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Amanda Hart is following the first season of new Utah Jazz pick Eric Maynor. Read her introduction to this series here.
Alright, lets catch up. There have been 3 pre-season games and I haven’t talked about any of them, so if you saw them, lets reminisce. If you missed them, here you go.
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Game #1: Nuggets @ Jazz 10/1
It was a decent introduction to the season. We got to see what every prospective player has been working on this summer.%uFFFD Most of the team looked really good, with a few who looked better now than they ever have before. The ones who really stood out were Paul Millsap, CJ Miles, Andrei Kirilenko and of course Deron Williams. Eric Maynor (who this blog is all about) did very well. He played 13 minutes and had 4 points, 1 assist, 0 turn-overs, 2 rebounds and 2 steals. He looks comfortable on the floor and works well with his teammates. His style is very similar to Deron’s and will bring great consistency to games. We won this game 103-87.
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Game #2: Jazz Vs. Bulls @ The 02 Arena in London
This was their first game on the NBA Live Europe Tour. Whether you’re a Jazz fan or a Bulls fan, you definitely got you’re money’s worth on this game. Eric played 17 minutes, struggled a little from the field (1-7) and ended up with 4 points and 2 steals. He had 3 assists including an awesome dish to Millsap under the basket with less than 2 minutes to go. It was close the entire game, with 17 ties and 13 lead changes. With about a minute left, Eric rushed into a 3-pointer and missed, James Johnson rebounded and made 2 fast break points giving Chicago the lead. Free throws from Ronnie Price put us ahead 1. James Johnson air-balled a 3 and Kosta Koufos lost the rebound out of bounds. It took 2 more shots, but unfortunately, the last one went in and Chicago won 102-101. Another heart-breaker from the Bulls, good thing its only pre-season.
Game #3 Jazz @ Real Madrid
The final stop on the Jazz’s European tour was less exciting, but much more rewarding.%uFFFD I will give Real credit, they stayed with us most of the first half. The surprising thing was it wasn’t our starters that gave us the lead. While our second string was in, it took Real 6 minutes to score 5 points, while we scored 19. Maynor played great. 24 minutes, 8 points, 7 assists. A true point guard’s game. His shooting was still a little off (3-9), and he did have 2 turn-overs, but he created plays for his teammates. It helped that Millsap was the star of a lot of those plays and he was unstoppable. Watch the highlights to see%uFFFD Eric’s 3-pointer at the end of the first half. We won the game 109-87.
Here are more pictures from game #1 against Denver.
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Sitting on the floor because there was no room on the overly-crowded bench.
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Waiting to sub in for his first NBA minutes.
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“In for Ronnie Price, #3 Eric Maynor!”
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Time out.
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Warming the bench (actually on the bench this time).
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Now that the team is finally back from Europe, watch and see how well they recuperate for their next game against Portland on Thursday.