Much like my intramural basketball team, I am perfect in my predictions

To my (happy) chagrin, the Deron-less Jazz pulled out a win in their first game of the season last night. I was right about the game being close, but I was off on how much scoring there'd be. A few observations:

1. AI looked slow and a bit off. That said, 6-13 shooting and 18 total points isn't exactly terrible. However, I expect at least 25 from him with Melo out, but it appears either Price's defense was excellent or Iverson is aging. 

2. The Jazz showed some good depth. Five players scored in double figures, and everyone who got playing time scored at least four points. 

3. Ronnie Brewer scored 15 points in 24 minutes of play and sat the entire second and fourth quarters. He nailed three long jumpers and looked pretty good... in my opinion, he deserves a few more minutes. That said, there's a bit of a logjam at the shooting guard and small forward positions, and I understand Korver, Miles, Millsap or even Almond getting some of his time.

4. Miles showed promising flashes in the first few minutes of the game, driving in for a ferocious left-handed dunk and hitting a nice cross-over J over Iverson before getting slapped with two quick fouls and not doing much else the rest of the night. 

5. Boozer was great on the boards, great on the offensive end, and terrible on defense. Surprise. To be fair, he did have a nice play where he blocked Martin from behind on a pretty crucial possession in the fourth quarter. I think we know what we have in Carlos. The Jazz will not win it all with Okur and Boozer as their frontcourt. Something has to be done with Booz. I still feel good about the Boozer for Kaman proposal, originally suggested by Matt of lapaube.blogspot.com. 

6. Collins got a big, fat DNP for the game. That is beautiful. 

The Jazz play the Clippers Saturday and again on Monday. It will be a chance to see how Kaman looks this year and whether Jason Hart is getting any playing time in L.A. 

Prediction for the night: New Orleans at Phoenix

The Suns looked pretty good last night in their win over San Antonio, and the Hornets squeaked a win over the Warriors, 108-103. The Suns didn't go to Amare as much as they should against the Spurs, and I think they'll fix that tonight. David West and Tyson Chandler are decent defenders, but Amare will have his way. Paul will have a great stat line due to Nash's slower feet on defense, but in the end, the Suns will win by 7. 

Suns 106, Hornets 99

0-3 this week, 0-3 on the season