after watching us last night, i'm thinking the Jazz will win. But ... I do believe we got a shot. I really just want to see Yao abuse that team (esp Okur) in the post-something he did not do last year. Our biggest threat will probably be deron ... I wonder what will happen if they put scola and hayes on boozer all night. Hopefully that matchup will work for the best ... Something's tellin me Rafer just wont be able to stick with deron ...
I have the Rockets beating the Jazz by 12 pts. Sure Boozer and Deron will have great games, unfortunately no one else for them. I also see Mike James being big once again. He will play most of the minutes against Deron because he is stronger. Yao will get his touches from in and out. Bonzi posting up Giricek, and Tmac having another slow start, finish strong. Thats my prediction.
i still like YAO inside the paint...!!!! I don't like the new system!!!..well..I like the style but adelman must do something about YAO...all of his points against the lakers was INSIDE the paint.........
I know Francis isn't ready and I won't be upset if he doesn't play,but I wouldn't mind throwing him in for a few minutes to attack the basket if needed. Goose eggs from Head,Scola,and only 5 points by Rafer caused me a lot of concern. It will be interesting to see if our guys can execute on offense and do a good job on defense. GO ROCKETS!
Let's be realistic, our only edge compared to last yr's playoffs is Mike James and a slim Bonzi. It's their home court, and we still have no one to guard Boozer. Tracy and Ming will need to throughoutly abuse AK and Okur on the offensive end for us to win. I say we have a 40% chance of winning.
rockets win a close one.. 101-100... francis makes game winning 360 no look jumpshot and then shows us his nipple...
I think we lose this game pretty badly..... Utah's home opener, our rotation and chemistry not set.....unless one of our Superstars goes off, I think we lose. Later in the year we win, but tonight...ugh. DD
Has it really been (almost) six months since the Rockets lost game seven ? It doesn't feel that long ago... Half a year...
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695223735,00.html Jazz expect tough test vs. Houston By Linda Hamilton and Tim Buckley Deseret Morning News Published: Thursday, Nov. 1, 2007 12:03 a.m. MST When Andrei Kirilenko arrived at his locker at Golden State for the Utah Jazz's season opener Tuesday night in Oakland, one of those taunting posters was hanging there. The one the Warriors gave out to some 20,000 fans on opening night immortalizing Baron Davis' monumental dunk on top of Kirilenko in last season's second round of the playoffs. The poster had been put there for fun by a trainer, Kirilenko said, and he was unfazed about all the retro attention on the old dunk. "It's part of the game. It will happen, and what I can do about it? I'm trying to contest every shot," Kirilenko said. On Tuesday, the Warriors wanted to avenge Utah's 4-1 playoff-series victory, but Utah won by 21. Tonight, when the 1-0 Jazz hold their home opener for the 2007-08 season at 7 in EnergySolutions Arena, they'll meet the other team that they dispatched in the 2007 NBA Playoffs, the 1-0 Houston Rockets, who won at the Los Angeles Lakers Tuesday. Utah won Game 7 in Houston last spring to advance to the second round and Golden State, whom they will host on Saturday night in ESA. "We've got, like, two playoff openings," mused Kirilenko. "That's so interesting in the beginning of the season, but what we can do? We're not choosing our opponents." There are differing opinions from the Jazz about whether Houston will be out for revenge for when the underdog Jazz eliminated them from the last postseason on their own court. "It's not about payback," said Kirilenko. He sees a difficult home opener tonight but not Revenging Rockets. "Huge force, T-Mac (Tracy McGrady, 30 points Tuesday). Huge force, Yao (7-foot-6 Ming). That's pretty much two guys who rules the team. It will be tough matchup. "I don't think they're going to be in revenge (mode). I think they're going to come to win the game," Kirilenko added. "We want to prevent it." Jazz co-captain Carlos Boozer does expect the Rockets' red glare over that Game 7 loss, even if they have new players and a new coach, Rick Adelman. "They'll be ready for us. Just like Golden State. They wanted revenge last night, they're going to want it again Saturday, and Houston will want revenge (tonight). "They (Rockets) gave us all we could handle in the first round last year. We expect them to be even better," he added, noting pickups of Mike James and Steve Francis. That first-round victory was monumental for a Jazz team with many players who'd never been to the playoffs. Boozer said it taught Utah the importance of "staying poised. We just have to use each other, stay committed to what we're doing and believe down the stretch that we can stay poised and win the game." It will be another playofflike atmosphere tonight in ESA — there will be fireworks and the biggest balloon drop in Jazz history, 40,000 — and the Jazz would like to accommodate their fans with a victory. But they can't be overly sensitive to playing to the crowd, said coach Jerry Sloan. "If you're trying to put it on for fans, you're going to be sitting with