Utah Jazz 4-3

[Mark.]

Right i thought it wud be really fun to play with a losing team (well one that should be a losing team) so i chose Utah.

Anyway after playing a few exhibition games i found that Utah doesnt have any scoring options on the outside. So i relised i wud have to trade early on in the season as im a inside out player.

First i made a player form Oamaru, New Zealand, a F/C called Jarred Brown, 20 years old, 7'2" and 239pds he is rated 78.

So i started up a dynasty (real salaries) and simmed the first game( dont ask me why, jst for fun) which i lost to Sac town, dunno by how much.

Straight after simming the game i signed Shawn Kemp to the minimum then traded Kirilenko, Kemp and Maurice Williams to Atlanta for Jason Terry, Stephon Jackson and Terrel Brandon.

I know the trade wudnt happen in real life cos Atlanta loves the Brandon contract, but its a game and i can. So now at the end of the season i will have 13million to spend.

Anyway my next game was Minnesota at Utah which i lost 90-118. It was a shocking game mainly because i jst cudnt play defence (i thought i was getting good at it ) KG was player of the game with 29 points and 10 rebounds.

Honorable mentions:
Minnesota:
Wallyworld 23 points 6 rebounds
Sam Cassell 11 points 10 assists
Utah:
Jarred Brown 22 points 13 rebounds 3 blocks 3 steals 3 assists
Jason Terry 21 points 2 steals 11 assists 8 turnovers!!

My next game was against Phoenix at home who were 0-2 as well. I managed to have a killer first quarter 39-24 which set the tone for the game. I pretty much managed to hold the 15 point lead for the second quater and was up by 17 at the half but after that the suns began to chip away at my lead i managed to hold on and won it 127-114 both teams shot over 55% form the field, but i just cudnt seem to stop them cutting, and vice versa. Also about halfway through the fourth Jason Terry went down with a leg injury (Out for 6 days) after driving to the hoop and being chopped by Jahdi White. I think phoenic had a good bench game cos i managed to hold the Matrix to 15 points due to foul trouble.

Jarred Brown managed to record his first POG award and was close to a triple double with 28 points (13/21) 16 rebounds and 7 assists.

Honorabel Mentions:
Utah:
Jason Terry 29 points (10/19 FG, 4/7 3PFG) 10 assists and a big improvent of 3 turnovers, 2 that were jst me passing to the wrong person.
Keon Clark 14 points ( 5/5 FG, 4/4 FT) 7 rebounds ( 5 in the final 4 minutes)
Phoenix:
Starbury 25 points 7 assists
Penny Hardaway 22 points ( 9/12 FG) 5 rebounds.

My Current team that plays is:
Starters:
C:Keon Clark
PF: Jarred Brown
SF: Matt Harpring
SG: Jason Terry
PG: Carlos Arroyo
Bench: (in order of use)
Stephon Jackson
DeShawn Stevenson
M. Ruffin
Jarron Collins
Raja Bell
Raul Lopez
Alexander Pavlovic

Arroyo should really be getting a mention in honorable players as he get limited minutes, as JT runs the point for a large amount of the game, and still manages to score 15+ppg so far, he starts at the point but plays more of a 2 guard when he is on after the first quarter.

I think my major weakness now is defense. I could moan about a lot of things, but my team just isnt strong anywhere, but thats why i chose Utah.
Yeah so im gonna start shopping for some good defence best in the 2 3 or 4 positions, any ideas

BTW should i post the saved game stats or just write over views??

[Mark.]

Ive been thinking about defence and i might try to trade for Desmond Mason since he is pretty quick, i also was thinking about Larry Hughes. The problem is i dont think i woudl be able to get either of those players without having to give up Harpring or Terry, so ill just have to keep shopping, if worst comes to worst i would be okay with dealing Harpring, but then im getting too far away from the real Jazz.

Next post will have another two game updates, ive already played one which i got another high scoring thrashing from the Spurs at San Antonio, although i managed to get it back to within 7 points.

I'm gonna post the games in sets of two.

[Mark.]

Right two more games.

San Antonio

The first was at San Antonio which i managed to lose 114-121. It was another high scoring game mainly because i couldnt stop them scoring, TD just owned me getting 40 points and 17 rebounds, for some reason he was really quick, so he would get the ball on the pereimeter and just pro hop his way in, i tried to pull the offensive but cudnt get set in time. Also Jason Terry sat out this game due to his injury in the previous game, he was listed as playable but i didnt want to risk it, which ment that Arroyo got the playing time he deserves.

POG: TD 40 points (17/24) 17 rebounds
Honorable Mentions:
San Antonio:
Tony Parker 12 points 6 rebounds 9 assists 0 turnovers
Hobert Horry 12 points in 18 minutes
Utah:
Jarred Brown 28 points (12/21) 7 rebounds, basicly he got owned by TD
Carlos Arroyo 23 points (9/16) 3 rebounds 6 assists.

Milwaukee
@ Milwaukee
This game saw the return of Jason Terry to the lineup but it also saw Keon Clark go down in the first with a back injury, he was out for the remainder of the game. It was another high scoring game with the Jazz coming out tops 133-126. Jason Terry really won the game for me with 47 points.

