JAZZSPIN

Lakers fans are already thinking sweep.  Jazz fans have to be encouraged by clawing their way back somehow despite such horrible shooting and subpar overall play.

MVP of Game 1: Sasha Vujacic

Vujacic had 15 points on only 6 shots. He was 4 for 6 from downtown and they all seemed to come at opportune times. Had some key plays during the second quarter run by L.A..

Key to Game: Second Quarter Run by Lakers

With nearly all reserves on the floor, the Lakers broke the game open. The quarter started with the Jazz down one and within 6 minutes they had extended it to 13. One key play in the run - Korver hits a three but it was wiped away due to a Millsap offensive foul.

Kobe = Free Throw Machine

Not a spectacular game for Kobe but he went to the line and converted 21 times on 23 attempts. He got his teammates open shots at key moments and ended with 38 points. Kobe definitely benefited from a few phantom calls. After 15 in the first quarter, Kobe was fairly quiet from the field.

Memo Eats Pieces of Glass for Breakfast

The best player for the Jazz in game 1. Memo was a monster on the glass with 19 boards, including 8 on the offensive end! Only 7 for 19 from the field but Okur was very aggressive and taking it at the Lakers D.

Overall the Jazz crushed L.A. on the boards.  58 to 41 and a monsterous 25 on the offensive end.  Encouraging for the rest of the series? Perhaps.

Boozer

Boozer attempted to establish himself early and had a couple solid baskets including the first bucket of the game and a powerful left handed dunk over Gasol with foul (giving Gasol 2 early fouls). Unfortunately, that was the high point for Booz as he had seven turnovers and his head just doesn’t quite seem in the game. Completely unable to hit anything from outside in the playoffs.

AK

Andrei was active early with some solid blocks and a few inside buckets. Great block on Odom in the opening minutes on a fast break.  AK’s inside moves resulted in some ugly but effective layups.  Effective in first half, kind of disappeared in second half.

Missed Shots

The Jazz just could not buy a jumper all day. 4 for 19 from 3 point range was bad but the worst of it was their midrange game. Deron, Booz, Korver, Harpring, Brewer, Memo… every Jazz man was just abysmal shooting outside the key. By my count, the Jazz only made 8 shots outside the key (4 treys and 4 jumpers), basically 8 shots that weren’t layups!

Game Flow

Nothing too newsworthy here, the Jazz lost contact with L.A. at the very end of quarter one and were never able to catch up again. Lakers had many air balls, mostly wide left catching nothing but backboard.

Other Random Notes

How about Fisher’s flop 4 minutes into the game on D-Will, wow.

Kobe’s acrobatic layup in the first quarter was nice but it certainly wasn’t a “360″ as Hubie Brown declared.

Harpring was furious after a no-call but the replay showed him pulling Turiaf down by the jersey, pretty funny. Harpring had a horrible game.

Jerry Sloan was hilarious during the interview in between the first and second quarters, man does he HATE doing those.

CJ Miles was 2 for 3 from downtown in five minutes.  The rest of the team - 2 for 16.

Celtics fans sitting courtside???

Was Phil Jackson pissed that Brewer slid into him diving for a ball?

After 11 first half turnovers, the jazz ended with 13.

At end of first half, poor inbound by Okur (almost stolen) to Collins who fed it to D-Will with a sweet behind the back pass.  Deron rimmed out a bank-in 40 footer.

Halftime included Jon Barry’s “Fav Five Lakers” - something tells me we won’t see them doing “Fav Five Jazz” anytime soon.

What Does This Mean?

You have to like the fact that Utah was in the game with 2 minutes left despite such a poor outing.  With so many missed open jumpers, this didn’t appear to be entirely due to Lakers defense as it was in the Houston series.

I still see hope for a game 2 victory and we all know the Jazz will come to play at home.  Missed opportunity, yes, but this is going to be a long series.

(Photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images)

• All but one NBA expert at ESPN picked the L.A. Lakers to beat the Utah Jazz. Henry Abbot of TrueHoop picked the Jazz in six. Adande, Ford, Legler, Rose, Sheridan and Stein thought it would go seven. Broussard, Hollinger and Thorpe think it will end with the Lakers winning in Salt Lake City to close out Utah in six. John Hollinger made the switch from favoring the Jazz to now favoring the Lakers.
• David Thorpe of Scouts, Inc. breaks down the Jazz-Lakers matchup. As mentioned above, Thorpe picks the Lakers in six because “…in the end I see the better team winning the most games. And that team is Los Angeles.”
• Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune used to cover the Lakers. He shares some of his observations on Kobe Bryaant, Vladimir Radmanovic and Andrew Bynum here and Lamar Odom, Ronny Turiaf and Luke Walton here.
• Kobe Bryant calls Deron Williams “Little Cadillac” and D-will thinks Kobe is a decent player as well.
• Free Darko has a Jazz-Lakers preview on Deadspin.  Apparently the Jazz go as Deron goes and Deron goes as CP3 goes. So for the Jazz to beat LA, Chris Paul has to play out of his mind!

(Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images)

Dillusion? Maybe.

Possibility? Absolutely.

The Utah Jazz enter their second round series with the Los Angeles Lakers as the clear underdog in the media and in Vegas.

The Jazz are coming off of a hard-fought six game battle with the Houston Rockets.  The Jazz looked far from impressive offensively in the first 5 games, but at the same time, kicked their defense up a notch.  The most worrisome aspect of that series was the game 3 home loss when they had a chance to go up 3-0, but even that was only a 2 point loss that really could have gone either way.

The Lakers swept through the heartless Denver Nuggets team that really did not even put up a fight.  The two wins in L.A. were obviously expected, in game 3 the Nuggets gave up (Carmelo’s assessment) and game 4 was a solid Laker victory.

So what can you take away from this?  Most people think it means easy Laker victory.  Others even think a sweep in on the horizon.

Key 1: The Jazz Offense

Look for the Jazz offense to play much better than they did in the Houston series.  The Rockets have arguably the best defense in the league and it was knocking the Jazz out of sync.  Laker fans might laugh at this, but they don’t have Dikembe Mutombo.  Dikembe was really giving Boozer problems going to the hoop.  The Rockets also had physical defensive presence in Scola and Landry.

When the Jazz offense gets put out of sync, it usually can’t recover to win the game.  Although this could happen once in this series, it is usually caused by extremely good and physical defensive teams such as Houston and San Antonio.  The Lakers are not on the same level as the Rockets or Spurs defensively.

Utah will have a much more fluid offense against L.A. and should be back to scoring in the 100s every game.

Key 2: Home Court

The Jazz are dominant at home (37-4 in regular season) and the Lakers were semi-dominant at the Staples Center (30-11 in regular season).  If the Jazz can continue their ESA dominance that means they would only need to win one game at the Staples Center.

Could L.A. win in Utah? Sure, but I think the Jazz will hold court and either win this series or at least force a game 7 in L.A.

At game 6 against the Rockets, I only saw one Rockets fan all night (he was endlessly booed as he walked through the corridor at halftime wearing a T-Mac jersey).  This will not be the case with the Lakers in town as many bandwagon Laker fans will find a way into the upper bowl of ESA.

Key 3: Contain the Others

I think it is entirely possible for Kobe to average 40 ppg for the series.  I also think it is entirely possible for Utah to win despite Kobe if they are able to properly contain Lamar, Gasol, Radmanovic, Farmar, etc.

Gasol will not get nearly the easy no-defense dunks and layups that he got against Denver.  The Jazz have always contained Gasol well (in his Memphis days) but it remains to be seen how they will handle him as the second option.  Putting Gasol on the line is not the best option as he shot 80.7% this year.  The Lakers as a team are much better free throw shooters (76.92% reg. season) than the Rockets (72.62% reg. season) so it would be nice to limit their chances for freebies.

(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, file)

Nervous energy filled Energy Solutions Arena at the start of Game 6 against the Houston Rockets on Friday night. That nervous energy had the crowd engaged in every bounce of the ball in this MUST WIN game for the Utah Jazz.

The Jazz turned a great start into 113 points on the night (Utah had only 69 points in Game 5). T-Mac and Houston have been taken care of, Kobe and the Lake Show await.

