01/18/2012 - 19:35
Big Picture Mentality
by
Sierra Shafer
Big Al Jefferson has a lot to be proud of so far this season.
But he isn't boasting – not even after the Utah Jazz moved into second in the Western Conference on Tuesday with a win over the Los Angeles Clippers. Big Al had another double-double in the victory, his sixth of the season, with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Big Al recorded his sixth double-double in a 108-79 Jazz win on Tuesday (Getty Images).
The win moved Utah to 9-4, but No. 25 and the Jazz aren't content. Instead they're gearing up to keep going.
"We're proud, but we ain't satisfied. It's still early, we've got a lot of games to play," Al said in an interview with KFAN. "If they playoffs started tomorrow, we'd be happy," he joked. "But they don't so we gotta keep it up and continue to keep that defensive mindset and continue to win games."
Winning early in the season is nothing new for the Jazz. They started last season strong but lost their footing and slid out of the playoff picture at the end. This year, Big Al says the team is going to do everything they can to make sure they don't repeat that fall.
"To be a part of this right here, it's fun but at the same time we have to stay humble, have to stay hungry. We can't just start walking around here like we've done something, because we haven't," he said. "We've got a long way to go and we've just got to stay focused on it."
The Jazz maintained that focus on Tuesday to pull off perhaps their biggest win of the season, a 108-79 drubbing of the Clippers. Utah led wire-to-wire in picking up their eighth win in nine home games. The ease of the win allowed Al to play under 30 minutes for the second time in three games.
Of his 26 minutes in the win, No. 25 played 16 of them in the first half. In the process he scored just six points, but he was huge on the glass, pulling down 11 first half rebounds. With Big Al doing work, the Jazz jumped out to a 52-41 halftime lead. He played 10 more minutes in the third quarter, scoring four more points and adding two rebounds. By the end of that frame, Utah had established a 19-point lead and Al took the rest of the night off as they cruised to the win.
At 18 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, Al currently leads the team in both categories. But he attributes the team's success this season to a unity and focus that was lacking before. According to No. 25, his team is suiting up in more than just the same uniform – they are stepping onto the court with the same mind.
"Everybody trusts each other, everybody understands what we have to do to win games," he said. "I think last year at this point and time we were having success and after that things started going south. But this year is a different mindset – we treat every game like we've lost five, three, four games in a row, come in with that type of attitude just to keep us humble."
Big Al backs up the humble talk with his actions on the court. He has always been able to help his team on the offensive end with scoring, but this year, he has put forth time and dedicated himself to changing his play on the other end of the court.
During practice on Wednesday, Al told KFAN that the adjustments he has made will do more than help the Jazz score; he is learning to help them stop.
"Normally when my offensive game is not going, that's basically it for me, but this year I've found other ways to help my team and try to be a goal tender and try to help them on the defense end if I can and help them win games."
Al helped out in that manner on Tuesday. Though his shot was not falling consistently, he impacted the game on the glass and the defensive end. And while the Jazz continue to put big points on the board, No. 25 maintains that Utah's season will be decided on defense. Utah has bought into the idea that teams win titles with defense.
"If we play defense the way we've been playing it, doing our thing on the defense end, you're going to put yourself in the position to win games," he told KFAN. "We're a great offensive team, I mean every team in this league is an offensive team, you know. We're all pros, we all got the gift of talent to play the game of basketball, but it is all about getting stops. And when you're playing defense the way we've been playing it, you're going to put yourself in a position to win games."
That position is exactly what Big Al and the Jazz hope to take in Thursday's game against the defending champion Dallas Mavericks. But No. 25 said Utah will not place any added meaning on Thursday's tilt.
"We're gonna treat that game like any other game, we're gonna play it well," Al said. "Everybody's focused. Everybody's on the same page. Everybody knows that when we step out on that court it's time to take care of business. Everybody has the same focus in mind."
Thursday's game with the Mavericks is the second half of TNT's national doubleheader and thus tip-off will come a little later, at 8:30 local time.
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