Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc

Well, the Jazz won last night, but the Harpring start was a pretty big failure. He hit 5/14 shots (and that was only after going 2/3 after the game was pretty well in the bag), played his usual abysmal defense, and generally was Matt Harpring. Glad to see that the Jazz can go ahead and get past the experiment before the playoffs.

Oh, wait, Harpring was awesome.

DALLAS - Matt Harpring did not manage another season scoring-high when the Jazz beat the Dallas Mavericks 104-89 at the American Airlines Center on Friday night.
But he did make a big difference.

Already analyzing Harpring's game in terms of the last. "Wow, he scored 31 points, he's going to be great when he starts!" I fully expect his next 3/11 shooting night to be greeted with, "He didn't pull down 19 rebounds like he did against Orlando in 2003, but he might have been just as effective regardless."

Harpring entered the starting lineup for the first time all season to help the Jazz combat All-Star Josh Howard and avoid another sluggish start, and it worked. Though Harpring made just five of 14 shots on his way to 14 points, he held Howard to 12 points and fueled a fast start that the Jazz never relinquished.

Oh, so his importance was in setting the tone, eh?

First quarter:

(11:30): Harpring gets the ball in the post, tries to go up for a layup surrounded by three players, feebly passing it back when he realizes even he can't figure out a way to get a shot up. Scowls.

(10:50): Howard gets the rebound off a Fisher MLA. Howard gets the rebound at the free throw line. Harpring looks at him in puzzlement as he decides to run the ball downcourt. Harpring shuffles quietly behind him. He drives to the rim and is fouled shooting the ball. Harpring scowls at the help defense. Howard, however, is intimidated by Harpring's presence during the free throws and misses both.

(10:13): Harp makes a nice layup off a cut to the basket. Ah, HERE is the tone-setting.

(9:53): No, wait. Harpring takes the ball downcourt (!) and Boozer screens the defenders under the basket. Harpring, seeing his opportunity, drives and misses a point-blank MLA. But the thought sure set the tone.

(9:39): Josh Howard gets the ball at the three-point line. Harpring stares at him intensely, ready to defend. Howard blows by with next to no effort for an easy layup. Harpring stares at him intensely, ready to defend.

(9:10): Harpring, still thinking about the last play, watches Howard with a look of contemplation as he blows by again, only to short-arm an open layup. Harpring feels there was something he was supposed to do on that play, he just can't think of what.

(8:03): Harpring goes out to help on a screen and somehow ends up on the standing five feet beyond the three-point line with no opponent near him. Howard gets the ball and drives to the basket, hitting another chippy with minimal defense. At this point, Howard has had two free throws, two easy baskets, and a blown open layup in four minutes.

(5:36): A bit of space between Harp updates, but he that's because he didn't do anything in that time. For some odd reason, Sloan switches Fisher to Howard and Harpring to George. George quickly realizes his opportunity and knocks down an open jumper as Harpring flies by, making a Defense Gesture.

(4:00): Harp suddenly realizes he hasn't shot the ball in a while and shoots an ugly three with 16 seconds on the shot clock. He clanks it off the rim and into said shot clock.

So, eight minutes into the game and Harp is 1/3, Josh Howard is 2/4 (a missed open jumper on Fisher accounts for the fourth) with 2FTA, and the Jazz lead 16-10. The only real visible difference between this game and the last to the casual fan is the inclusion of Harpring in the starting lineup. Unfortunately, beat writers shouldn't be casual fans.

"Matt a lot of times sets the tone by coming in and working hard on offense and being physical," teammate Derek Fisher said. "And we seemed to start the game that way and played the way, for the most part, the entire game."
Harpring said he was surprised that coach Jerry Sloan asked him at the pregame shootaround to start. "We played hard," he said. "No question about that."

First, to be nitpicky, that second paragraph doesn't make sense. The quote they used from Harpring doesn't work with the previous contextualizing sentence. Unless that's now his answer to frickin' everything.

Second, that is not the reason the Jazz won. Here are some valid reasons the Jazz won the game:

• If you take Harpring out of the equation, the Jazz shot a blistering 56.1%.
  
• Dallas didn't play Jason Terry (Jazz-killer), Jerry Stackhouse (Jazz-player-killer), and Erick Dampier (probably just a killer).
• Avery Johnson wasn't exactly treating the game as a playoff matchup. Jose Juan Barea (who?) played 24 minutes and shot 15 times.
• The Mavs missed 13 out of 18 3FGA, and trust me, it wasn't from shutdown defense.

NOT BECAUSE THEY FRICKIN' PLAYED HARD.

*sigh*

Salt Lake Media.

[Edit]Holy crap, it gets worse.