The Salt Lake Tribune sports staff picked up five awards in the annual Associated Press Sports Editors’ contest, results of which were announced this past week in Orlando, Fla.

The Tribune earned top 10 APSE honors for best daily section, best Sunday section and best digital section among midsize newspapers with a print circulation of between 31,000 and 87,000.

Also earning honors were Tribune sports staffers Kurt Kragthorpe and Andy Larsen.

Kragthorpe, a Tribune veteran of 28 years, earned a top 10 award for column writing. Larsen, in his first year at the paper, won a top 10 in explanatory reporting for his story about everything that happened behind the scenes when Kyle Korver was traded to the Utah Jazz from the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

— Genesis 1:28, KJV

This scripture was written around the sixth century BCE, when an estimated 150 million people inhabited Earth. The current global population is approaching 7.7 billion. It is imperative that we reconsider the human population burden and our role as stewards of the Earth.

Homo sapiens originated approximately 200,000 years ago, but it was not until 1800 CE that the population reached one billion. By contrast, in the last 200 years the human masses have exploded eight-fold. If the entire history of our planet was scaled to one 24-hour day, humans arrived only in the last 30 seconds, taking 29.95 seconds to reach one billion people, and just the final 0.05 seconds to reach 7.7 billion.

Sometime during the 1960s, the global population growth rate began to decline and continues to do so, particularly in developed nations. Despite slowing growth, the United Nations World Population Prospects estimates that by the year 2100 the population will be between 9 and 13 billion people. The critical question remains unanswered: What is the sustainable number of humans that our planet can support, not only now, but for millennia to come?

In 1992 the Union of Concerned Scientists penned the “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity” (signed by 1,700 independent scientists including most living scientific Nobel laureates) stating that “a great change in our stewardship of the Earth and the life on it is required if vast human misery is to be avoided.” They outlined concern regarding present and impending global environmental crises including ozone depletion, freshwater availability, marine life depletion, forest loss, biodiversity destruction and climate change. Importantly, they implored that we stabilize the human population as our swelling numbers continue to overwhelm all other environmental efforts to realize a sustainable future. Yet, in the quarter century since that publication, the world population grew by another 2 billion, and with the exception of stabilizing the stratospheric ozone layer, other environmental crises have only intensified.

Consider also the tragic loss of global biodiversity estimated in a May 2014 review from the journal Science: Through our collective habits and growth, humans have unintentionally begun the sixth mass extinction of species in the last 540 million years, with extinction rates greater than 1,000 times the natural background. There is legitimate concern that, by the year 2100, up to half of all marine and terrestrial species alive today will be extinct. We will have more than 9 billion people, yet half of the world’s other species will be gone.

The present global human population is exceeding long-term global sustainability. Without significant restraint of our global habits of human growth, environmental destruction and resource depletion, our planet will become progressively more inhabitable to life as we know it. Importantly, the solution must include the ethical and attentive matching of human population numbers with longer term sustainability. This oft overlooked concept should be a developed global value at the center of all environmental discussions.

Women’s education and empowerment in family planning should be at the forefront as globally this is one of the most important methods of mitigating uncontrolled growth. Nationally, focus should be on reducing our collective environmental footprint and ardently valuing long term sustainability as we select governmental representation. For posterity, we must embrace our role as stewards of the global environment with a sustainable vision for succeeding millennia.

Andrew Freeman, M.D., is a pulmonary and critical care physician from Salt Lake City.

Utah’s senior gymnasts put on a near-perfect show Saturday in their last appearance at the Huntsman Center.

Little did they know they needed that kind of performance for the fifth-ranked Utes to beat No. 9 Michigan 197.975-197.35. Led by their senior class, the Utes (10-2) posted a season-high 49.675 on the floor to hold off the Wolverines (13-3), who stuck close to them all meet.

Senior Macey Roberts earned a career high on the floor of 9.925, while fellow senior Kari Lee earned the same score to tie her career high and MaKenna Merrell-Giles tied her season high with the same mark.

Junior MyKayla Skinner won floor with a 9.975 and sophomore Sydney Soloski also had a 9.925.

Merrell-Giles’ score was enough to clinch the meet, although the Wolverines kept things tight with a 49.35 on the balance beam.

Skinner won the all-around with a 39.7, while Merrell-Giles and Michigan’s Olivia Karas tied for second with 39.65.

“Hats off to Michigan,” Utah coach Tom Farden said. “They are a well-coached team with lots of talent. … They didn’t back down and came in here and did a nice job.”

Utah led Michigan just 148.3-148.0 going into the final rotation as both teams were solid on their previous events. Knowing how close it was helped the seniors focus, Merrell-Giles said.

“It was fun to have such a good team on Senior Night,” she said. “It helped me focus more and be on our game; even though the emotions were high, it helped me stay in the moment.”

In addition to her floor score, Merrell-Giles earned 9.95 on vault, 9.925 on the bars and 9.85 on the balance beam.

Lee, who had a 39.55 in the all-around, set the tone for the night when she opened with a 9.925 on the vault.

“As soon as she came out of the gates and dropped that vault, I knew we were in for a good night,” Farden said. “They were in their element and stayed focused. We had a brilliant week of practice so it was the perfect chemistry to earn one of the highest scores in the country."

The Utes posted a season-high 49.5 on the vault. Merrell-Giles tied her season high of 9.95 and Skinner added another 9.95 to lead Utah.

Utah’s momentum on the vault carried over to the uneven bars where they scored a 49.45 with Missy Reinstadtler and Skinner scoring 9.925s. The Utes went with just five on the event because freshman Hunter Dula, who normally competes second, was sidelined with an illness.

The Utes had a solid effort on the balance beam with a 49.35. The score was the second-highest of the season, with Lee and Alexia Burch starting the rotation with 9.9s.

Like the Utes, Michigan was steady, scoring 49.325 on the vault, 49.2 on the bars and 49.475 on the floor to set up the showdown in the final rotation.

“We knew Michigan is a team on the uphill,” Lee said. “Rankings don’t matter, it’s what you bring that night, and they brought it.”

That the Utes responded with such a solid effort gave them a mental boost as well after last week’s close loss to then-ranked No. 2 UCLA. Now the Utes have a week off before traveling to Georgia for the season finale. The postseason run begins with the Pac-12 Championships in the Maverik Center on March 23.

“We’re excited for the postseason,” Merrell-Giles said. “We want to keep that momentum going with our training in practice and do what we need to do to hit in meets. Hard work pays off, so we are working hard in the gym to get ready.”

Costume-wearing imbibers galloped through the streets of Salt Lake City on Saturday for the 12th Annual Urban Chariot Pub Crawl.

Teams dress in theme and race from bar to bar for prizes. The event used to be called the Urban Iditarod, but changed its name after the more-famous Alaska dog race of a similar name complained.

Washington • Researchers in the Galapagos Islands last month discovered, alive, a giant tortoise of a species long feared to be extinct.

The return of the Fernandina Giant Tortoise, last seen in 1906, gives hope that another species, also thought extinct, might yet reemerge.

I speak, of course, of the Principled Republican. The last sighting in the wild of this noble breed was in 2016.

