to get better. And right now he's showing glimpses of potential. He looks to be a more complete player than Fesenko (duh) -- the only problem I have is that he seems to be a bit redundant. (Not like the Jazz don't draft for redundancy, because they do) I don't have a problem with bigmen who can shoot the ball, it's just that is not a problem for the Jazz. The Jazz need a cro-magnon in the paint who will throw his body around, give dangerous looks, and play rough. So far Kosta shows a lot of finesse. He'll get better though. Kongrats Kosta Koufos! And keep it up!

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