MVP of Game 6: Deron Williams

Deron took over this game, plain and simple. He controlled the offense, set the tempo and made the big shots when they needed to be made. Deron finished with 25 points and 9 assists and squashed Houston’s second round playoff hopes with his three point shooting (six of nine).

Key Play: Mutombo Picks Up Two Early Fouls

Boozer showed aggression early and took it at Dikembe and the Rockets defense. Mt. Mutombo fouled Booz with 9:19 left in the first quarter. Then, nine seconds later, he fouled Boozer for a second time.

With Mutombo out of the game, the Jazz were able to control the tempo better and go inside with more ease and regularity.

T-Mac Scores 40

Tracy McGrady nearly shot the Rockets back from a 19 point deficit in the second quarter ending the half with 28 points. However, he seemed to tire once again and the Rockets never really established a secondary scoring threat. This was probably McGrady’s best effort of the series as he had 10 boards and 5 assists to go along with his 40 points on 13 of 26 shooting. Once again T-Mac was not great from the line, 12 of 18.

Home Court Advantage

It was LOUD! As one of the 19,911, I think I only heard 2 of the whistles all night. The fast start and increased Jazz tempo got the crowd into the game early and it was obvious that the Jazz were feeding off of the energy.

Free Throws

Utah was able to knock them down (84%). Houston struggled again missing 11 free throws. It is tough to win at ESA when you miss that many free throws.

Respect for the Rockets

They were without Yao Ming. They were without Rafer Alston for two and a half games. T-Mac was banged up (not that that is anything new). They were down 2-0 after two home games.

The Rockets fought and clawed their way throughout this series. It could have easily been four and out. But the Rockets have great defense that shut the Jazz down for the first 5 games of the series.

Alston, Battier, Scola, Mutombo and Landry really came to play. They are scrappers. Much respect.

(Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images)

Sure, the Jazz could loose Game 6 at home to the Houston Rockets tonight and still win Game 7 in Houston on Sunday, however, they MUST WIN tonight.

They MUST WIN to restore their home court dominance.

They MUST WIN to avoid doubt.

They MUST WIN to live up to expectations.

They MUST WIN to avoid an off-season of questions.

They MUST WIN to mature as a team.

They MUST WIN to keep Tracey McGrady from the second round of the playoffs.

Get the Home Crowd into it Early

The ESA crowd was just waiting to explode during games 3 and 4 yet never really got the chance. The Rockets have been keeping the Jazz in a half-court offense with extremely limited running opportunities. If the Jazz can get up and down the floor just a little bit and make some of their key three pointers (0 for 14 in Game 4), then the crowd may be able to beat the Rockets on their own.

Aggression

Boozer, AK, D-Will, Memo - they all benefit from playing aggressive and driving toward the hoop rather than settling for outside jumpers. If Boozer can send a message early that he is being aggressive it should establish him for the entire game. When Booz gets off to a bad start, it is usually very hard for him to find his groove. Ditto for AK.

Keep Alston in Check

The Rockets play their best ball when Rafer Alston starts hitting 3’s. It opens their offense up and spreads the floor for T-Mac to drive. If T-Mac is driving with regularity, it could mean trouble for the Jazz.

Find the Offense

The Jazz have been and probably always will be a precision offensive team.  Timing is key.  When the timing is on, the Jazz usually pick apart the opponent’s defense and can score with the best of them.  When the timing is off, the passes are tipped away with regularity and blocked far more than normal.  I would say the the timing has not been there all series.  You have to give a lot of credit to the Rockets defense in disrupting the timing but you would hope that the Jazz could find their offensive grove at least once in a seven game series.

If you are not excited and extremely nervous for this one, then something must be wrong with you.  Yours truly will be at the game.  Let’s hope I return in a good mood.

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

The Rockets face an elimination game tonight at home against the Utah Jazz. Following a season that included a 22 game winning streak, it all comes down to a win-or-go-home game and a mandatory 3 game winning streak for the team in red.

The Jazz have used their trademark Jerry Sloan physicality to literally push the Rockets into this tough position.  This physical play has gotten into the heads of the Houston players, coaches and fans to the point where it is nearly all they are talking about.  Rick Adelman even mentioned the possibility of sending tape to the league offices for review, can you imagine Jerry Sloan ever saying, let alone doing, such a thing?