Hopes were kindled Thursday when Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., voicing concern about the "dangerous precedent" of President Trump claiming emergency power to subvert Congress, suggested Trump reconsider. Alexander could become the decisive fourth Senate Republican to oppose Trump's power grab, guaranteeing the Senate joins the House in rejecting it.

Privately, most Republicans think Trump's action reckless, but Alexander can say so publicly because he is retiring. If Republicans did not fear Trump, they would undoubtedly side with 31 retired GOP colleagues who pleaded with them in an open letter this week not to sacrifice the Constitution "on the altar of expediency."

If heeding conscience, Republicans would have enough votes not just to reject Trump’s transgression but to override Trump’s veto. More likely, they will again retreat, more concerned about reelection than righteousness. Surely they know Trump’s actions are wrong: They called President Barack Obama a tyrant for his immigration executive action in 2014, and Obama’s policy, unlike this one, had support — in a Republican-controlled Congress.

As veteran Rep. James F. Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis., said in opposing Trump's emergency declaration this week: "Previous presidents have used the authority" to implement policies "Congress would have supported, but could not do so quickly enough. They did not invoke the authority to subvert the will of Congress."

Trump is figuring Republicans will buckle, as they have each time before. He told the faithful Sean Hannity Thursday that Republicans "put themselves at great jeopardy" by opposing him, suggesting they would be casting a "vote against border security."

He has reason to expect Republican spinelessness. In recent days, House Republicans have put on their most feckless performances of the Trump era. Though many privately oppose Trump's border "emergency" declaration, only a dozen joined Sensenbrenner in defying Trump. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., shrugged off GOP hypocrisy with a Yogi Berra-ism ("Well, times change as it moves forward"), and other Republicans followed.

Rep. Mike Simpson (Idaho) admitted "Republicans would be going nuts" if a Democratic president did this. Rep. Chris Stewart (Utah) called Trump's action a "mistake." Reps. Michael R. Turner (Ohio) and Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio) declared it a "dangerous precedent" and Rep. John Curtis (Utah) a "harmful precedent." Reps. Rob Bishop (Utah), Roger Williams (Tex.) and others voiced concerns. All then voted in support of Trump's emergency.

Seemingly nothing can shake Republicans' craven political calculation that appeasing Trump is a better course than voting their conscience.

Last week in the House, Trump's formal personal lawyer documented a web of deceit by Trump in personal and public matters — and Republicans unflinchingly defended the president. At the same time in Hanoi, Trump accepted Kim Jong Un's word that he had nothing to do with American Otto Warmbier's death — just as Trump accepted similar denials of crimes by the Saudi crown prince and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Then on Thursday, a fresh economic report showed the economy falling short of Trump's forecasts, even though Trump's economic stimulus — a tax cut and spending increases — will add some $2 trillion to the deficit.

Constitutional restraint, personal responsibility, human rights, fiscal conservatism: As recently as 2015, these were Republican principles, now sadly extinct.

Nearly two dozen Senate Republicans — enough to override a veto — have expressed misgivings about Trump's emergency declaration. They have called it "a bad precedent" (Charles E. Grassley, Iowa), "a dangerous step" (John Cornyn, Texas) and "not the preferred way to go" (Rob Portman, Iowa).

Yet only three — Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Thom Tillis (N.C.) — have had the strength to announce opposition.

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham, R-S.C., now the paragon of opportunism, was surprisingly candid about his motives. "If you don't want to get re-elected, you're in the wrong business," he told the New York Times Magazine's Mark Leibovich, also describing his quest to be "relevant" in Trump's world and to claw his way to "influence" inside Trump's "orbit."

"There's sort of a Don Quixote aspect to this," Graham acknowledged.

How apt — except the president is a mad adventurer in service not to chivalry but to personal enrichment, while Republicans play Rocinante and Sancho Panza, his loyal nag and servant.

Surely they know what they are doing harms the country. But they pull their heads into their shells, as good as extinct.

Follow Dana Milbank on Twitter, @Milbank.

When the Jazz overcame a slow start and a double-digit deficit in the first quarter, it was impressive. When they did it all over again in the fourth quarter, it decided the game.

In the end, no one in attendance at Vivint Smart Home Arena on Saturday night cared that the Bucks were missing their starting backcourt, or on the second half of a back-to-back.

All that mattered was that Donovan Mitchell hit big shot after big shot down the stretch to score a career-high 46 points and outduel Giannis Antetokounmpo, as the Jazz rallied from a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit and knocked off the team with the best record in the NBA, 115-111.

Derrick Favors, who played the key minutes late over a struggling Rudy Gobert, added 23 points, 18 rebounds, and three blocks — and drained a key pair of free throws late that helped seal the deal.

Donovan, on the impact of Fav: "He’s the MVP of the game. … Once he dunked on [Ersan Ilyasova], and then he bricked the free throw really hard, you could tell the energy [he had]. You could tell he was in a different place emotionally, and that’s what really propelled us." pic.twitter.com/k1A9NszcZF

— Eric Walden (@tribjazz) March 3, 2019

“It’s just understanding that we’ve got nothing to lose when we’re down 17,” said Mitchell, who hit 15 of 32 shots, including 5 of 10 from deep. “You just fight, and take certain risks that maybe you don’t take when you’re up 17. We made the right plays, and we got stops. That’s really where it started.”

The Jazz won their fourth straight game to improve to 36-26 on the season.

With Eric Bledsoe (back) and Malcom Brogdon (right foot) both sitting out, Milwaukee went with a starting lineup that featured four players standing 6-foot-10 or taller; All-Star Khris Middleton, at 6-8, was the shortest Bucks player on the court at the opening tip.

Milwaukee’s length proved an immediate impediment, as the team raced out to an 11-0 lead, and wound up blocking seven shots in the game’s first six minutes (including six by center Brook Lopez).

Still, that proved to be a relatively minor blip.

Once the Jazz switched to a more defensive-oriented lineup, with Royce O’Neale hounding Antetokounmpo, Utah swung the momentum and took control.

They closed the opening quarter on a 15-6 run, and when Favors started dominating down low on both ends, including a monstrous dunk over Ersan Ilyasova — “Derrick Favors had a beyond-outstanding effort tonight,” said coach Quin Snyder — and when his teammates on the perimeter started draining shots from deep, Utah led by as many as 13 points.

They could not sustain it, though.

Coming out of halftime with Jae Crowder starting in place of Favors, Milwaukee got off to an 11-4 run to tie the game again.

The Bucks led by five going into the fourth, and expanded their advantage to 90-73 with about 10 minutes to go, and it appeared as though the early rally would go for naught.

Except the Jazz weren’t done yet. They got started getting stops, and scored three straight buckets, and a 7-0 run made it a 10-point deficit less than two minutes later.

Quin Snyder, on the Jazz rallying from 17 down in 4Q: "We kept competing. It starts on the defensive end, and kind of having the will to continue to compete, regardless of the score or the situation. When you do that, it doesn’t always work out, but you give yourself a chance." pic.twitter.com/tNXnICR03t

— Eric Walden (@tribjazz) March 3, 2019

“We kept competing. It starts on the defensive end, and kind of having the will to continue to compete, regardless of the score or the situation,” said Snyder. “When you do that, it doesn’t always work out, but you give yourself a chance.”