them." "Of course you want to play good," Kirilenko said. "You don't want to play bad. More important if you get a win." Sloan is unsure how an Adelman-coached Houston will handle things. "I don't know how they'll play us specifically, but they'll play us differently than they played us last year because they've got a different coach," he said. As of Wednesday's Jazz practice, Sloan didn't seem to be leaning toward changing much from Game 1, though the large Rockets are very different than the small "Nellie Ball" Warriors. He sees 6-11 backup center Jarron Collins getting more minutes as Utah tries to cope with Yao & Company, but he won't activate 7-foot rookie Kyrylo Fesenko. "No, he's not ready to play right now in this league," Sloan said. Sloan wasn't sure if he'd activate first-round draft pick Morris Almond because third-year man C.J. Miles "played pretty well" Tuesday. Center Mehmet Okur will be a focal point tonight. He put all his energies last spring into defending Yao pretty well, at the expense of his offensive game. "I'm just going to go out there, try to play solid defense and play aggressive at the other end" tonight, he said. "Yeah, I look forward to play against him because he's such a good player, and obviously, one of the best big men in the league. I've got to go out and play 100 percent on him, got to push him off the lane, try to make him take shots over my hand and box him out." http://www.sltrib.com/jazz/ci_7331949 JAZZ: Jazz will attempt encore in home opener Thursday By Ross Siler The Salt Lake Tribune Article Last Updated: 10/31/2007 02:43:30 PM MDT Posted: 2:46 PM- Just in case the Jazz players feel the need to put on a show in tonight's home opener, coach Jerry Sloan offered a bit of advice Wednesday. If you come out and try to play to the fans, "you're going to be sitting with 'em," as Sloan put it. It's hard to imagine anyway how the Jazz could provide a suitable encore to Tuesday's commanding victory at Golden State, a game they controlled from the second quarter on, led by as many as 24 points and wound up winning 117-96. They will follow that playoff rematch with another tonight at EnergySolutions Arena against Houston. The Jazz eliminated the Rockets in the first round last season, winning a road Game 7 and three games by double digits in Salt Lake City. That playoff failure ushered in a new era for the Rockets, with Rick Adelman replacing grind-it-out Jeff Van Gundy as coach. Much like the Jazz, Houston also opened the season with an impressive road victory, against the Los Angeles Lakers. "They gave us all we could handle in the first round last year and they'll be ready for us," Carlos Boozer said. Sloan offered praise for Adelman as a "very underrated" coach, more appreciated in Portland and Sacramento after he left than while he was there. "His teams will play hard, they'll push the ball on you and they do a great job defensively," Sloan said. As far as his team, Sloan couldn't help but be pleased with how the Jazz played in their opener. "I thought we were a little better in some cases than what I expected from what I'd seen in the exhibition season," he said. Boozer was overpowering inside Tuesday and Williams took over for stretches in the second half. The two combined to score 56 points, but it was the contributions from Andrei Kirilenko and Ronnie Brewer that were just as valuable. After a summer of discontent, Kirilenko nearly finished with a triple-double despite making just 3 of 10 shots. He followed up his teammates' missed shots with dunks, pulled down offensive rebounds out of a crowd and blocked five shots. "That's the kind of impact that takes us from here to here," Boozer said, raising an imaginary bar with his hand. "We're trying to let him know that every game and he knows that as well. If he plays like that, we become a contender." Asked about staying involved even when his jumper wasn't falling, Kirilenko said: "That's always been my game. If I'm not good at some point of the game, you just concentrate on another thing." In the third quarter, Kirilenko chased down Warriors guard Monta Ellis - one of the NBA's fastest players - on the fast break and erased Ellis' layup bid with a spectacular block. "That's the A.K. that we missed last year," Boozer said. "That's what we have right now." Brewer, meanwhile, continued to build on his success from training camp and the preseason. He finished with 18 points and four steals, all of which might have been no accident considering Brewer was the first player on the bus to the arena. "I wouldn't say I was nervous, but I was anxious to play," Brewer said. "I think we have a lot of talent on this team to go a long way. I just wanted to make sure I was on top of my game." Now the Jazz will see if they can match the performance they put on for Golden State's fans for their own fans tonight. They're only one game into a stretch of five against defending playoff teams, but the question is how the Jazz will stay even-keeled after such a convincing and complete opener. "That was just Game 1 of the regular season. So we have a long way to go," Boozer said. "[Tonight] will be Step 2 of getting to where we want to go."
Means CHUCKY HAYES OWNS you. 2nd game into the season and it is a must win? I rather we lose right now and win in april
