http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695272966,00.html Utah Jazz: Series isn't over, cautions Sloan By Tim Buckley Deseret News Published: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 12:37 a.m. MDT After the Jazz went up 2-0 Monday night in their NBA playoff series with the Houston Rockets, refreshingly blunt TNT analyst Charles Barkley was asked if he thought the first-round, best-of-seven matchup was over. "Is the Pope Catholic?" asked Barkley, who has picked the Jazz — the same franchise that twice ousted his own late-career Rockets from postseason play — to emerge from among a stack of loaded Western Conference contenders. Sir Charles, as believers affectionately know him, made it quite clear where he — and, at least in his mind, the series — stood. Before anyone in Utah dusts off their brooms in advance of Thursday night's Game 3 and Saturday night's Game 4 at EnergySolutions Arena, however, Sir Jerry Sloan issues fair warning. The Jazz coach is taking absolutely nothing for granted, and he can only pray his players feel the same. Sloan suggested as much when asked about the importance of finishing the series off quickly, especially in light of what the Jazz are bound to face in however many postseason series are to follow. "Well, I don't think you worry about that," he said. "You just probably worry about the next game, because we haven't finished anything. "And that's the thing that players sometimes have a tendency to think," Sloan added. "They get home and think everything is going to be easy." So far, however, it hasn't been all that hard. Utah rolled in Game 1 behind small forward Andrei Kirilenko's 21 points, and dashed Rocket hopes in the fourth quarter of a 90-84 Game 2 victory on Monday night at the Toyota Center. The Jazz, make no mistake, did not go to Houston with the notion of a mere split in mind — and on Tuesday, they were at home enjoying both a day off from practice and the satisfying sense of mission accomplished. "It was great for us to come out the way we did and not just settle for one victory," said point guard Deron Williams, who had a team-high 22 points in Game 2 after posting a 20-point, 10-assist double-double in Game 1. "We wanted to get both of them and be greedy." In this setting, such selfish desire is not exactly a bad thing. If the Jazz indeed can close things out early and get some rest heading into their probable second-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers, after all, it could pay huge dividends down the road. "(The Jazz) came out and took care of business, winning both games on the road," TNT analyst Doug Collins said. "That's a sign of maturity. "In a playoff series, you want to play as few games as possible, because injuries become a factor," added Collins, a former NBA coach. "It's that old expression, 'rest vs. rust.' I don't know a coach in the league who wouldn't take four or five days of rest over a quarter of being rusty." Besides, it's likely the West's No. 1-seeded Lakers won't need much time to polish off No. 8-seed Denver, either. That in mind, the No. 4-seed Jazz now must make sure the two games they took in Houston are not for naught. "We've just got to go back now and take care of business," Williams said. The Rockets, after all, are just one of four teams to beat the Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena this season — along with Portland, Boston and the Lakers. Though he has struggled in the first two games of the series — shooting 7-for-21 from the field on Saturday and 9-for-22 on Monday while scoring just one point in two fourth quarters combined — the memory of Houston star Tracy McGrady's 47-point performance in Utah's home-opener still is fresh on Williams' mind. "We're happy that we're up 2-0," he said, "because they have beaten us before in our arena this year." That established, a rather overwhelming case can be made that the odds are exponentially stacked against the Rockets. Houston, which has dropped its last four playoff games against the Jazz, has won just two of 17 postseason series in which it opened with an 0-2 deficit. Since making their NBA playoffs debut in 1984, the Jazz have won 11 of 13 series after going up 2-0. Houston hasn't won a series after dropping the first two games since rallying against Phoenix in 1995, the Rockets' second NBA-title season. And only 13 teams in NBA history, in fact, have ever rallied from being down 0-2 in a best-of-seven series. Still, Sloan is leery. "I've known Rick for years," he said with reference to current Rockets coach and former Portland/Golden State/Sacramento coach Rick Adelman, his ex-teammate with the Chicago Bulls back in the 1970s. "I've played with Rick, and I know his teams are going to come out as hard as they can." The Jazz, then, must overcome not one but two potential foes: Houston, and overconfidence. Sloan's message evidently reached its intended targets. "We can't be relaxed at home or they will force us to play," Kirilenko said. "It's been perfect so far. But we need two more wins, and we can't relax." "There will be no complacency with this team at all," backup power forward Paul Millsap added. "Our next game in Utah is very important. We need to continue to do it at home and close out the series." To maintain Barkley's faith in the Jazz, if nothing else.