The Jazz eventually tied it up at 95, and the teams took turns trading big shots down the stretch.

Mitchell nailed a couple of deep 3-pointers, and, after being double-teamed, found Favors down low, and the big man crucially converted a pair of free throws.

Mitchell called Favors “the MVP of the game.”

Gobert, who totaled just five points and nine rebounds, struggled to contain Antetokounmpo in their matchup, and was a minus-36 overall plus/minus, was even more praiseworthy of his fellow big man.

Rudy Gobert, on Derrick Favors playing in place of him down the stretch tonight: "I just got my ass kicked. I missed seven free throws. I just wasn’t good tonight. Props to coach for putting me on the bench and putting in Fav, who had a great game. … I’m just happy for him." pic.twitter.com/21cg63CwRU

— Eric Walden (@tribjazz) March 3, 2019

“I just got my ass kicked. I missed seven free throws. I just wasn’t good tonight. Props to coach for putting me on the bench and putting in Fav, who had a great game,” said Gobert. “… I’m just happy for him. It’s not always easy playing behind me, and sometimes you wanna finish the games, and usually he doesn’t; and playing the way he plays, whether it’s in Denver or here tonight, it’s unbelievable.”

Antetokounmpo finished with 43 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists, and two steals, but went just 11 of 19 at the line.

It was quite a lot. But against these Jazz, on this night, still not quite enough.

““We came out and played hard. Milwaukee is a good team. I know they were coming off of a back-to-back, but they have a lot of good players out there, so we just stuck together as a team,” said Favors. “We got down, but like I said, we stuck together and played hard.”

Washington • As an upbeat Howard Schultz tucked into lunch here recently he was having a good week because Democrats were having an awful one. The former Starbucks CEO, who is contemplating a plunge into politics, knows that his narrow path to the presidency as an independent depends on the Democratic Party becoming as offensive as the Republican Party has become. So, because his political prospects depend on the Democratic Party making normal people wince, he cannot be displeased by:

Numerous Democratic presidential candidates embracing the Green New Deal in the nanosecond before it became a punchline. Various candidates telling 180 million Americans to have stiff upper lips about losing their private health insurance under “Medicare for all.” One candidate, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, saying: There will be less paperwork when the government runs health care. Really. Another candidate (vegan Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey) saying that eating meat threatens the planet. New York and Virginia Democrats, expanding “reproductive rights” into infanticide, saying that infants who survive late-term abortions will be kept “comfortable” while they die of neglect. House Democrats swatting an anti-Semite in their caucus, but having to live with rising anti-Israel sentiment in their base. And remaining hostage to a ubiquitous colleague who became the face of (a) socialism and (b) freshman Democrats by capturing a safe seat after winning a primary with the grand total of 16,898 votes.

Democrats are spewing fury about Schultz, who they think might siphon off anti-Trump votes and become Ralph Nader redux. In 2000, when George W. Bush won the presidency by defeating Al Gore in Florida by 537 votes, Nader, running as the Green Party candidate, received 97,488 Florida votes, thereby probably defeating Gore.

Schultz is startled but undaunted by Democratic vituperation. He says that getting on the ballot in all 50 states will be no problem, and he sees a path to 270 electoral votes — assuming the Democratic nominee embodies a compound of high-octane progressivism and weirdness (see paragraph two above). A decision to run, which Schultz probably must make by early summer, long before the Democratic nominee will be known, will involve two wagers, the first of which is that Democrats will oblige him by ideological self-indulgence.

If, as is probable, he becomes a candidate, and if, as is not probable, he quickly attracts significant support, he might tug Democrats toward the center. This would weaken the rationale for his candidacy but not erase it because two of his animating concerns — fiscal recklessness (trillion-dollar deficits while the economy grows) and obliviousness regarding the rickety structure of entitlements (Social Security, Medicare) — are as serious as they are perilous. Schultz hopes Americans want to hear the truth about fiscal mismanagement; he knows they might obliterate a candidate who tells them the truth and what should be done about it. This is why candidates avoid these subjects.

Schultz knows that even the most successful third-party candidate failed: In 1912, former President Theodore Roosevelt — universally known, widely admired, vastly experienced, politically gifted — bested the incumbent president, William Howard Taft, who won just eight electoral votes, but Roosevelt was trounced by Woodrow Wilson, 435 electoral votes to 88. No third-party candidate has won electoral votes since 1968, when George Wallace, who won just 13.5 percent of the vote, carried five states because he had a regional base, the South. He was, however, a wine that did not travel.

Wallace had a vivid personality, as did the sandpapery Ross Perot, who in 1992 won 19 percent of the popular vote, but no electoral votes. Schultz is as mild as oatmeal, which is admirable and conceivably marketable. His other wager (besides that Democrats will nominate someone who makes normal people queasy) is that Americans, exhausted and embarrassed by politics-as-a-mixed-martial-arts-cage-match, will be ready for someone whose message begins with a simple question: "Is this really the best we can do?" The antecedent of "this" is:

A president who calls his porn-star mistress "Horseface." A supine Republican Party that is content to have the president make a mockery of the basic constitutional architecture, the separation of powers, by declaring a national emergency because of a legislative disappointment, thereby nullifying Congress' core power, control of spending. And an opposition party that thinks America needs a lot more government supervision of everything, and that this would mean a lot less paperwork.

There. Now, try to argue with a straight face that a challenge to today's party duopoly would subtract from the stock of excellence in government.

George Will’s email address is georgewill@washpost.com.

Houston • The schedule to start the season won’t be kind to Real Salt Lake, which has six of its first nine games on the road. Saturday against the Houston Dynamo was an opportunity to get on the right side of its road form early, and for the most part, the team was pleased with the effort.

“Overall it’s a good standard for the games on the road that we have to play, at least, like we did today,” Albert Rusnák said. “I think we’ll do much better this year on the road than we did last year.”

RSL and Houston ended in a 1-1 draw in the season opener for both at the BBVA Compass Stadium. Real took a one-goal lead heading into the second half, but the Dynamo’s equalizer ensured both teams would come away from the match with only one point in the standings.

Even earning one point on the road last season proved difficult for RSL, which won only three road games in the entire 2018 regular season. A refrain during the preseason was that Real was going to pay more attention to defense before the games started to matter, a wrinkle that had some players grumbling, but others buying in to the idea that it would give the team a good foundation to start the year.

Real gave up just one shot on goal, blocked five of Houston’s shots and tallied three defensive blocks. The Dynamo’s lone goal — a flick of Mauro Manotas’ right heel in the 62nd minute — came off a defensive miscommunication that allowed Adam Lundkvist’s cross to find Manotas, RSL keeper Nick Rimando said.

“We may have took a play off on the right side,” Rimando said. “Their left back snuck in behind one of our players. It was a good cross and Manotas put his foot out there and was able to direct it in.”

