"Jazz": while Kirilenko shows a little progress
(Phil Miller, The Salt Lake Tribune, 10/10/2006)
Perhaps in the summer he would have been better off playing golf.
Andrei Kirilenko’s widely publicized work on the offseason cast has so far brought some improvement, and the long-forgotten unpleasant feeling begins to return to the Russian ... “It’s hard to get into the rhythm when you don’t get the ball for half an hour,” said Kirilenko, whose complaints after the defeat from “New Jersey” "On Wednesday with a score of 89:96 sounded more humbly than evil. “Then, when the ball finally reaches you, you can’t get in without resistance.”
In the last part of the statement, he is undoubtedly right, and this problem is not new. Before the match with the Celtics this season, Kirilenko realized only 13 of 35 shots, which is 37.1 percent - this is by far the worst result among Jazz starters. On Wednesday, he hit 2 out of 10, although he had a minimum of four open shots, and in a couple of cases the ball barely touched the ring.
However, a month after the start of the previous championship, Kirilenko’s accuracy was described by a dismal 28 percent.
“When you plow over the throw all summer, and you get the opportunity to attack only in the second half of the match with New Jersey, and maybe a little in the game with Phoenix, it makes you depressed,” says Kirilenko, who threw half less Buzer, 31 attempts less than Mehmet Okur and 29 less than Deron Williams. “I don’t think that it turns out intentionally, but, in my opinion, we should work on combinations further, try to look for an open player, find for me an opportunity to get the ball, think of what I can do for this.”
Kirilenko’s proposals are much milder than last year’s “I just don’t get the ball and feel like I’m being ignored.” But sound highly it seems .
“What can I do about it? - asks Kirilenko. - Someone called me a defensive specialist in advance and forgot that I can play in the attack. I’ll have to put up with it. ”
According to the jazz coach Jerry Sloan, this is a good idea, because now he has a lot of the best masters - Okur, Williams, Gordan Girichek, C.J. Miles, Derek Fisher - for long-range shots. “I am sure that he does not meet the ball as often as he would like, but this season we have many other guys who are involved more,” says Sloan.
Kirilenko is trying to find throw
Former All - Star at the beginning of the season "does not pull" in the attack
(Tim Buckley, Deseret Morning News, 11/10/2006 )
All their units - Andrei Kirilenko, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur and Matt Harring, led by young playmaker Deron Williams - are healthy and go to the site together. Their main off-season acquisition, Derek Fisher, is famous for his ability to score three-pointer. Even the second-year defender C.J. Miles gets enough opportunities to sometimes score 12-13 points per quarter. What is the flip side of the positive circumstances for "jazzmen"?
As in the old days, the ball is not enough for everyone, and some are saddened before a visit to Boston. This one on Wednesday in a lost New Jersey match, which became Utah’s first defeat, hit 2 of 10 from the game, realizing just 20 percent of the shots for the second time this season.
“It’s hard to get into the rhythm when you don’t get the ball for half an hour,” said Kirilenko, who had an average performance of 13.8 points per career. Forward in three of five matches, “Jazz” made six or less throws and only twice scored more than 10 points.
Utah coach Jerry Sloan seems to be aware of the dilemma: “I’m sure that he doesn’t meet the ball as often as he would like, but this season we have a lot of other guys who are more involved.”
However, perhaps the situation is more complicated. One of the factors, according to Sloan: “I think the main problem is that he does not succeed in defense. He always managed to keep the ward in front of him, and now his rivals began to slip away from him more often. ”
Another point: at times, Kirilenko was given a ball, allowing them to take the initiative as a forward-dispatcher, and the results were mixed at best.
“Sometimes we play it, and it brings success,” admits Sloan, who also heard a lot of complaints from Kirilenko last season and who responded with great confidence to the basketball player. “And sometimes it doesn't.”
For this reason, recently “Jazz” has been trying to focus on conventional schemes, allowing Kirilenko to play the usual role in them. And for this reason, Sloan is not particularly upset because of the misses of the Russian in the match with New Jersey. " U him were good ones throws . Of them couple without resistance . But the ball didn’t go into the ring, the Utah coach explained. - I can’t blame the guy for throwing from comfortable positions. If you don’t get in, I will survive it. ”
However, Kirilenko is not inclined to put up with the situation, including only three shots in the opening match and Saturday 1 out of 5 in the victory over the Golden State. “I didn’t get from comfortable positions four or five times, and it’s entirely my fault,” he assured after the match on Wednesday. “I don't blame anyone else.” I need to be more aggressive. ”
However, everything is complicated by the fact that, instead of using his defending player’s qualities, instead of taking advantage of the “Jazz” system by searching for light, but not so spectacular balls at the entrances on the front - for example, Harring acts - Kirilenko craves more significant, creative role in the attack. He wants to take the game upon himself. He wants the ball in key moments. He wants to become famous as a sniper.
The representative of the symbolic five NBA-2005/06 on defense, it seems, is now not so happy with the defensive reputation that made him a player of the “all-star match” and is more eager to develop attacking skills, which, according to many, are not ideally suited to his talents.
“When you plow over the throw all summer, and you get the opportunity to attack only in the second half of the match with New Jersey, and maybe a little in the game with Phoenix, this makes you depressed,” says Kirilenko. “What can I do about it?” Someone called me a defensive specialist in advance and forgot that I can play in the attack ... In my opinion, we should work on combinations further, try to look for an open player, find for me an opportunity to get the ball, think of what I can do for this ” . In other words, Kirilenko, who in five matches sold 37.1 percent of the shots, which is 10 percent less than last season and 12 percent less than his career, hopes to recover from the crisis due to the number of shots.
Some of the teammates are sympathetic to this. “He has nothing else to do,” says Deron Williams. - You need to keep throwing. You can’t stop and seriously think about it. ”
True, Kirilenko thinks a lot: “Yes, I have to put up with this. But I continue to work on the cast. What else to do? ”
Kirilenko , " Jazz " again on go
( Tim Buckley , Deseret Morning News, 11/11/2006)
... It seems that "Jazz" get the former Kirilenko. No, not a Russian car for scoring points at all. He hit 4 out of 8 and finished the game with 9 points. The main thing is that he was again a broadly smiling jack of all trades, who appeared on Friday to the delight of his comrades who did not understand where he was disappearing.
Kirilenko was invisible in the first half of the match with Boston, but in the third quarter he gave a full-fledged performance, scoring a three-pointer during a key spurt in the third quarter and finishing with 5 blocks, 4 assists, a couple of rebounds and an interception. His “three” fell to a jerk 15: 0, which built a significant advantage after the 56: 56 mark ... Kirilenko completed the cut with a ball from under the ring, took a break, before chalking up a couple more block shots in the final quarter.
“Andrew hit a couple of times and caught the rhythm,” admitted striker Matt Harring.
“It happens when an AK hits a few times or scores an important goal,” added Deron Williams. - He gains confidence and begins to add. we want to he acted aggressively with start . Yes, he doesn’t have a shot yet, but AK doesn’t have to score much to influence the outcome of matches. ”
Noting on Wednesday that it was difficult to help the attack, “not getting the ball for half an hour,” on Friday Kirilenko seemed to remember how he had gained respect in the NBA. And, apparently, he didn’t really care that he threw only 8 times: “I am happy because we are winning. This is the only thing that matters. If this helps us, I’m ready to score less and let others do it. If everything goes the same, I will only be happy. ”
However, Sloan was not so delighted. He praised Williams and Okur, but grumbled about the game of Kirilenko: “He got stuck on the screen several times, and therefore lost some of his enthusiasm. He needs to keep trying, because we definitely need him. ”