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SALT LAKE CITY -- Jazz Head Coach Jerry Sloan has quickly become comfortable with his power forward rotation this season and Thanksgiving night was the perfect example why.
Carlos Boozer and Paul Millsap led the Jazz to the convincing 105-86 win over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday.
Boozer continued his recent hot play with 28 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Boozer is averaging 23.6 points in his last seven games.
One of his assists was a beautiful pass to a cutting Millsap, who came off the bench to drop in 12 points and grab nine rebounds.
The two combined to shoot an amazing 18-22 from the field (82 percent) and its blatantly obvious there's no drop off from one to the other.
"They are both good, young players," Sloan said. "They work off of each other to get open shots."
And that was the key on this night.
Sloan let the two play extended minutes together against the Bulls, something we are seeing more regularly this season and the results speak for themselves.
"If they are making shots, defenses can't drop off, and that's what happened tonight," Sloan said.
That opens up the floor for the rest of the team, creates cutting lanes and frees up the shooters on the outside. The result? 45 field goals on 29 assists and a shooting percentage over 60 percent.
Sloan also noticed Millsap and Boozer were both active around the basket creating opportunities for each other, a point not lost on Boozer.
"We are talented, versatile and create mismatches," Boozer said. "We are both big, we can rebound and get out and run. We just have fun out there playing together."
Millsap put it a little more succinctly, "We just play basketball."
And maybe that's the key... letting his play do the talking.