Albert Rusnák with his overall thoughts on tonight’s draw against the Houston Dynamo. #RSL pic.twitter.com/lkB7GG1c1b

— Alex Vejar (@AlexVReporting) March 3, 2019

Rusnák scored in the 40th minute to give Real Salt Lake a 1-0 lead. Corey Baird dribbled from the backfield into the attacking third and tapped the ball to Rusnák at the top of the 18-yard box. It took only a soft touch to get Rusnák away from his defender and give him the sliver of space he needed to shoot.

Rusnák, thinking back, said he may have gotten lucky getting free on the first touch after Baird’s pass. But he was so close to the goal, he said, that he just had to find a way to find the back of the net.

“It’s not the nicest goal I’ve scored,” Rusnák said, “but I’ll take it.”

While Saturday marked the first quote-unquote meaningful game for RSL, Houston already has a couple under its belt. The Dynamo just played on Tuesday against Guastatoya in a CONCACAF Champions League match. They play again Tuesday against Tigres from Liga MX in the CONCACAF quarterfinals.

RSL coach Mike Petke acknowledged that Houston is probably in better overall shape than his team at this point of the season, and said there may have been some tired legs toward the end of game for his players. But he’ll take the result.

“Overall, it’s a good point on the road and something to build on for next week at home,” Petke said. “Tonight was a good start.”

Notes

Justen Glad was officially ruled out after breaking his toe on Thursday. … Everton Luiz, Kyle Beckerman and Aaron Herrera all picked up yellow cards for unsporting behavior. … Matias Vera was ejected late in the game after receiving his second yellow card.

#RSL coach Mike Petke on the game and his team’s defense. pic.twitter.com/VHPsH68CkP

— Alex Vejar (@AlexVReporting) March 3, 2019

House Bill 220, Rep. Carl Albrecht’s bill to short-circuit Utah’s responsible process to determine if Utah can handle nuclear waste, is going to the governor.

It does add language that requires the federal government to accept EnergySolutions’ Clive nuclear waste dump property and maintain it permanently. Hopefully, the federal government will never accept that, as it may take hundreds of millions of dollars in the near future to safely and completely store the nuclear waste that ES wants to bring into Utah. The bill also “allows the director of the Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control to authorize alternate requirements for waste classification and characteristics that would allow an entity to accept certain waste at a specific site.”

It is irresponsible to give one person the full responsibility to control the license to accept nuclear waste in Utah. EnergySolutions, used to be called Envirocare, and was part of one of Utah’s biggest government corruption scandals. In the 1990s, the owner of Envirocare, Khosrow Semnani testified that he paid Larry F. Anderson hundreds of thousands of dollars during the time that Anderson was the state official responsible for the license to dispose of DOE waste at Envirocare. Utah should not make government corruption easy. Allowing one person to control whether ES can accept nuclear waste increases the chance for under the table payments or a cushy job at ES after government service.

The present system works. Proof that the system works is the slow and reasoned process that Utah state employees have engaged in to ensure that accepting nuclear waste is a trusted and safe process. The recent efforts to speed up the process to accept depleted uranium munitions resulted in a finding by Utah that the speed-up was inappropriate and that it required a full performance analysis.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory recommended storage in a drier and more secure area, such as the Nevada Test Site. The 5,000 barrels of what EnergySolutions has called depleted uranium (actually, and more properly called waste in process or nuclear weapons waste), is undergoing a thorough performance analysis that obviously is frustrating to EnergySolutions but should result in the citizens trusting state government employees and trusting the potential of nuclear power.

EnergySolutions recently changed the name of the materials in the barrels from DU to DU oxides but still claimed that they had not been through a reactor. The manifest of the barrels proves otherwise. The mislabeling of the barrel material may have added to the confusion of the former CEO who claimed that you can safely grow vegetables in the material.

The confusion caused by mislabeling nuclear waste may have led to several legislators saying “depleted uranium is used in everyday life” (Sen. Daniel Hemmert). Depleted uranium that has not gone through a reactor and has had most of its high-level radioactive uranium isotopes removed (for bombs and reactors) is used as counterweights in aircraft and boats. The pure metal munitions, heavier than lead, create other issues, as it is pyrophoric and can start a fire and create fumes that can cause serious injury to lungs. The barrels contain irradiated material and should not be confused with depleted uranium that has had most active, high-level, radioactive material removed.

I love nuclear power but the future of nuclear power is threatened by misunderstanding nuclear waste. Development of nuclear power requires a trust in companies that are in the industry. Misunderstanding nuclear waste, to the point of thinking that vegetables can be grown in it, results in the loss of trust in nuclear power.

Gov. Gary Herbert should veto HB220 and help increase the trust required to develop nuclear power. Utah’s energy policy of encouraging safe advanced nuclear power systems requires that the companies involved in doing nuclear work understand the very complicated materials involved. HB220 threatens that trust. Anyone who thinks that it makes sense to grow vegetables in nuclear weapons waste should not be working in the nuclear industry.

George Chapman, Salt Lake City, has worked for General Atomic, worked with depleted uranium munitions and supports safe and responsible nuclear power.

Numerous letters have appeared in The Tribune recently against the disposal of depleted uranium (DU) at the EnvironmentalSolutions site in Utah. I’m adding yet another voice to the debate.

I served on the Utah Radiation Control Board from 2006 through 2012. During my tenure, the board addressed many interesting issues relating to radiological waste in Utah, some simple, some complicated. The DU issue falls into the complicated realm.

DU is the by-product of the enrichment of uranium ore where the fissionable U235 isotope is removed from the ore for use in power plants and munitions, leaving U238 and other non-fissionable uranium isotopes behind. The problem with the U238 isotope is that it eventually decays and becomes more radioactive with time, reaching its peak radioactivity after approximately a million years.

When the board first debated whether EnergySolutions would be a safe disposal site for DU, my initial thought was that we don’t need to worry about what is going to happen in a million years. In a million years mankind may not even exist (extinctions happen), mankind may evolve into superior beings able to solve any such problem, or something in between.

I was OK with bringing in the DU, as long as the disposal cells were engineered to withstand all feasible failure scenarios and the state taxed the heck out of it, using the tax revenues to solve real and present-day public health issues such as poor air quality, access to health care, climate change or any other pressing public health issue.

I have, since that time, changed my opinion. The Utah Department of Environmental Quality is about to finish an eight-year performance assessment on whether the EnergySolutions site can safely store the DU. I recall when the performance assessment was first discussed during board meetings, we were told that long-term modeling used for performance assessments is only reliable up to about 50,000 years, and 50,000 years is considerably less than 1 million years.

I don’t want to comment on the results of the performance assessment until it is completed. However, it is my belief that there is no way any performance assessment can, with any reasonable level of certainty, determine what events may transpire in Utah’s west desert over a million year time period. Lake Bonneville may rise and fall, and other catastrophic geologic or climate-related events may occur. The only thing that can be said with any level of certainty is that we can’t be certain what will happen in Utah’s west desert over a million years.

That being the case, I think it would be irresponsible to dispose of DU in shallow surface cells in Utah’s west desert and saddle future generations with the risks that disposal would create.

