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SALT LAKE CITY - This could be a tale of two halves, but the Jazz showed how good their team could end up being after showing how fast they can fall apart.
The Jazz showed off with a trick-and-treat performance on Halloween opening night with a 113-94 victory over the Mavericks behind the sweet combo of M&M Williams, that's Mo and Marvin.
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Runs in the first half showed the inability to be consistent as they played the second quarter up and down. The quarter started with the Jazz trailing by one. By 6:00 left in the quarter they were up by eight and looking good. Then either the Mavs got hot or the Jazz got sloppy, but the half ended with the Mavs controlling the momentum and scoreboard, up 63-55.
"They were having their way in the first half," Mo Williams said. "It didn't take rocket science for us to figure it out. We knew we were playing like that."
The Mavs were over 50 percent shooting as the half came to an end. The end of the half saw them hit their last eight shots. They ended the half with 63 points, including 37 in the second.
That turned around in the second half thanks to defensive intensity by the Jazz.
"I thought our aggressiveness on the defensive end picked up right from the beginning of the half," Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin said. "We got hands on a lot of balls. Our pick-and-roll defense was a lot better. We were pressuring the guy with the ball. As a result all the defense picked up."
The defense was so good in fact that the 50 percent first half shooting for the Mavericks fell to 37 percent at the end of the game. They might have run out of gas, but the difference in the defense was noticeable and Dallas scored 31 points in the second half, which is less than the Jazz scored in the third quarter.
The third quarter was a masterpiece for what the Jazz might be able to do in the future. They outscored the Mavs 37-13 including an amazing six minutes where they went from down 70-67 with 6:10 left to up 92-76 at quarters end. That is a 25-6 run in half of a quarter.
The offense was helped by the arrival and emergence of the new Williams' duo, each ended with 21 points.
DeMarre Carroll summed up the newcomers with "awesome." That is simply what they were. The big run started with back-to-back 3-point field goals from Mo who added a layup to make it eight straight, then Marvin hit a corner 3 that basically seized control of the momentum, and basically the game.
"They've been super all training camp," Corbin said. "These guys are very proud guys, they are true professionals. They take it personal."
Last year there were no captains, everyone seemed to play well regardless, but this year the captains were Paul Millsap, Al Jefferson and Mo Williams, the first two had double-doubles and Williams has gained control of the team on the court.
Whether they are called the M&M's, the law firm of Williams and Williams or just Marvin and Mo, they have made an impact one game into the season, and have the tools to help games down the road.
Fans will leave with a good, probably great, feeling about what they have seen and what they might have in store, but the bad could be a problem for the Jazz down the road. That is what Corbin talked about as one of the big issues that rise from the game.
"We got to come out with more of a sense of urgency," Corbin said. "We got to come out for the beginning of the game like we did in that third quarter. We can't afford to hold back at all."
