by Jamie VanderLinden
Posted: 7/21/04 12:14 am

The Jazz edged Chicago 72-70 Tuesday night behind Ruben Douglas' twenty points and five rebounds. The only other Jazz player to score in double digits was Maurice Williams with thirteen points on 5 of 14 from the field and with four turnovers. The game began in style with the Jazz running and gunning through the first quarter. At one point, they scored four fast break points in thirty seconds of game time.

Utah continued their aggressive style in the second quarter. One minute into the period, Williams fell to the ground, kept his dribble, regained his composure, and drilled a jumper with just seconds left on the shot clock. This stretch of the game also saw Kirk Snyder dive out of bounds for a loose ball crashing into the media table on the sidelines.

The forwards filled the lanes on the break, and the point guards threw down the court. The Jazz ended the half with thirteen fast break points; the Bulls had only three. Utah outscored Chicago by ten in the paint and by five in second chance points. As a team, the Jazz shot better in every category than the Bulls, 40% to 31% from the field, 33.3% to 20% from behind the arc, and 85.7% to 75% from the charity stripe. Despite all this, Utah only led by four at half-time, 35-31.

Starting the third quarter right, the Jazz went on a 7-0 run. Utah scored the most points in this quarter than the other three and held their largest lead of the game at thirteen points. They ended the quarter ahead by ten, but their inability to close out games was beginning to show as they missed three straight free throws in the last minutes.

The fourth was the lowest scoring period for the Jazz. They shot only 4 of 15 from the field and 6 of 13 from the free throw line during the quarter. The game came down to the wire when with twenty-six seconds left, Jannero Pargo hit a three pointer pulling the Bulls to within one. Mo was fouled on the next play and hit both of his shots to give the Jazz more breathing room. Ben Gordon, who dominated for Chicago with twenty points on 8 of 16 shooting from the field, hit a jumper to keep Chicago's hopes alive. When Desmon Farmer was fouled on the next play, he made only one of two free throws. With five point nine seconds left in the game, Peter Cornell knocked the ball away from Mario Austin. Austin's final heave from behind half court at the buzzer was no good, and the Jazz held on to win by two points, 72-70, handing Chicago their first loss of the Revue.

Jermaine Boyette sat out tonight with a sprained toe. When jokingly asked how his little toe was feeling after the game, Boyette laughed insisting that it wasn't the little one, it was the big one. He said that he plans to be back Thursday and if not Thursday, definitely, Friday.

Utah has a bye Wednesday and will resume play Thursday against the Atlanta Hawks. The game will be at 8:00 PM MST and televised on NBATV and KJZZ and broadcast over KFAN radio.