However, it appears that disposal of DU in Utah is going to happen unless Gov. Gary Herbert vetoes HB220. It may happen even with his veto, given the large number of veto-busting votes in both the House and Senate favoring the bill.

Therefore, if DU is coming to Utah, I still believe that Utah should tax the heck out of it, and earmark that money to address real and present-day public health problems, like poor air quality, access to health care, climate change, or any other pressing public health issue.

Frank DeRosso, MSPH, CIH, Millcreek, a founder, past president and current senior scientist at RMEC Environmental Inc., Salt Lake City.

Boulder, Colo. • With the game becoming tense in the last two minutes Saturday, a 3-point shot finally went through the net and Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak raised his arms.

Not in triumph. In exasperation.

The Utes' defensive lapse enabled Lucas Siewert to hit a clinching shot in Colorado's 71-63 victory at the CU Events Center, as the Buffaloes kept Utah from moving into a tie for second place in the Pac-12.

Krystkowiak will be haunted by how his players failed to make a defensive switch on that play, with Colorado's lead down to six points. Mostly, though, he'll remember all of his own team's misses.

The Pac-12's best 3-point shooting team went 5 of 26 against Colorado, and the Buffaloes could take only a fraction of the credit for those numbers. Shot selection was not really the issue, either. The Utes just missed repeatedly.

“I don't remember very many bad ones,” Krystkowiak said. “There were a lot of wide-open ones.”

So the problem was easily to pinpoint. In postgame interviews, athletes often repeat their coaches' message from the locker room, and Ute guard Sedrick Barefield relayed the telling statistic: Barefield and three other backcourt players shot a combined 2 of 18 from 3-point range. Both Gach was 0 for 6 and Parker Van Dyke, one of the team's top performers in February, was 0 for 3. Charles Jones Jr. missed his only attempt, a week after the Utes made 16 3-pointers in a win at Washington State.

“It was one of those days that the ball wasn't going in,” said Barefield, whose 19 points included 2-of-8 long-range shooting. “We have tremendous shooters on our team.”

Label this a missed opportunity, then. Utah (15-13, 9-7 Pac-12) dropped into a fourth-place tie in the conference with UCLA with two home games remaining, Thursday vs. USC and Saturday vs. UCLA.

Colorado (17-11, 8-8) needed a victory after two road losses, and the Buffaloes now are among a pack of teams close behind the Utes.

From Utah’s perspective, this game could be rationalized as one that a home team should win — except this is no ordinary season in the Pac-12, for the Utes or anyone else.

Utah finished 6-3 in conference road games, the program's best record in the Pac-12 era. Considering the state of the league and their own home record, though, the Utes could have used one more road win.

What's frightening is how far the Utes could fall in the Pac-12 tournament seeding if they finish 10-8 or 9-9 in the league. That's the weird reality of this conference in 2018-19.

And that's why Saturday was a bad time for Utah to revert to the team of November and December that couldn't get a key rebound, make open shots or finish plays at the rim. An inside presence would have been helpful, but Jayce Johnson scored only two points, offsetting his 13-rebound day.

The Utes' makeup is such that they thrive on the road when they make shots, and that didn't happen against Colorado. Donnie Tillman's consecutive 3-pointers in the first half stood out amid the team's futility, as he scored 14 points. Gach added 12, despite his outside struggles. Timmy Allen had 11 points in his return to the lineup after a two-game absence due to back trouble.

Tyler Bey scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half for Colorado.

Utah started the game poorly, and finished the first half with another lousy effort. D'Shawn Schwartz's 3-pointer at the buzzer gave the Buffaloes a 35-26 lead, after they had trailed 41-19 at halftime of a 78-69 loss at the Huntsman Center in January.

Utah got within four points early in the second half. Colorado extended the lead to 13 before the Utes made one last run. Barefield’s rare 3-pointer made it 63-57. But then Siewert answered with his only basket of the game for Colorado, nicely punctuating Utah’s day.

A 37-year-old woman died Saturday after she fell off a boulder while hiking near the Great Salt Lake and the rock rolled and crushed her.

When Tooele County Sheriff’s Office deputies first got a call from the woman’s hiking partners — her husband and a friend — the callers thought the woman still had a pulse. That was just before 3 p.m., Tooele County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Travis Scharmann said.

Once the search-and-rescue crew hiked through the snow about a half-mile “straight up a mountain,” the crew declared her dead. Deputies aren’t releasing the woman’s name until other members of her family learn about her death, Scharmann said.

Scharmann said the trio of hikers was finishing their outing Saturday afternoon and descended into a rocky area, where the woman stepped on a large boulder. The boulder shifted, and she fell forward, and the rock then rolled on top of her. Officials believe she died instantly.

The group was about a mile from the trailhead.

Crews got the woman’s body off the mountain at 7:30 p.m. The body will be sent to the state medical examiner’s office to determine her official cause of death, Scharmann said.

Ogden • As the crow flies, it’s less than five miles between the high schools in American Fork and Pleasant Grove. But the two schools had to go much farther north to settle who would break a long, long drought in boys’ basketball. And who would be the best of the best in Class 6A for the 2018-19 season.

It was American Fork (24-3) that won its first title since 1979 after beating the Vikings 66-57 at Weber State University.

“Forty years, forty years. We talked about it every day, coach talked about history,” said Caveman senior Trey Stewart, who finished with 18 points in the win.

Ryan Cuff, after a successful run at Dixie High, took the American Fork job in the offseason and said he embraced the challenge of ending the four decades of frustration.

“When we made the move, it was all-in,” said Cuff, who became the first coach to win state championships at three schools — Lone Peak, Dixie and American Fork. His son, Tanner Cuff, co-led the victors with 18 points while grabbing a team-high eight rebounds, and played a crucial role as the Cavemen pulled away from Pleasant Grove (24-3) in the third quarter.

The Vikings trimmed a onetime nine-point deficit to two when Casey Brown hit four straight free throws. But Cuff then scored the game’s next six points — two field goals and two free throws — as American Fork went up 44-36 with two minutes left in the third.

The closest Pleasant Grove would come after that exchange was when Kael Mikkelsen hit a 3-pointer with 2:35 left to make the score 56-53. After a pair of layups, one from Cuff followed by an answer from Tim Nichols, Cuff found Stewart cutting to the basket for a crucial score at the 1:40 mark for a 60-55 lead.

“We looked forward to thinking we could do something like this,” said Ryan Cluff of the move to the American Fork job. “It had been 40 years since they had done something like this. I’m just proud of them, the way they hung in there and got it done.”

The game featured a pair of 7-foot seniors bound for Pac-12 schools next year: American Fork’s Isaac Johnson (Oregon) and Pleasant Grove’s 7-4 Matt Van Komen (Utah). Both players weren’t able to get their inside scoring games up to usual standards, but Johnson hit a big 3-pointer with 2:03 left in the second quarter as part of his 10-point, seven-rebound night.

Van Komen, who was on the losing end of the Class 6A title game a year ago when Pleasant Grove fell to Lone Peak, finished with six points and 10 boards. While Van Komen and his fellow Vikes were on the court in that game, Johnson was watching. In fact, American Fork didn’t even qualify for the state tournament field in each of the last two seasons.