Entering the playoffs, the Jazz were the team the Rockets seemingly wanted.  A poll on ClutchFans showed the Jazz (38.1%) as the opponent that Rockets fans would pick to face out of the Wests’ top six prior to the seedings shaking out.  Revenge, hatred and perceived path of least resistance were all likely factors.

They faced Utah last year and complained about the physical play, what did they expect when hoping for this matchup this year?  The Jazz have won three straight playoff games in Houston and three straight playoff series against them as well (1997, 1998, 2007).  If the Jazz push Houston around again in Game 5, the Jazz will be leaving Houston tonight with eyes on a grander prize while the Rockets face a summer of fishing, memories of a 22 game winning streak, and time spent editing videos to send to David Stern.

(AP Photo/Steve C. Wilson)

Utah took a 3-1 series lead over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night with a narrow 4 point victory. The series shifts back to Houston for game 5 on Tuesday, game time and TV schedule is TBD at the moment as it will depend on the outcome of Sunday’s NBA Playoff games.

MVP of Game 4: Deron Williams

Deron carried the Jazz to victory with a key stretch late in the game. With 2:36 remaining, D-Will blew by the Rockets defense for an emphatic dunk. On the next possession, he owned the Rockets again with a driving lay-up off the glass to put Utah up 82-73 with 2:04 left in the game. Deron did miss 2 crucial free throws but was bailed out by the offensive rebound by Memo.

MVP of Game 4 (Part 2): Carl Landry

Carl Landry had another unbelievable game in Salt Lake City (13 points, 6 boards). In a losing effort, he was the reason that the Rockets even had a shot. Although the stat line wasn’t that impressive, Carl brought the hustle and attitude to the Houston team that allowed them to have a shot in the hostile environment.

Carl Landry == Paul Millsap

Speaking of Carl Landry, is he not a clone of Paul Millsap? If these two switched jerseys, you might not even know it, they are basically the same player (Landry 6′7″, 245 lbs., Millsap 6′8″, 254 lbs.). Landry (24) is actually older the Millsap (23) although Millsap has one more year of NBA service. Both guys bring nothing but energy and hard-work while being ideal role-players. No doubt, Landry can flat-out bring it.

0 for 14

The Jazz were shutout from long distance in Game 4. Utah had so many opportunities to really take control of this game had just one of many threes dropped. The house was just waiting to explode, but Korver and others were unable to connect even once. The surprise here is that it happened at home where the Jazz had the best home 3pt shooting percentage in the league this year.

The Home Crowd

The “Over-rated” chant for T-Mac was well time as he missed yet another key free throw. Something has been missing from the crowd in these 2 home games though and I can’t seem to put my finger on it. Perhaps the Jazz just haven’t made the run that everyone has been waiting for? Perhaps it is a function of the Rockets defense that limits the exciting play and Jazz tempo? That being said, the ESA crowd is different than any crowd in the NBA. When Battier was in bounding the ball late in the game, it looked as if he was actually in the second row!

Annoying Lady

As good as the ESA crowd was, there is one ridiculously ANNOYING screaming female “fan.” I am not sure if you could hear here on the ESPN broadcast, but she had her mark all over the KJZZ audio (she must sit near Boler and Booner). This is not the first game that I have noticed her and its probably not going to be the last. If I was sitting near her, I don’t think I could be held responsible for my actions… and I am a Jazz fan, I can’t imagine how annoying she is to the Rockets.

Houston D

You have to give credit to the Houston defense. They have shut down the inefficient Jazz offense and held them to 43% from the field and only 16 assists. They are controlling the tempo of the game, drastically slowing down the Jazz offense that thrives when the ball is pushed up court. Landry, Scola and Battier do a great job of limiting where the Jazz are able to get the ball.

Where is Booz?

Boozer has had a unbelievably tough series so far. His shot has been off and he hasn’t been aggressive enough when going to the hoop. He finally hit a key high-arching jumper in the 4th despite a 3 for 13 night. He redeemed himself for game 3 by going 8 of 8 from the line and did grab 14 boards. There is something about Booz that causes him to struggle mightily against certain opponents (they usually block a shot or two of his early and its downhill from there). Boozer has been playing better than his reputation on the defensive side of the ball.

