Kragthorpe: Dwight Howard, DeAndre Jordan can solve NBA's hacking problem...
Opposing coaches never really adopted the strategy of intentionally fouling Karl Malone, even though he struggled to make free throws as a Jazz rookie. His own coach tied to embarrass him, though....
View ArticleKragthorpe: Confidence in Ute football team's offense is matter of faith...
The Utah football fans who stopped tailgating long enough to fill about one-fourth of Rice-Eccles Stadium’s seats for a couple of hours finally were rewarded with a touchdown on the Red-White game’s...
View ArticleKragthorpe: Can Utah, BYU or USU football teams finish any better than 8-4?
Utah’s newest co-offensive coordinators insisted they were keeping the old stuff, only doing it better. BYU’s most important player just kept practicing. Utah State mysteriously lost the quarterback...
View ArticleKragthorpe: It's been five years since the Utah Jazz's last playoff victory
Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams and Paul Millsap walked off the court in triumph and the Jazz moved into the most turbulent phase of the franchise’s Utah era. Five years later, every player and coach...
View ArticleKragthorpe: 10 truths about Utah-BYU football series
Not quite five years ago, when BYU announced its move to football independence, I was skeptical about the school’s ability to piece together a schedule, impressed by a six-game agreement with Notre...
View ArticleKragthorpe: Ute coaches' pay defensible, but where will it end?
The atmosphere of a University of Utah administrative cabinet meeting probably never would be described as giddy, to begin with, but the mood changed when Chris Hill interrupted the discussion of the...
View ArticleKragthorpe: Spurs' reign ends, in noble style
If this is how it ended for the San Antonio Spurs' dynasty, it was a phenomenal finish. Eliminating the Spurs in Game 7 of a first-round series in the Western Conference playoffs took everything the...
View ArticleKragthorpe: Jazz's jolt sent Billy Donovan on his way to Thunder
Before walking into EnergySolutions Arena next season when his NBA team comes to town, Billy Donovan should revisit the basement of Westminster College’s Payne Gym, where his dream ended and his...
View ArticleKragthorpe: RSL deserves better than tie with Galaxy
Sandy A lot of thunder, too much lightning and no goals. The frustration continued for Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium, where the natural display in the sky that struck during the national anthem...
View ArticleKragthorpe: Hawks' DeMarre Carroll is another ex-Jazz player who got away
During forward DeMarre Carroll’s Jazz tenure, the question became whether he ever would score 20 points in a game. That never happened. Now that he’s in the NBA playoffs with the Atlanta Hawks, the...
View ArticleKragthorpe: Sloppy play in goal has Grizz down, 3-1
West Valley City Ordinarily, it would not qualify as news that Utah Grizzlies goalie Igor Bobkov kept his job throughout Friday night’s game. He’s the team’s MVP, after all. Grizzlies coach Tim...
View ArticleKragthorpe: Ex-Jazzman DeMarre Carroll's scoring spree ends in Hawks' loss
During forward DeMarre Carroll’s Jazz tenure, I wondered if he ever would score 20 points in a game. That never happened. Now that Carroll is in the NBA playoffs with the Atlanta Hawks, the question...
View ArticleKragthorpe: LeBron's honesty is wrong stance, in this case
The game ended, and then the trouble started when LeBron James framed his answer with the phrase "to be honest." Uh, oh. And then James told the story of Cleveland's final play Sunday and how...
View ArticleKragthorpe: Bees hope Kids Day fans will come back to ballpark
With his head drying above a whirring fan, Bumble rubbed his eyes. “Quite the experience,” the Salt Lake Bees mascot confirmed during a break Monday, while preparing for another session of being...
View ArticleKragthorpe: NBA MVP Steph Curry gives his father distinction in Utah Jazz...
The math barely misses. Count back nine months from Wardell Stephen Curry II’s birthdate, and it becomes apparent that the NBA’s Most Valuable Player was not conceived in Salt Lake City, no matter how...
View ArticleKragthorpe: Clippers revert to old selves in loss to Rockets
Jay Leno no longer has a nightly network television forum for his Clippers jokes. Donald Sterling was forced to sell the franchise last year. The Los Angeles Lakers are currently the least successful...
View ArticleKragthorpe: Warriors in six; Hawks in seven in NBA's conference finals
If the second round of the NBA playoffs drove home any point, it is that none of the four remaining teams will be daunted by a deficit. Atlanta, Cleveland, Golden State and Houston trailed 2-1 in the...
View ArticleKragthorpe: 'Big Shot Bob' Horry still making impact as NBA retiree (with video)
Big Shot Bob usually needed an assist. Run the reel of clutch shots that Robert Horry made in the NBA playoffs — there were a bunch of them — and the trend becomes clear. Whether the teammate was...
View ArticleKragthorpe: Oregon State's Gary Andersen keeps surfacing in Utahns' lives
Gary Andersen likes to punctuate statements with his trademark phrase “… and away we go.” He’s never gone. The latest episodes that intertwine the Salt Lake City native with his home state came this...
View ArticleKragthorpe: UNLV is Utah State grad Kent Baer's next stop in coaching tour
After nearly 40 years of coaching defenses in college football, Cache Valley native Kent Baer jokes that he wants to become an offensive coordinator in his next life. His current existence as UNLV’s...
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