POG: Jason Terry 47 points (15/26 FG, 8/17 3PFG, 9/9 FT) 5 assists
Honorable Mentions:
Utah:
Jarred Brown 22 points 14 rebounds 3 steals 6 assists
Matt Harpring 17 points 4 rebounds 4 steals 6 assists
Milwaukee:
Michael Redd 26 points (10/14 FG, 4/5 3PFG) 4 rebounds 4 assists
Tim Thomas 29 points 8 rebounds

Im really happy with the way that Harpring is playing, so im very reluctant to give him up now, but my team is lacking in defense so i decided to try a smaller trade.

Trade
Utah sends Alexander Pavlovic to Detroit for Mehmet Okur.
I think i got a good deal here, because it gives me a good big man off the bench who can score, also the ratings were Pavlovic 55, Okur 58 and once i changed Okur to a PF his rating went up to 60.

I'm still having problems with defence, im pretty sure its not my skill because i was doing fine with my Philli dynasty holding my oponents to 85ppg. I think the problem is that i can play good D with the player im controlling but the other players on my team get beat too easily.

So im scouting for some better defensive players.

Starting 5 plus 2 Stats:
Keon Clark 9.2 ppg 6.0 rpg 1.2 apg
Jarred Brown 23.2 ppg 12.4 rpg 4.4 apg
Matt Harpring 14.2 ppg 3.4 rpg 2.4 apg
Jason Terry 25.0 ppg 2.0 rpg 6.7 apg
Carlos Arroyo 14.8 ppg 2.2 rpg 4.4 apg
Stephon Jackson 12.8 ppg 2.7 rpg 2.6 apg
DeShawn Stevenson 7.4 ppg 1.8 rpg 1.0 apg

[DrNick]

i would say try to get a young good defensive player like Kenyon Martin or Jermaine O'neal

[Mark.]

mmmm yeah that is wat i was thinking, prob being i dont have any players of any value to trade for them, i was thinking maybe more in the swingman area, is desmond mason any good on d?
Any way in the offseason i will hopefully be able to get a big name player.

[Mark.]

Right two more games to post.

First one was Orlando at Utah

Orlando

This game seemed a little too easy, all i had to do was double team T-Mac and then just worry about Gooden as he was the only toher player who seemed to be able to score. The end score was 95-91 to me, its got close in the 4th cos T-mac started to hit and break the double.
POG: Jarred Brown 10 points 13 rebounds 4 blocks 7 assists

Honorable Mentions
Utah:
Jason Terry 21 points
Keon Clark 6 points 10 rebounds
Orlando:
Drew Gooden 21 points 4 rebounds 3 assists
T-Mac 13 points (5/7 FG)

Next game was at home again against Sac-town (the game i simmed as actually against Dallas)

Sacramento

This game once again saw me take and early first quarter lead, but the Kings clawed thier way back and at times had the lead. It was Jason Terry who saved me in the end with 13 points in the 4th quarter. The end score was 108-102 to me.
POG: Jason Terry 33 points (12/13 FT) 4 rebounds 8 assists
Honorable Mentions
Utah:
Jarred Brown 21 points 14 rebounds 4 blocks 2 steals 3 assists
Keon Clark 18 points (6/9 FG) 8 rebounds
Sacramento:
Peja Stojakovic 30 points (14/20 FG)
C-Webb 30 points (15/21 FG) 7 rebounds.

So im now 4-3 on a 3 game winning streak. I think my defence has improved, i cant really put it to anything, iw as hinking it could be because i got Okur but my big men subs dont get that much time on the court.[/b]

[skiptomylou]

I think you should start Jackson at the two-guard and put Terry in PG abd have arryoy on the bench. Because in my dynasty Terry gets about 15 points, 10 assists a game. Plus, Jackson is a better than average 3 point shooter.

[Mark.]

Yeah JT does play point guard mostly i just start Arroyo, but i was thinking of doing wat you said cos Jackson comes off the bench and plays really well, so well he does deserve a starting job.

[TonyFromPerth]

do u play with the actual team sets or just dynamic? cos that could be your defensive problem?? like if you were playing lakers, do u put their off. set to triangle and yours to high post? this can really change the gameplay and actually bring scores down dramatically.
i played against the spurs and the game was pretty low scoring because of these settings. i think it was about 78 or 80 points for me and about 85 for them - 12 minutes, superstar.

give it a try if you havent already.

[Mark.]

Yeah i play with the offensive sets, but i still get high FG% dunno why aye, ive even lowered the sliders for both me and the cpu to about 25 and 20 respectivly, i do have some scores around the 80-90 area tho, i think it just mite be my teams defence.

[skiptomylou]

That was a good trade for Okur. Pavlovic ani't that good but Okur is a decent rebounder and a pretty good inside scorer. Plus after you changed his position he went up to 60 ovrl anyway, which was 5 better than Pavlovic!

[Mark.]

Yeah i know i wasnt too impressed with Pavolvic, although he did hit some open threes, but im stacked in the swing man department and Okur does help on the boards. Im gonna play a few more game s before i post anymore so the next post should have about 6 games i think.