http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/5732175.html April 26, 2008, 1:36AM ROCKETS SUMMARY Jazz aim to be more physical By JONATHAN FEIGEN AND FRAN BLINEBURY Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Jazz coach Jerry Sloan spoke of his team's need to be more physical and aggressive in Game 4, sparking surprise among the Rockets. "To sum it short and sweet, he's coaching though the media," Rockets guard Tracy McGrady said. "That's all he's doing. I had a coach (Jeff Van Gundy) who did the same thing. "Like I said before this series started, this is one of the most physical teams in our league. If you are not physical with them, they're going to run you out of the gym." Hearing about Sloan's comments, Rockets coach Rick Adelman expected Utah to be even more physical than before. "We're tough and they're not?" Adelman said. "It sounds to me like they're going to try and be Goliath (today). We'd better be ready for it. We already talked about that. They're going to throw their best effort at us and try to keep their home-court advantage. That's not untypical. We said the same things after the first two games." They knocked Landry's tooth out!! What does Sloan want, broken legs??
when you're in a little doubt, you resort to your biggest strength. what else can you do? expect more dirty flops, too.
They are challenging our guys. Hayes , Scola , Landry and Deke should serve some punishment. Don't back down!!
to jerry sloan's team, yes it is. utah's tactics: foul on defense EVERY TIME. if the refs don't call all of them, which they don't, then we benefit.
It's true. If you foul every play, and they call it everytime, the game would take 6 hours to finish. The ref's (Stern) aren't gonna let that happen, and the Rox can't play that way, so the Jazz do benefit.
Utah is Cobra Kai. Need I say more? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NfkH3Q4JOQ Jerry Sloan: Sweep the leg. You got a problem with that? AK47: No.
Speculation. In reality, Sloan is probably telling them to hit their shots and free throws. Utah shot so bad in game 3 early that they allowed the Rockets to dictate the pace of the game. They also stopped running their offense for large stretches. The big thing I've noticed about the Jazz is that when they trust their offense, they are very very good. A big part of what happened was that Rafer's return changed the way the Rockets played on offense - they were more in control and able to take the pressure off Tmac - and Utah did not adapt quick enough to this change in the game dynamic. I expect Sloan to come out tonight with the same basic game plan but to emphasize placing more attention on defensing Rafer. Then it will be up to Adelman to counter whatever Sloan comes up with. BTW, all of this whining about Utah flopping is getting real old. If you think that the Jazz are floppers, then you haven't watched the Mavs or the Spurs. If anything the Rockets need more floppers...
I think tonight will be fantastic game.....and I don't know who will win...but I don't see anyone winning by more than 3 or 4 points and the game being locked under 90. Even with Utah's physical (and cheap) play, the Rockets are well-coached and play very well on defense. And are not a simple 1st fodder, if you win 54 games and extend 22 game winning streak w/o your best player...you are a pretty good team. I think we are a much better team than what people give us credit, most will think (thought) it will be a sweep, if we happened to make it to the next round and have a possible showdown with the Lakers....people are going to instantly put them in WCFs. I actually think we'll have slightly easier time with the Lakers, because they're not nearly as dirty as Utah.....we don't have to worry about the PNR as much...and they have slightly weaker defense. I think it will be 7 game series with current Lakers team w or w/o Bynum....and on our side who knows who might suddenly show near the end of the series. Some unnamed player might be healthy enough to play, remember this guy is getting close to healing well enough to play...you never know. We might get beaten soundly in the next 2 games by Utah or the planets might be aligning for us to get WC Finals.
What's the speculation when the news report says "Jazz coach Jerry Sloan spoke of his team's need to be more physical and aggressive in Game 4"? That sounds like he's calling for his team to be more physical and aggressive, not to make more shots and hit their free throws. Your interpretation requires much more speculation than taking it for its plain meaning. Unless you're saying the reporter himself is speculating and Jerry Sloan never actually said that. I haven't checked the post-game quotes or today's practice quotes so I wouldn't know, but I'll assume the reporter isn't lying.
