Tonight's starting 5

[cougjunkie]

I couldn't agree more with Flystripper about hating watching JT - he would be brutal to play with. But, I'm much more frustrated by watching the college version of the Jazz...Apparently BYU has learned from the Jazz and they think fouls = defense. I don't know if I've ever seen a team play more defense with their hands and commit more stupid fouls than this BYU team. Bradley must've been in the penalty at the 15 minute mark of the second half.

Positives? I felt like Jimmer had an off game, yet he still scored 23(?) points. He's a special talent. Also, I really like the way Haws goes to the glass on both the offensive and defensive ends at 6'4".

25 points.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Always tough to know how much to blame on crappy defense, but I was impressed with how Bradley ran their offense.

[Non Sequitur]

I'm not really a J.T. hater. I forgive his shot selection when he contributes in other ways. But I do have a gripe with his love affair with the fade-away. Why the hell fade-away? It's a low percentage shot. Why not watch some old tapes of Devin Durrant and fall in love with the lean-in jumper?

I blame it on Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Just because those guys can do it -- and it took both of them a few years before they were proficient at it -- doesn't mean J.T. can do it. I see the same thing in pick games. Everyone wants to jack up threes and turn-around-fade-away jumpers. Why not try moving without the ball so you can get an open shot that requires neither turning around nor fading away? Okay, rant over.

[jay santos]

I'm not really a J.T. hater. I forgive his shot selection when he contributes in other ways. But I do have a gripe with his love affair with the fade-away. Why the hell fade-away? It's a low percentage shot. Why not watch some old tapes of Devin Durrant and fall in love with the lean-in jumper?

I blame it on Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Just because those guys can do it -- and it took both of them a few years before they were proficient at it -- doesn't mean J.T. can do it. I see the same thing in pick games. Everyone wants to jack up threes and turn-around-fade-away jumpers. Why not try moving without the ball so you can get an open shot that requires neither turning around nor fading away? Okay, rant over.

I'm not a JT hater either, but that's not to say I don't get pissed at him sometimes. Last night was one of those times. The article on JT's maturity and Rose's pre-game remarks calling him a new player this year seem to be premature. The times I get pissed is when I see JT calling for the ball with a man hanging all over him, and he's got that excited puppy dog look and you know he's going to shoot the ball NO MATTER WHAT, when he gets it. In those times he loses all concept of current reality and he thinks he's playing one on one. That's whay he goes to the fade away. Because in 1:1 when you pick up your dribble sometimes that's the only shot you can get off. It's that ridiculous.