T-Mac Doesn’t Know D-Will’s Name?

T-Mac asked the media how you say it: Der-on or Da-ron? I remember during the Finals against the Bulls, Michael Jordan saying he didn’t know Bryon Russell’s name (highly doubtful). The difference, Jordan did not use this psychological warfare when he was down 3-1 in the series while shooting 38% and missing key free throws. Way to give Deron just another reason to dominate in Game 5!

More T-Mac…

As a Jazz fan, I am happy every time I see him take a jumper of more than 10 feet. He is much more effective when he drives to the hole, usually resulting in free throws, layup or pass to an easy bucket. I liken his shooting to that of Iverson, Carmelo or even Korver… his shot looks so good when it goes down that it seams like he can’t miss, until you look at the box score after the game and see that he was 9 for 25 (and probably something like 4 for 18 from outside of 10 feet, but man did those 4 look good). When ever T-mac does make an outside jumper or two in this series, he immediately goes for a ill-advised heat-check that is rarely even close. I fear the outside shot of Alston and Battier far more the T-Mac.

Plays of the Game

D-Will’s driving dunk with 2:36 was at the top of the list. With his finish, Deron got the crowd going and put his mark on the game. Following the dunk, with the crowd going crazy, AK blocked a T-Mac jumper leading to another driving layup for Deron. That sequence probably won the game for the Jazz.

Other plays of note: Two alley-oops from Deron to AK on fast breaks, a fabulously great, high bounce pass ahead of the defense for a Kyle Korver layup, Brewer’s incredible baseline jack-knife layup (fouled, missed ft).

Up 8 with 60 Seconds Left

A couple of clutch 3’s by Battier and Alson (not T-Mac) followed by a Landry put-back (possible goal-tending) gave the Rockets a shot to win. The Jazz had a couple of poor possessions but escaped with a little bit of luck (Battier foul on Korver that was slightly debatable, Memo rebound).

ESPN Thoughts

I watched the game on KJZZ. Actually, I have realized that when the game is on ESPN nationally, I watch the local KJZZ broadcast. When the game is on TNT nationally, I mainly watch TNT. I think I dislike ESPN games due to the poor production value (just not a fan of the music, graphics, etc.), poor announcing, too much talk of other series and the superstar emphasis.

Also of note, despite being the closest and best game of the night, Sunday morning SportsCenter didn’t show the Jazz-Rockets highlights until 25 minutes in (preceded by Lakers-Nuggets, NFL draft, 4 MLB games (NYY and BOS highlights of coarse), Boston-Atlanta, Toronto-Magic, Hockey, Nascar).

Closing Thoughts

The Jazz are now 30-0 when holding their opponents under 93 points. Brewer had a great game offensively and guarding T-Mac. There were some bad calls on both sides of the ball. Despite the win, the game did not leave a good taste in my mouth, the Rockets D is really giving the Jazz O some trouble.

(Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images)

Ross Siler points out the relevance of Rockets statistical analysis to Game 4:

The Rockets are an organization that crunches numbers to no end with general manager Daryl Morey trying to adapt statistical analysis to the NBA in similar ways to what Billy Beane has done with the Oakland A’s.

Before the series started, I heard it mentioned that the Jazz were far and away the No. 1 team in the NBA at grabbing offensive rebounds after missed free throws. It seemed like one of those interesting stats but not all that important in the grand scheme.

Of course, Mehmet Okur then beat Carl Landry and Tracy McGrady to the rebound after Deron Williams missed two free throws with 7.3 seconds left and the chance to close out the Jazz’s Game 4 victory.

Fran Blinebury of the Houston Chronicle on the atmosphere at Utah Jazz games:

Just like the world is full of mountains and then there is Everest, there are many loud, intimidating venues throughout the NBA.

Then there is Utah.

The sound alone can be the difference between listening to drumming fingers on a tabletop and standing next to a jet engine.

The off-the-wall, often-maniacal following of the Jazz can make visiting teams feel like they have just walked in on feeding time at the zoo.

