Jazz has new faces
Finally, some new names for an old series between the Lakers and the Jazz.
Introducing a most highly unlikely duo for the Jazz: Wesley Matthews and C.J. Miles.
Matthews is an undrafted rookie out of Marquette who wowed the Jazz enough in the summer league to get invited to their training camp, and the 6-5 guard made the team when Miles and Kyle Korver were injured.
He was the beneficiary of good timing and made the most of it. Matthews found his way into the Jazz’s starting lineup and stayed there after the Jazz traded Ronnie Brewer to Memphis.
Matthews wound up starting 48 games for the Jazz during the regular season, which is notable, because it’s one more game than Deron Williams started in his rookie year for coach Jerry Sloan.
Matthews averaged 13.8 points and 38 minutes a game and shot 38.6% from the field in their first-round series against Denver. He scored 23 points in the Game 6 win on Friday. He took his turn guarding Carmelo Anthony in the Nuggets series, with mixed success.
“I think I play like the undrafted rookie that’s got something to prove,” Matthews told the Salt Lake Tribune.
Well, he won’t have to wait long, considering he’ll likely have a hand in trying to guard Kobe Bryant.
Miles may shoulder some of that workload, too.
The 23-year-old averaged 13.7 points in the Denver series, a nice uptick from his 9.9 average during the regular season. It’s a far cry from late February, when he was struggling and apologized to his fans, namely his Twitter followers, saying it was probably the “hardest year” of his life and that he was “mentally goin crazy over this.”
The Deseret News recently detailed his struggles and resurgence, and Korver told the newspaper: “You look at C.J. Miles and the growth in his game over the last couple of months. It’s been amazing.”
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Barry Stavro contributed to this report.
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