Jazz struggles continue

The Utah Jazz (32-30) continue to struggle, losing a rough one Thursday night to the Denver Nuggets (37-26) by a score of 103-101. The Jazz have gone 1-7 since Jerry Sloan stepped down as head coach on February 10th including 1-4 since superstar point guard Deron Williams was traded to the New Jersey Nets (18-43) just after the All-Star Game.

I'm encouraged that the Jazz are being competitive and staying in games, but at the same time I'm tired of losing those games. A win is a win and a loss is a loss. Remarkably, the Jazz are still only 1.5 games back of the final playoff spot -- definitely still within striking distance. However, I just don't see it happening. The team has been slumping big time and seems to find ways to lose games at the end, instead of the other way around. I don't think it will be this bad the rest of the season as the new guys will get accustomed to the team and the play-calling system as well as the rest of the guys getting used to playing without D-Will. However, I still don't think they'll win enough games to make it to the postseason, which of course saddens me. The Jazz take on the Sacramento Kings (15-44) Saturday night at 7 p.m. MT on FSN-Utah.

Bummed about Coach Sloan stepping down

Just thought I'd weigh in real briefly to let everyone know that I am pretty bummed that Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan resigned yesterday after over two decades with the team. It really blindsided me as I expected him to stick around for a while still. It's tough to deal with and the Jazz truly will never be the same. Tyrone Corbin has been named the new head coach. I'll still cheer for the Jazz and hope things go well, but it's just not going to be the same without Coach Sloan. The Jazz play their first game in the post-Jerry Sloan era tonight against the Phoenix Suns at 8:30 p.m. MT on ESPN and FSN-Utah.