“We were just able to see the way the other teams felt like, they seemed so happy afterward,” said Johnson, who felt that Van Komen’s prior experience in the state championship game didn’t give him any major incentive over-and-above what the American Fork players had. “Sure, he knew what it felt like to lose, but he didn’t know what it felt like not to make it,” Johnson said. “We wanted this bad.”

Logan • If the revival isn’t complete, it’s certainly near completion. It’s what Craig Smith set out to do when he was hired less than a year ago, to convince Cache Valley that there is a reason to return to the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum and to transform it back into what it was for decades: an ear-piercing, headache-inducing, student-section swarming sort of event. And above all, a place where the Utah State Aggies could not only win, but also prove that important games were soon on the horizon.

All it took was less than a full season. They’re back. And it’s back, the program catchphrase under the first-year coach, now a program hashtag, the #SpectrumMagic. Students camped out for days in the freezing temperatures for a shot at getting in and finding a prime seat. Just like the old days. The Hurd was its old self, too, a cast of characters designed to scream until their voices could no longer be heard and to do their absolute best to distract the opponent, even just for a split-second.

So on Saturday night against No. 12-ranked Nevada, with first place in the Mountain West Conference on the line in Logan, the Spectrum returned to where Smith so desperately wanted it to get. Heck, even before tipoff, Smith made a bee-line toward legendary head coach Stew Morrill, seated on press row, and thanked him for coming.

The Aggies, already enjoying their best season ever in the MWC and most wins since the 2010-11 season, defended their home floor against a Wolf Pack team filled with NBA prospects, that had only lost two games all year and was a sexy preseason pick to be a Final Four finalist. The Aggies beat Nevada 81-76 Saturday night to improve to 24-6 and are now 14-3, alone in first place in the MWC.

Smith dubbed it a heavyweight-style fight. In front of 10,387 fans, the seventh-largest crowd in USU basketball history, the Aggies seized a moment that, before the season started, wasn’t considered to ever be in the cards.

That is, to everyone beyond shouting distance from Smith and his group.

“To get to where we are after the last couple of years, which were really tough, and to see the Spectrum full like that again for the first time in a while,” Sam Merrill said, his voice tailing off, “but we’re not there yet.”

Yet here they are, having topped one of the best teams in college basketball behind their star junior guard Merrill (game-high 29 points), freshman center sensation Neemias Queta (13 points, 11 rebounds) and a band of weekly heroes who, when asked by Smith and the staff to step into the spotlight and enjoy it, they do so willingly.

On Saturday, just one of them was Diogo Brito, who had 15 points and eight rebounds off the bench in a foul-fest, playing an integral role in stemming a late Nevada run that, after USU was up by as many as 13 points, whittled the lead down to three with less than a minute remaining.

The Aggies were cool at the line, and that was that.

It was Brito, who with seconds left, joined in with the crowd in the final chant sending off the frustrated Wolf Pack. Then, in a flash, the crowd spilled out onto the court. And there, in a flash, was that magic Smith’s yearned for.

“I don’t know what’s the feeling of passing out, but I was very close,” said Brito. “There was nowhere for me to breathe.”

Smith had a prime view. After completing his postgame national TV interview, the fans on the court hoisted their head coach into the air and let him get his crowd surf on while the entire place belted out "Sweet Caroline” in unison.

"It’s always impossible,” said Smith, “until you make it possible.”

Provo • BYU basketball coach Dave Rose called Saturday’s 87-73 win over San Diego in front of an announced crowd of 13,095 a “hard-fought game.”

He wasn’t joking.

The Cougars almost blew another big second-half lead, but rallied after the Toreros cut a 20-point deficit with 10 minutes remaining to six with two minutes left. Despite not making a field goal in the final five minutes and 45 seconds, BYU (11-5, 19-12) held on to sweep the season series.

“It was a pretty physical game, which we anticipated,” Rose said. “I am happy for our guys. We get a big win, a little bit of momentum going into the tournament next week.”

BYU finished tied with Saint Mary’s, which lost to Gonzaga, for second place in the final league standings.

San Diego fell to 7-9 and 18-13, having knocked off San Francisco in overtime on Thursday. That figured to be a huge gift to the Cougars, but the Dons lost to LMU Saturday afternoon, and BYU had the third seed wrapped up before tip-off.

No matter, said Yoeli Childs, who had his 17th double-double of the season with 29 points and 13 rebounds.

“Coach addressed it before the game, and made it very clear that that is not what it is about,” Childs said. “It is about going out and competing every single game. It is about giving it your all, especially for this last game to make sure we go out and get a win for those seniors.”

Seniors Luke Worthington and McKay Cannon were honored before the final home game, and Worthington got the start because freshman center Gavin Baxter was ill and missed practices the past week.

“I think we really played for them tonight,” Childs said. “There were times when we were down and they were making their runs, and we really just pulled together and played as a group again. I was proud of the way we fought tonight.”

TJ Haws added 26 points, five rebounds and four assists, but was involved in a scary moment late in the game that had Rose fuming a bit. Haws and USD’s Isaiah Wright, who led the Toreros with 19 points, banged heads with 1:58 remaining and the Cougars leading 79-73.

Wright was assessed with the foul.

What went through Rose’s mind when his star guard and USD’s star guard were both slow to get up?

“I will tell you what goes through my mind: Why are we playing like that?,” Rose said. “We don’t play like that in November, I promise you. How come when we get to March, that’s how we play? That’s all I got to say about that.”

Childs hit both free throws for Haws, who had to leave the game, and Nick Emery followed with a free throw to give BYU some breathing room. Having rallied back from a 69-49 deficit, San Diego didn’t score after Finn Sullivan’s basket cut BYU’s lead to 79-73 with 2:19 remaining.

“We played right, until the last six or eight minutes, where the ball got stuck on one side,” Rose said of USD’s comeback. “But for the most part, it was good. The assists, at one time we had 15 baskets on 12 assists or something like that. Then at the end of the game we kind of went away from that.”

Nick Emery added 15 and Zac Seljaas had 10. The Cougars took 40 free throws, making 31, while USD was 17 of 21 from the line.

“These games are good for us,” Haws said “That’s a good win for us against a really good team. But to have a lead like that, anyone can beat anyone on any given night. And when you play a team like that that has such great shooters all around the board, they can make a run at any time.”

The Cougars blew a 14-point lead in the final eight minutes the last time they played at home, against San Francisco on Feb. 21, but didn’t let it all slip away this time.

“Everyone’s confidence is sky-high right now,” Childs said. “We are going into this thing [WCC tournament] with the attitude that we are going to win it all.”

Ogden • In a rugged game where playing close to the basket required an act of courage, Corner Canyon’s 6-foot-9 Hayden Welling towered above everyone.

As a result, the Chargers avenged two close and hard-fought regular-season losses by beating region rival Jordan 62-45 and winning their first Class 5A state basketball championship Saturday in the Dee Events Center.

In a game where the two teams combined for just three 3-point baskets and none by Corner Canyon, the action was close to the basket.

