Dok se Cibona sprema za prvu utakmicu drugog dijela Eurolige koja je na rasporedu u četvrtak u Zagrebu (dolazi Tau Ceramica) Giriček je donio pobjedu svojoj (novoj) momčadi Utah Jazzu. Gira je ubacio 12 od ukupno 24 koša u posljednjoj četvrtini za pobjedu nad Pistonsima 94:86. Cijeli članak možete pročitati na stranicama NBA lige.
Giricek scored 24 points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer down the stretch, to help the Jazz snap the Detroit Pistons’ four-game winning streak with a 94-86 triumph.
Rookie Aleksandar Pavlovic added 15 points for the Jazz, who held the Pistons to 37 percent (26-of-70) shooting. Utah also won four in a row from November 21-December 1.
Acquired from Orlando at the trade deadline, Giricek made 10-of-17 shots, including all four of his attempts from 3-point range. His 3-pointer with 3:17 left gave the Jazz the lead for good, 85-82.
“I think we won the game tonight because of our defense, especially at the end,” Giricek said. “As for the three, somebody else who could take that shot probably would make it, too. You can’t miss that shot. But we won the game because of defense.”
“I think at that point the momentum had completely swung in our favor,” said Jazz guard Raja Bell, who had nine points off the bench. “I think they had a hard time regaining it after that shot.”
The edge was 85-84 before Utah’s Greg Ostertag made a pair of free throws with 2:22 left. After Lindsey Hunter dribbled the ball off his left shin on Detroit’s ensuing possession, Giricek scored on a fast-break layup to make it 89-84 just 18 seconds later, and Detroit got no closer.
“They had a lot of guys make contributions,” Pistons coach Larry Brown said. “When they got the lead, we didn’t make a shot. The way they defend, they rebound the ball.”
“We got away from executing,” said Detroit All-Star Ben Wallace, who had nine points and 16 rebounds. “We had too many unforced turnovers, and we just threw this one away. We didn’t execute, we dind’t take care of the ball and we didn’t get the stops down the stretch.”
Rasheed Wallace scored 27 points and Chauncey Billups added 17 for Detroit, which slipped to 1-1 on a five-game road trip.
Utah held a 25-20 lead after one quarter but Detroit took a 47-42 edge into the break and a 66-63 advantage into the final 12 minutes.
The game was tied, 68-68, before Wallace scored five straight points, the final three on a spectacular alley-oop dunk and free throw with 9:45 remaining. Detroit held an 82-80 edge before All-Star Andrei Kirilenko scored on a tip of a missed layup by Bell with 3:59 left.
Kirilenko did not have a great night scoring, managing just 11 points, but he had eight rebounds, six blocks and four steals.
“I was a little frustrated offensively,” Kirilenko said. “They actually did a great job on me. If I feel I’m not doing good offensively, I just try to change my game and start playing more aggressively defensively and find somebody who feels hot. Giricek felt very good tonight and he was shooting great, so I was just trying to screen more for him and get some open shots for him.”
“We had a lot of guys play well,” Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. “I thought Greg had a great game. Giricek had a great game, Andrei was terrific down the stretch. A lot of things went well for us … As we came down the stretch I thought our guys did a terrific job of trying to help each other.”