“I’ve heard them yell things in Utah that I wouldn’t say” is an old line from Charles Barkley, who routinely uses language that is bluer than a Smurf.

The Dream Shake blames the Houston loss on the refs and T-Mac’s free throw shooting:

I’m not blaming the refs per se. The Rockets knew they wouldn’t get any calls. They knew that the word “charge” is no longer in the rules unless Utah is on offense. Fine, no problem. We worked around it. Until the last 14 seconds where we got absolutely completely hosed by supposed veteran officials. What-the-fuck-ever.

Let me get this straight… if Luis Scola tries to rebound, it’s a foul. Even if he has position and his hand on the ball? On the flip side, Okur can push someone in the back… step on them… kick the ball out of bounds on his own… and it’s a foul on the Rockets!?!? Fuck that noise.

Of course, if Tracy McGrady could make a freakin’ free throw this would all have been a non-issue. Or maybe stop taking 3s. I thought we had stopped doing that. I was wrong.

Hoops Adict points out that the NBA is doing a great job of marketing itself on the internet, particularly referencing social media:

The NBA does a fantastic job marketing itself on the Internet. This statement seems obvious coming from a basketball website, right? Sure, but the breadth of this Internet dominance had not really hit me until I saw a startling stat the other day.

Embarrassingly enough, the statistic came via Facebook, when I stumbled upon the NBA Fan Page application. It turns out that over 125,000 people are fans of the NBA on Facebook. This seems low, but consider that not everyone has Facebook, some don’t use it a great deal, and some don’t bother with applications. Obviously, too, the Fan Pages may not have reached everyone yet. Admittedly though, the number seems low.

However, a quick search returned Fan Pages for the NFL and MLB. The NFL Fan Page has just 1200 members, while the MLB is struggling with 700. I think these results make the picture seem more extreme than it actually is, but it piqued my interest enough to delve into the topic a little further.

37-0. That was the record the Jazz had this season when holding opponents to 96 points or less. That was until the Rockets beat the Jazz 94-92 in Game 3 on Thursday.

For those of you who watch games locally in Utah, you may have heard David James mention this stat a few times on the Jazz Live.

This was not some obscure stat that had little meaning, rather this stat was more of a “line in the dirt.” If the Jazz could buckle down on D and keep the opponent from passing this line, Jazz victory was certain.

However, the Jazz offense failed to show up on Thursday so now my favorite Jazz stat of the year is less glamorous at 37-1. Maybe we just need a new version of this stat that has been playoff adjusted for the slower playoff-style basketball:

The Jazz are 29-0 when holding opponents to 93 points or less.

…93 is my new favorite number!

(AP Photo/Steve C. Wilson)

We are now three games into this series and despite 2 wins, the Jazz offense has not once resembled the regular season dominance that was so efficient and gave so many Jazz fans hope of great things this post season. Game 3 ended with a 94-92 loss to the visiting Houston Rockets.

• Carl Landry came up HUGE for the Rockets. First he loses a tooth due to a Boozer arm to the mouth, then he comes back to make several key hustle plays including the game-winning block. The fact that Landry controlled the block into a Rockets possession was just as big as the block itself.
• In my opinion, T-Mac was very lucky the Rockets won the game because he nearly handed it to Utah in the final minute with a blatant and unnecessary offensive foul followed by a brick of a shot that had “Goat” written all over it. He finished 11 for 26 from the floor and is now 27 for 69 (39%) for the series.
• Boozer has not imposed his will on this series whatsoever. Despite 15 points and 13 boards, you would need to re-watch the game to make sure that he really played… that is, if he hadn’t missed 5 key free throws which everyone will remember
• Ronnie Brewer had a great game hitting jumpers and finishing a tough baseline shot on a risky pass by Deron. Sometimes it’s tough to see him riding the bench every 4th quarter.
• Why did the Jazz go with boring white t-shirts? It looked pretty lame following the Wizards-Cavs game when the Wizards had also given away white t-shirts. One of the shades of blue would have been much better.
• It appeared right away that Rafer Alston would have an impact on this series when he banked in a 3 in the opening minutes of the game.

(Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)