just telling his players to hit shots and ft's is not enough coaching. a good coach, like sloan, will make sure his players know HOW to make more shots and HOW to concentrate when shooting ft's. and i don't think they will spend a whole lot more energy in defending rafer, unless rafer gets extremely hot. i don't think there are too many adjustments to be made on either side. a playoff series often comes down to execution of plays rather than changing the plays. it depends on who wants it more. that said, i think the only thing utah has not showed enough is running plays for boozer. he has been a little under-utilized so far. i wouldn't be surprised if they run more plays for boozer and try to put more pressure on our interior defense tonight. also, there's a big difference in between the flops by utah and other teams. other players flop on contact initiated by opponents; the jazz will initiate contact and foul you first before they flop if need to. dirty. i don't think flop is the weapon you fight back and i don't think our players can and will do that. i don't like to see any rocket flop either. the only hope, as it should be, is good and fair officiating. yeah, the light is not too bright there, until the league comes up with something in the future.
HillBoy, AK47 takes flopping to a whole new pseudo-effeminent Russian wanker level... unseen since the time of the Czars. Andrei Gennadevich Kirilenko is a pathetic wusskie Russkie whiny weirdo dip-****. He should be suspended 50 games for that beyond moronic display at the end of game 3. Heck, I'm surprised that even Sloan didn't deck him. (me, looking at a reproduction of Kirilenko's brain) After using my Blade Runner skills, I took this secret photo of Kirilenko, watching film of the end of game 3. Thank god, he didn't see me... Yes, this sick, twisted, foreign debil, trying to pervert to glory of our fine sport, should be deported, exported, reported, or run over by a bus. DOOM TO THE SPAZZ AND THEIR RUSSKIE WUSSKIE!!! GO ROCKETS!!!!
I agree that the Spurs, Mavs, and Jazz all flop in different ways. On the Mavs, notably Nowitzki and Stackhouse (and at times, the entire team) will flail backwards after a perimeter shot. On the Spurs, well...three words: Bowen, Ginobili, Parker. I'd definitely put Bowen #1 on the Cheap Shot Artists list (ahead of anyone on the Jazz), and Manu and Parker are like tissue paper; at the slightest bit of contact they will act as though they've been hit with a grenade. The Jazz are just a thuggish team. They WILL foul on every possession, EVERY, to get the upper hand on defense. Boozer Okur, and Harpring are both extraordinarily skilled at subtle dirty tricks (the bench is quickly picking it up), and they top it off with unending pleadings to the refs, I mean holy hell the Jazz talk to the refs ALL 48 minutes. Kirkilenko is just laughable. He will use every trick he learned in acting school (including screams and groans) to make it look like he was just murdered. It's pretty much a travesty, the two plays in games 1 and 2. On a crucial offensive set in the fourth, you call an offensive foul after Scola (inadvertently) barely touches Kirilenko (if you don't see it, don't call it)...and then in Game 2, in plain sight of the ref, Boozer (inadvertently?) smacks Landry in the face, knocking out a tooth, busting up his nose, and taking him out of the game -- and NOT EVEN A MEASLY LOOSE BALL FOUL? That pretty much pissed me off to no end. I tell ya, the Jazz desensitize the refs to their tactics, and boy does it work.
Flopping has defined this franchise. Not just this current crop...it's been this way for almost as long as I can remember. Utah Jazz is Team Dork. Hillboy, it's ok for people to get upset. As a fan, intellectual honesty with regard to a rival isn't all that high of a value. This is entertainment, after all.....an escape.
It wasn't lack of physical play that hurt the jazz it was their in-ability to handle the pressure in the 4th quarter in a close game. Everybody folded but Williams,Boozer had at least 3 turnovers that last 2 minute stretch and everybody else were fumbling the basketball and playing tight. The only thing that kept them challenging at the end were those wide open un-contested three pointers. From my observation the jazz can't stand the pressure in a close game and peopel talk about tracy but I think he may have a edge psychologically over the jazz considering he has much to prove but the jazz to me didn't play well under-pressure particularly boozer,krielenko,harpring. You keep the game close and I like the rockets chances,All this talk through the media is excuses and a ploy to get more whistles when in game 3 they seemed to get every whistle that was blown. I SMELL FEAR AND PANIC
It's going to be interesting how the refs are going to call the fouls in game 4. For better or worse, it can be a big factor.
