Croatia goes bombs away again!

It's late, but I needed to fill people in . . . Iran got killed by Lithuania (as predicted), but Russia couldn't D-up Croatia (they shot 50+% from three). Zoran and crew all played well, and shot smartly. He finished with 20, and Marko Popovic with 22. JR Holden shot very poorly for Russia and Andrei had his usual type of game (18/6/3/1/3) but was also hounded into shooting 45% and turning the ball over 5 times. Group A just got a little bit more interesting as it looks like Russia and Argentina will now have to fight for 3rd place. Greece and Germany are playing right now in some solid Group B action (Greece is up 69 - 48 in the 4th quarter....). More on these stories tomorrow!

RMR Game 5: Initial post-game thoughts

The Utah Jazz came back from their disappointing loss at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks (RMR Game 2, loss 72-63) to win game 5 83-78! It was a back and forth game where the Hawks gave their bench some more run, and the Jazz (this game coached by Ty Corbin) continued to play 14 guys. Kosta Koufos came off the bench and he had a really strong 2nd quarter and played well in the 2nd half. He was active, he got some playing time alone on the court playing center, with Fes on the bench, and the Ohio native looked waaay more comfortable playing the 5, instead of the 4.  He and Fes both had strong games (combined: 13 points off of 5-8 shooting, with 8 boards and 5 blocks) for the limited minutes they continue to play -- Koufos with 21:48 and Fesenko with only 12:48. [Btw, in games where Ty Corbin is the coach, Kyrylo gets about 14 mpg; alternatively, when Scott Layden is the coach, and Ty the assistant, Kyrylo gets about 20.5 mpg.] Aside from the young prospects, it was really the "Acie Law IV vs. Morris Almond show". They combined for 34 shots and 20 free throws -- fueling the offenses of both teams. Almond had 29 points -- and for those keeping score at home: so far in 5 games he has played 140:22 minutes, taken 63 shots, has 97 points (19.4 ppg) and a grand total of 1 assist. One. Uno. Ekh. Une. He has 12 turn overs though, so that makes him a very special player.

Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images

RMR Game 4: Initial post-game thoughts

Don't worry, I'll combine the full thoughts of Game 3 and 4, but I wanted to get this out there . . . the Utah Jazz summer league team is now 2 - 2 after defeating the New Jersey Nets squad which I thought was more talented than ours. It was an exciting game where the Nets, lead by Jaycee Carroll, went up by 14. The tide turned with solid bench play by point guard Ty Brazelton and others. Eventually this game became Carroll vs. Almond -- both guards scoring on a variety of moves. Down the stretch Brazelton took over and made baskets. The 10th pick of the draft, Brook Lopez, was outplayed by Fesenko -- though the stats show things slightly differently. Lopez had 11 boards, and played over 30 minutes -- but Fesenko locked him up and helped him shoot 2 for 11. Lopez also had 5 turn overs and 6 personal fouls. Almond was stellar, shooting a shot under 50% and getting to the line 18 times on aggressive moves to the basket -- especially in transition. He finished with 24 points and 0 assists. The media continues to go nuts over Kosta's production -- you know, 3-8 shooting is an improvement actually.

Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images

RMR Game 3: Initial post-game thoughts

The jazz finally win a game, and defeat the mighty Persian empire . . . or something like that. It was a blowout, and it always looked like one. After the first quarter with their amazing fans cheering them, Iran looked like they were going to destroy the Jazz. Eventually their lack of familiarity with playing at that altitude; their lack of depth (after injuries); and their shooting that finally cooled off allowed for the Jazz to tell them, once and for all that . . .

Image created by me . . . so yeah . . . kinda silly, I know

Yeah . . . something like that at least . . .

I'd like to say that the Jazz 82 - 57 win over the Iranian national team was because of Morris Almond, Kyrylo Fesenko and Kosta Koufos . . . but it wasn't. It was pretty much Kevin Lyde's game of destiny. Hiram Fuller also had a solid game, and Kevin Kruger (of the NBA D-League Utah Flash) and Yaroslav Korolev had supporting games as well. The games that are coached by Ty Corbin feature many players, 15 total guys played tonight, Almond didn't even play 20 mins in this game. I'll post more later on about this game as more information is available.

RMR Game 2: Initial post-game thoughts

Another loss . . . here are the quick (and incomplete) stats as heard on the 1320 KFan Internet stream post game show: Morris Almond: 17 points (6-13 fg), he did have 4 turn overs, two were really good chances at getting baskets but he totally goofed both up, and missed out on 2 assists, and Fesenko missed out on 2 more dunks Kosta Koufos: 12 points (3-11 fg), 10 rebounds (5 off.), he came alive at the end and got some 'hustle' baskets and rebounds, his shooting (apparently his strength) continues to suck Kyrylo Fesenko: 9 points, 9 rebounds (7 off.), 3 blocks, at least 1 steal and 1 assist, if he had more playing time he would have had a double double. He played quite good defense, often getting a good stop without fouling, and allowing Koufos to get the defensive board. He had some nice dunks and shot a high percentage. EDIT: DraftExpress has a run down of the first day's action @ the RMR

Photographed by Douglas C. Pizac/AP Photo