Percentages: Follow-Up

Tough loss last night. I can't help but think that the results may have been different had the team just listened to their coach. Not ONCE did they toss the ball out of bounds with the clock running down, nor did they ever take a shot-clock violation for the overall good of the team. Jerry has really lost his handle on this group.

list of sequences where Jazz had possession with five or less seconds on the shot clock:

- 1st Quarter, 8:26, shot-clock at 1 second: Deron, obviously with more concern for his own stats than for team success, misses a layup which is partially blocked by Roy right before the shot clock expires. Roy ends up with a wide-open layup at the other end six seconds later as the Jazz are completely lost on defense. Sloan glares at Deron with that "the stats back me up!" scowl, but Deron doesn't see it. Sloan motions to Harpring to take over scowling duty for him.

- 1st Quarter, 4:03, shot-clock at 4 seconds: Fisher. Enough said, really. The thing about Sloan's theory is that it really only merits consideration if a certain player is the one taking the shot. Hint: NOT Deron (who shoots incredibly well when the shot-clock is winding down). Fisher misses the jumper, Outlaw gets two free throws 11 seconds later. In reality, this one doesn't count, as Sloan is impressed by the leadership and guts that were demonstrated by Fisher on this play. Being willing to take shots in that type of situation takes a real veteran.

- 1st Quarter, 0:09, shot-clock at 4 seconds: Harpring misses a jump shot, Outlaw misses at the other end. Jazz got lucky.

- 2nd Quarter, 11:38, shot-clock at 2 seconds: Williams feeds the ball to Collins, who hits a jumper. Jarron looks sheepishly back at the bench, insisting that "the ball slipped! I was trying to set up the offense, I promise!" Blazers miss at the other end, but get the rebound and make a shot. Must have been because Collins was out of position 22 seconds after his made shot. Jerry motions at the team statistician to make note.

- 2nd Quarter, 10:42, shot-clock at 0 seconds: Harpring barely gets the shot off, and misses. Blazers turnover on their next possession.

- 2nd Quarter, 9:21, shot-clock at 4 seconds: Williams hits a layup and gets fouled. But 22 seconds later, on the next possession, Outlaw hits a jumper. A-HA!

- 2nd Quarter, 4:16, shot-clock at 0 seconds: Fisher misses a 3. Portland misses on their next attempt.

Halftime. Jazz 0-7 in "Rash Decisions". Not ONCE was the offense set back up. ZERO shot-clock violations. Only 2 shots made and 5 points scored. After a stirring speech from the coach, Kirilenko says that he's ready to come out and have a big 4th quarter.

- 3rd Quarter, 7:36, shot-clock at 4 seconds: Boozer hits a shot. Blazers counter with a missed shot.

- 3rd Quarter, 2:54, shot-clock at 4 seconds: Okur hits a shot. Which is odd, since I don't remember Okur playing yesterday. Roy makes a 3-pointer 21 seconds later. Karma.

-4th Quarter, 11:17, shot-clock at 4 seconds: Okur called for traveling. NOW they've got it figured out. Took them long enough.

- 4th Quarter, 8:29, shot-clock at 3 seconds: Williams hits a 3. Give the kid a break, this is only his second year.

- 4th Quarter, 6:43, shot-clock at 0 seconds: Okur misses a 3. Magloire gets two free throws the other way, 12 seconds later. NOW I remember Okur playing last night.

- 4th Quarter, 3:49, shot-clock at 1 second: Giricek loses the ball. Minor victory. Blazers miss at the other end.

And that's it. In 13 opportunities, the Jazz shot 11 times. Only Okur was savvy enough to take a traveling call, and Giricek put in an effort by handing the ball to the opponent, but overall Jerry must have been furious. I'm sure he had Harpring give the entire team a good stinkeye after the game.

Out of the 11 shots, the Jazz made only 5 of them (45% -- interestingly slighly above their game average) for 12 points. However, off of the six misses, the Blazers scored on 3 of the ensuing possessions (5 points). Coincidentally, the Jazz lost by 5 points!

Draw your own conclusions from this data, but I think the message is clear: Harpring Sucks.