That’s where Welling shined. Despite being knocked around and occasionally blocked by the Beetdiggers, he prevailed with a 29-point, 15-rebound performance.

“It wasn’t all me,” he said. “My teammates played defense the whole game. And we worked the ball inside.”

Welling got plenty of help inside from Gabe Toombs, who contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds against the physical Beetdiggers.

The victory gave veteran Utah prep coach Dan Lunt his first state title after three previous finals losses in a distinguished 31-year career.

“The joy is in the journey,” said Lunt, who came to Corner Canyon three years ago from Payson and led the Chargers to the semifinals and last year’s finals. “This is the icing on the cake.”

He said Corner Canyon sacrificed the 3-point game to get the ball into the paint, a strategy the paid great dividends.

Corner Canyon grabbed an early lead, allowed Jordan to tie it late in the second quarter and then slowly pulled away with a 21-10 third quarter.

The Beetdiggers got good games from Dyson Koehler, who had 13 points, and Tevuta Mafileo, who had 11, but just couldn’t match the Chargers inside game as Jordan came just short of winning their first state basketball title since 1984.

The Chargers never allowed Jordan to get comfortable on offense. They played physical inside with Toombs enjoying a big second half.

The box score showed just how much Corner Canyon dominated on defense. The Chargers held Jordan to 30.2 percent from the field and 15 percent from the 3-point line. They didn’t allow any chance of a comeback by fighting off every Jordan challenge.

Corner Canyon also established itself as among Utah’s prep elite. The Chargers also won the 5A football championship game last fall and their girls’ basketball team finished second to East last week.

Bear River took a two-point advantage into halftime in the 4A championship, but it was a strong finish by Skyview (16-9) that gave the Bobcats a 64-59 victory on Saturday in Cedar City and their first crown since 2013.

Samuel Phillips led the way with 23 points while fellow juniors Mason Falslev and Cole DeBoard scored 17 and 13 respectively.

Bear River (21-7), which fell to Sky View for the third time this season, got 17 from James Fonnesbeck while Kelton Summers added 13.

Class 4A girls

In Cedar City, it was a first in school history as Cedar High captured the 4A girls’ crown with a 53-40 victory over Ridgeline. The victory over the Riverhawks capped a perfect 25-0 campaign for the Redmen.

Mayci Torgerson scored 18 points for Cedar and sank 10 of her 11 free throw attempts while teammate Japrix Weaver added 11. Ridgeline (22-4) had 18 points from Halle Livingston while Haley Anderson hit four 3-pointers as part of her point-total of 14.

Class 1A boys

In Richfield, it had been 20 years since Tabiona had won a state championship, but Tigers ended the dry spell by gaining coach Lee Gines his third state championship. Gines was also at the helm when Tabiona won in 1997 and 1999 — the only time that the school has earned hoops championships.

This time around, it came as Tabiona entered the state tourney field as only a third seed out of its region. But the Tigers, who finished behind Manila and Rich in the league standings, defeated Panguitch 47-39 to claim bragging rights over the whole classification.

Class 1A girls

In Richfield, Panguitch (22-2) continued its recent dominance of the small-school ranks with a 38-35 victory over Piute in the state championship. It was the second title in a row for the Bobcats and the fifth in the last six years.

For Panguitch coach Curtis Barney, it was a landmark victory as it marked the 12th time that he captured a crown — a state record — and all with Panguitch.

Junior Mataya Barney scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Bobcats while senior Piute center Jordyn Kennedy paced her team with a dozen points and eight boards.

The calendar may say March, but winter returned to Rice-Eccles Stadium Saturday night. The Salt Lake Stallions hosted the Orlando Apollos on a snow-covered field and a predictable slog-fest ensued — but it was the warm-weather Floridians who emerged with a 20-11 victory.

“I told our guys before the game, if our Florida boys could come win one in the snow, then we’d have something to talk about,” said Orlando coach Steve Spurrier. "It was a fun one and it was a good game. Gosh, the Stallions played pretty well, They outplayed us a good portion, but we kept them out of the end zone.”

In the highly anticipated matchup between Spurrier and Stallions coach Dennis Erickson — who both built their reputations in the Sunshine State but never actually faced each other there — the weather ultimately kept the two offensive-minded coaches from opening up their playbooks. Orlando ended up with just 363 total yards, while the Stallions could muster only 265.

It wasn’t until the third quarter that the big plays started coming.

Orlando’s Garrett Gilbert connected with Rannell Hall for a 45-yard catch and run to the 1-yard line. The play was negated by a block in the back, moving the ball back to the Stallions 20. However, two plays later, Gilbert connected to Donteea Dye for a 20-yard touchdown reception to give the Apollos a 14-3 lead.

Just before the end of the third quarter, the Stallions’ Joel Bouaagnon — filling in for the injured Branden Oliver — ran 14 yards around the right side for Salt Lake’s only touchdown of the game. The score pulled the Stallions to within three with the two-point conversion, but those were the last points the Stallions would put on the board.

“We couldn’t get them off the field in the second half, just couldn’t get them off the field,” Erickson said. “You know, that says a lot about them, they’re a really good football team. Offensively, we moved it. We moved it up and down the field. We just couldn’t get any points.”

Not helping the Stallions — a miserable 1-for-9 outing converting third downs.

“Most of these games are so close, if you can score touchdowns in the red zone, you’ve got a chance to win,” said Spurrier.

Next week, the Stallions will look to rebound on the road against the San Diego Fleet. The Apollos, unbeaten in AAF play coming in, will try to keep their perfect record intact against Birmingham.

Rudy Gobert has been Utah’s best player this season, but even the best have down games.

Saturday night’s definitely qualified as that for Gobert, who finished with just five points on 2-9 shooting, in just 19 minutes on the court. The most ugly stat for Gobert, though, was in the plus-minus column: he finished as a -36 in a game the Jazz won by four.

“I just got my [expletive] kicked. I just wasn’t good tonight," Gobert said. "Props to coach for putting me on the bench, and putting [Derrick Favors] in, who had a great game.”

Time and time again, the Jazz struggled to contain the Bucks with Gobert playing. Thanks to Milwaukee’s big starting lineup, Gobert found himself guarding MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo during the game. But Antetokounmpo simply went through Gobert as if he wasn’t there on several possessions, while the more sturdy Favors found more success, and keyed many of the Jazz’s runs.

Rudy Gobert, on Derrick Favors playing in place of him down the stretch tonight: "I just got my ass kicked. I missed seven free throws. I just wasn’t good tonight. Props to coach for putting me on the bench and putting in Fav, who had a great game. … I’m just happy for him." pic.twitter.com/21cg63CwRU

— Eric Walden (@tribjazz) March 3, 2019

“I was happy for him. It’s not always easy, playing behind me. You want to finish the games and usually he doesn’t,” Gobert said. “Playing the way he plays anyway is just unbelievable, and just shows how much of a professional he is.”

And Favors appreciated Gobert’s support. “Some nights I don’t have it, and he goes out there and dominates,” Favors said. “So it’s something that both of us do, and I’m glad I have his support.”

