Submitted by dave crockett, Sep 26, 2007 10:54

Great points John, but the one thing you might have added about Sloan's offenses is that they're not allergic to the running game the way the Knicks seem to be. Granted, Utah does not have Stockton to push and Malone to fill the lane anymore. The Jazz were only middle-of-the-pack in pace factor this past season, and that was well above where they've been the past few seasons. But, we know that historically the Jazz have always been able to use the fast-break side-by-side with their motion offense. With Deron Williams they're getting back to that. Williams gets them out on the break, probing first for the easy score then pulling back into Sloan's version of "three yards and a cloud of dust" if nothing easy presents itself. Utah gets a handful of easy baskets per game just by pushing the ball up the floor at league average pace--just enough of them to keep them out of the prolonged scoring droughts the Knicks suffer from.

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