Copyright 2010 NBAE (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE/Getty Images)

Despite giving up a ridiculous 45 points in the second quarter and being down 17 in the third quarter, the Jazz rallied for an important win at home against the reeling Suns.

The first half will forever be known as the time a 15 year-old high school player snuck into the Suns locker room, stole a jersey, and proceeded to hit 4 three pointers and 24 points. He ended up with 32 and was revealed after the game to be “Goran Dragic,” an actual NBA player. Apparently he’s part of the secret cabal of NBA shooting guards who circle the date on the calendar when they play the Jazz, and are required by their unspoken code to score a career high.

The only career high that mattered, though, was young Wesley Matthews scoring 21 points and hitting crucial baskets and free throws and picking up big steals. He and Kirilenko do the little things that seem to ignite the rest of the team.

The top performers:

Wesley Matthews has certainly been a great surprise, but at this point you’d half to say that other than DWill and Boozer, AK is the secret sauce that makes this team dangerous. The key to the Jazz comeback was the extra passes leading to points in the paint. When these guys start playing the passing game and taking care of the ball, they’re hard to beat.

The win moves the Jazz into second place in the Northwest division and into 4th place in the West. For a team that was flirting with the 10 spot recently, the outlook is suddenly much brighter.

ESPN Recap

Jazz Clubhouse

(Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE/Getty Images)

Some important points in the wake of the Jazz dropping last night’s home match with the Timberwolves:

• Half of the Timberwolves’ four wins have come against the Jazz.
• From the game notes: “Flynn finished with 28 points — eight more than he had ever scored in an NBA game — while Corey Brewer tied his career high with 22 points. Al Jefferson added 23 points and 12 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who beat the Jazz Dec. 5 in Minneapolis 108-101.”
• Deron Williams had a monster game, finishing with 38 points and 13 assists on the day he was named Western Conference Player of the Week. Unfortunately for him, the rest of the team went 1-12 from the free throw line through the third period and ended up with 16 misses from the line.
• I don’t have the heart to write more.

Links:

• Utah Jazz: Stunned by the Timberwolves – Deseret News
• Wolves defeat Jazz again – Salt Lake Tribune
• Utah Jazz: Fans glad to see Korver return – Deseret News
• Utah Jazz: Flynn flies to game winner for T-Wolves – Deseret News
• Utah Jazz: Williams latest player to earn honor – Deseret News
• Flynn helps Minnesota to 110-108 win over Utah – AP
• Utah Jazz: Williams named Western Conference Player of the Week – Salt Lake Tribune
• Utah Jazz: Deron Williams named Western Conference player of the week – Deseret News

Nice to see the Jazz hold on for the much-needed win in New York.

Of course, there was the inevitable fourth quarter collapse and an opponent career high, but as Memo said afterwards: The “W” is all that matters.

Rookie Toney Douglas scored a season-high 21 points for the Knicks, who nearly dug their way out of another huge deficit with a big fourth-quarter rally. But he missed just before the buzzer, sending New York (1-7) to its fourth straight loss.

ESPN recap

Once again, here’s all you need to know about last night’s game:

Nowitzki scored a club-record 29 of his 40 points during a frantic fourth-quarter comeback and the Mavericks beat the Utah Jazz 96-85 on Tuesday night.

Here’s the ESPN recap.

I’ll be using the “opponent career high” tag for the rest of the season. What’s the over/under on number of uses by the time we get to May?

Here are the upcoming games:

11/05 SA 10:30pm
11/07 SAC 9:00pm
11/09 @NY 7:30pm
11/11 @BOS 7:30pm
11/13 @PHI 7:00pm

First up, clarkpojo at SLC Dunk said everything I want to say after the latest fourth-quarter meltdown by the Jazz:

Millsap would be better if Boozer were gone.  But more importantly, Andrei Kirilenko would be better if Carlos were gone.  And the Jazz offense would be better if Carlos were gone.  He is slowing down the ball movement on the offensive side and he is failing to recognize double teams.  Is Paul Millsap ready to step in and be “the man” at the starting power forward spot?  At this point it doesn’t matter.  He deserves the chance.  And the fans deserve the chance to not have the Boozer drama hung over our heads.  Boozer isn’t an efficient offensive player anymore.  He settles for jumpers, doesn’t attack the basket and doesn’t draw fouls.

This season and this preview isn’t about Millsap anymore.  It’s about the elephant in the room.  Carlos Boozer.  I personally won’t put up with watching him any longer.  Will you?

Second of all, there was something sickening about watching the Rockets beat the Jazz at their own game: Hustle, heart, teamwork, attention to detail, etc. During the game there were a few comments on Twitter noticing that the Rockets have at least four players who would be perfect on the Jazz: Battier, Scola, Landry, Hayes. There’s probably room for a redheaded rookie and a 120 pound point guard who can put up 19 points on the road.

Naturally the recap of the game included this line:

Rookie Chase Budinger scored a career-high 17 points and was one of four Houston players with multiple 3-pointers as the Rockets beat the Utah Jazz 113-96 on Monday night.

One of these days I’m going to collect all the names of players who have posted career nights against the Jazz. It seems like every game is the Linas Kleiza 42-point game.