http://www.sltrib.com/jazz/ci_8946481 Even though the Rockets have gone 40-11 since Jan. 1, the Jazz couldn't ask for a more favorable matchup. There will be no Yao Ming, first of all, with the Rockets having lost their goliath center for the remainder of the season with a stress fracture in his left foot. In addition, the Rockets will play at least their first two playoff games without starting point guard Rafer Alston, who is nursing a strained left hamstring. That leaves the undersized Bobby Jackson and Aaron Brooks to contend with Williams. The Jazz beat the Rockets 105-96 on Monday at EnergySolutions Arena and won the season series two games to one. McGrady did score 47 points in spoiling the Jazz's home opener Nov. 1 but has never led a team out of the first round in six trips to the playoffs. Oh no. Houston has won 20 out of its last 21 at home. But their only loss was against the Jazz. How about that? http://166.70.44.77/comments/read_comments.asp?ref=8946481&sec=Sports#254313
this is what a JAZZ fan said on a myspace group "nice loss ... i was hoping for it. hate to want the opposing team to win, but what the hey ... ROCKETS SUCK !!! and once again ... suck so bad that they can't get out of the first round. its really sad thats what it is ... just sad . sad .. sad ... and sad again" seeing comments like these just make me want this series even more
I don't think it's a stretch to say the Rockets are a more favorable matchup for the Jazz than other teams they might have faced. Go Rockets!
If you were a Jazz fan (or even player) and you had the choice of facing either the Spurs, Suns or Rockets, who would you prefer?
we are still the underdog, which mean we got more to prove like during the 22winning streak. A 27 point lost is just terriable for the jazz no matter if u did let the spur win or not.
i would be too from a fans' perspective. imagine if they lost boozer or deron? but the game has to be played. i'm confident in the team and adelman.
Yes it was... the last loss at home before the streak was to the Jazz. Which was tmac coming back from being sick and yao out with the flu. The Jazz game was also the first game that Scola started, for Yao though instead of Chuck.
Jazz ready for second helping Utah embraces another postseason clash with Rockets By FRAN BLINEBURY Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle TOOLS Email Get section feed Print Recommend (1) Comments (7) Yahoo! Buzz RESOURCES Justice, McClain on 'fantastic' Rockets NBA BLOGS Courtside with Blinebury Feigen on NBA Yao Central with fan Ren Hsieh Salt Lake Tribune on the Jazz SAN ANTONIO — Call it a not-so-instant replay. The Utah Jazz opened the playoffs in Houston last year and that worked out fine with an eventual trip to the Western Conference finals. Now the Jazz will be back in Toyota Center to face the Rockets in Game 1 this weekend after the NBA's most crowded, confusing, frantic playoff race in history finally saw all the pieces fall into play Wednesday. Few pieces fell harder than the Jazz, who plummeted in a 109-80 loss to San Antonio, putting Utah in as the No. 4 seed against the fifth-seeded Rockets. "Nothing's going to be easy," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "Nobody's going to give you anything. We're definitely going to have to play better than we did (Wednesday night)." "Houston has made tremendous improvement on defense. Their defense will get after you and they can shoot the ball. Rick (Adelman's) teams can shoot and defend, and they always rebound, and he will have them ready to go." The Jazz were never in the game against the Spurs, as they were blown out and lost their chance to gain home-court advantage in the first round. "We would have liked to have opened on our own court, where we've played very well," Utah forward Carlos Boozer said. Point guard Deron Williams, who suffered a bruised tailbone in a fall Saturday night in Denver, aggravated the injury and did not play after the Jazz fell behind 65-39 at halftime. "Everything goes through T-Mac (Tracy McGrady)," Williams said. "The important thing is to play defense, stay up on him and then not let everybody else in their offense get off." The biggest addition to the Jazz this season is guard Kyle Korver, who was acquired from Philadelphia on Dec. 29 in a trade for Gordan Giracek. It will be the seventh playoff meeting between the two teams, with the Jazz holding a 4-2 lead in series victories. The only times the Rockets have beaten Utah in the playoffs — 1994 and 1995 — they went on to win the NBA championship. The Jazz finished with the NBA's best home record this season at 37-4, but were only 17-24 on the road. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/5707884.html This tells us what the Jazz expect to do on defense.
If Boozer was out for the season and D-Will was gonna miss the first 2 games we all would be having a 24hr erection.
Why shouldn't they be confident? They won the season series, last year's first round (without home court advantage, same scenario this season), the person that has the ability to affect the game the most isn't playing (Yao). To their fans, Houston is probably a 4 or 5 game series.
If I was Denver NO Dallas Phoenix LA SA Utah shooot I would want to play HOUSTON too We are the worst of the best (top 6)