That Gobert wasn’t pouting on the bench does differentiate him from some of the NBA’s stars, who may have made a stink if they had sat down the stretch, no matter what happened in the first few quarters.

“Everybody has a game like that, and it’s tough. I’ve had plenty of those games,” Donovan Mitchell said. “A lot of guys with his accolades, of his stature to let Fav play and do what he does, that’s stands out most. Not a lot of All-Star centers do that, and that’s big time.”

Jazz recognize kids suffering from rare and undiagnosed diseases

Before the game began, 32 children with rare and undiagnosed diseases were welcomed on to the Vivint Arena court to stand in front of the players during the singing of the national anthem.

Justin Zanik, assistant general manager of the Jazz, invited the group to the game, as he and wife Gina have three undiagnosed children. They were representing RUN (Rare and Undiagnosed Network), an organization that represents the 1 in 10 Utahns that suffers from such a disease.

"This moment at Saturday’s game [called] public attention to the challenges faced by children fighting rare and undiagnosed genetic conditions” said Gina Szajnuk, founder of RUN, in a statement given to media.

Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 115-111 win over the Milwaukee Bucks from Salt Lake Tribune beat writer Andy Larsen.

1. From 17 down in the fourth quarter, Jazz come back and win

What a comeback. I thought the Jazz were done in this game after Milwaukee went on another huge run to extend the lead to 17 points, 90-73 with 9:39 left. This was a reasonable opinion, as, according to Inpredict, the Jazz had just a three percent chance of winning the game at that point.

Then Donovan Mitchell happened. For the rest of the quarter, he scored 19 points on 7-10 shooting, 3-3 from three, and added three assists. Even on the three misses, Derrick Favors got the rebound and scored because there was so much defensive attention on Mitchell.

The initial 7-0 run to cut the lead to 10 came from some pretty standard play: a Mitchell kickout to Joe Ingles behind him, a classic Ingles/Favors pick and roll conversion, then a Mitchell pull-up three in transition. Curiously, then Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer went with a lineup without either Giannis Antetokounmpo or Brook Lopez in the game, and that’s when Mitchell was really able to get going, using his quickness to get to the rim without any protection to meet him there. The Jazz went on a 10-3 run to cut the lead to three.

Don with 34 points 😤#TakeNote pic.twitter.com/WnXUHjn8Ki

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) March 3, 2019

Also helpful: how much shooting the Jazz kept on the court. Kyle Korver finished the game instead of Ricky Rubio, meaning that Milwaukee didn’t want to leave two shooters. That meant Mitchell had more room to operate than usual.

But the Bucks adjusted, finally got their best players back in the game, and Mitchell still excelled. Mitchell’s baskets were just plain-old tough shot making. A ridiculous, off-balance floater, a pull-up three, and finally, a 29-footer to give the Jazz a 6-point lead.

I thought it was most impressive, though, that he balanced his attacking mindset with the realization that his on-fire status meant that Milwaukee had sent several Bucks to try to smother him. That’s when the Jazz got their easiest points in the most critical moments: when Mitchell fired a cross-court fastball to Jae Crowder in the corner, or to Favors inside after he was doubled.

Hoooooooooboy this pass from Donovan Mitchell pic.twitter.com/c339toZlAu

— Leigh Ellis (@LeighEllis) March 3, 2019

In the end, Mitchell scored 46 points and added six assists to lead the Jazz to a 4-point victory against the team with the best record in the NBA.

He’s not perfect, and it’s not always, but in Donovan Mitchell, the Jazz have a player that other teams just can’t stop. In the NBA, that’s pretty darn valuable.

2. Derrick Favors with an incredible game

Rudy Gobert was absolutely horrendous on Saturday night. I think he’s been the Jazz’s best player this season, but he couldn’t have looked worse against Milwaukee, scoring only five points on 2-9 shooting while going 1-8 from the free-throw line. Oh, and he was essentially a defensive sieve, letting Antetokounmpo do whatever he wanted to do to him inside.

When he was on the floor, though it was only for 19 minutes, the Jazz had a 63.6 offensive rating and a 139.4 defensive rating. Maybe this is the more evocative stat: in a game the Jazz won by 4, he had a -36 plus-minus. Ouch. That’s shocking for a player of Gobert’s caliber, especially one that looks so good from a plus-minus point of view most of the time.

But up stepped Derrick Favors in an absolutely incredible way. He put up 23 points (on 10-12 shooting) and added 18 rebounds and three blocked shots in one of the very best games of his career. As opposed to Gobert, he was a +29.

First of all, we have to talk about his dunk. I’ve been a Favors watcher for eight-and-a-half seasons now, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him have a dunk quite this good.

That looks like it’s going to be a standard-but-still-impressive Favors layup finish on the roll, but Favors just says “Why not?” and dunks it all over Ersan Ilyasova.

But that wasn’t all that was special. The blocks he had in this game were superb, including this one on the NBA’s dunk leader:

We also have to note Favors’ 18 rebounds, which is an impressive enough number in its own right without also considering the massive lineup the Bucks were playing. In a game where the Bucks played with four guys 6-foot-10 or above — and the fifth was 6-foot-8 Khris Middleton — Favors came up first in rebounds in all of that traffic.

Favors was drafted into the league as a long, athletic freak, but kind of lost that somewhere along the way due to injuries, and maybe somewhat due to Favors trying to become a post player in the Ty Corbin era. But now, he’s healthy: “It just felt good to be able to do that again," Favors said. "Last couple of years have been kind of tough.”

It’s sometimes crazy to remember that Favors is just 27 years old. This should be the prime of his career, and recently he’s made it look like exactly that.

3. Milwaukee’s fun big lineup

There might be a couple of caveats on the win: Milwaukee was playing its second game in two days (which might explain why they ran out of gas down the stretch) and their injury report, which meant Eric Bledsoe, Malcolm Brogdon, George Hill, Sterling Brown, and even Dante DiVincenzo missed the game. The Jazz are familiar with massive guard injuries, but that’s even impressive by local standards.

But I thought that Budenholzer was really creative when he just decided to start his five best healthy players: Antetokounmpo at point guard, Khris Middleton at shooting guard, Ilyasova at small forward, Nikola Mirotic at power forward, and Brook Lopez at center.

And it worked! That lineup outscored the Jazz by 22 points while it was on the floor. It was really only the fact that they needed to rest that gave the Jazz a chance to come back... along with the fact that someone needed to guard Mitchell.

“You kind of wish you could play it for 48 minutes, but Giannis is just so unique as a ball handler, and Khris as a ball handler, and there’s all of the size and shooting," Budenholzer said. Hopefully it’s something we can have in our pocket going forward.”

Jae Crowder thought that the unique look really helped the Bucks. “These guys threw a curveball in the game and kudos to Coach Bud over there. He’s a heck of a coach. He threw that screwball out there for us and making us adjust to those guys. It took a lot for us to adjust, but we got it done.”

I think people think of the league’s positional revolution as “going small," and indeed, we do see that a lot. But at times, we’ve seen the opposite work too. If anything, the biggest takeaway is that positions aren’t rigid anymore — instead, it’s about what skills you bring to the court.