Outside observations of the Jazz-Rockets series The Salt Lake Tribune Article Last Updated: 04/20/2007 03:36:24 AM MDT GEORGE KARL Denver coach "It seems like Utah, for me, would have a little bit of an edge because this team, Houston, has kind of a new team - as far as going into their first playoff series together. . . . It just seems like Utah is more playoff-ready. But it will probably be a long series. Which team has an advantage is a question that probably won't be answered until Game 5 or Game 6." DEVEAN GEORGE Dallas guard "That's going to be a good series because of the matchup differences. You know, the Yao Ming thing. He's inside, but [Mehmet] Okur, he goes out. . . . Unless they're going to put Yao on Boozer. That's why it's going to be interesting - seeing how they will match up. But that's a real coin-flip series, if you ask me." DEVIN HARRIS Dallas guard "Obviously, you have a team offensively that moves the ball extremely well in Utah. They have great shooters who space the floor. On the other side, you have superstars in Yao and T-Mac, who can pretty much take over games at any point in time. So you have a team effort on one side and more superstars - guys who can go one-on-one - on the other side." JOSH HOWARD Dallas forward "The Rockets have Yao down low. They have T-Mac, of course. Houston has great role players, too. And the Jazz, they have Okur and Boozer and Williams. . . . Now that I think about it, though, the upside might be Utah. They have Matt Harpring coming off the bench, and you can't really name one guy who comes off the bench for the Rockets." RAJA BELL Phoenix guard and former Jazzman "It should be a pretty interesting series. Both of them are kind of halfcourt teams. They both like to go inside a lot. So those similarities are going to make for an interesting series. Deron is probably the key for Utah. You've got Memo, Yao, Carlos - a lot of bigs who like to do their thing. So Deron is probably the X-factor." SCOTT PADGETT Memphis forward who played for Utah and Houston "Houston has two big weapons - Yao and T-Mac - and everybody else plays off them. You know going into that series that you have to stop Yao and T-Mac, whereas Utah has more guys in their rotation that can hurt you. Obviously Carlos and Deron and Mehmet get theirs most nights. But they have five or six other guys that can come in and have big nights, too." "You know Jeff is going to have Houston prepared. He's going to know every freaking thing the Jazz do. It's going to come down to an execution thing, and if the Jazz execute like they do on most nights, they'll be tough even if [the Rockets] know what's coming because they have a lot of weapons. You can't focus on stopping just one or two guys when you play Utah." http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5711574?source=rss
I can name 3 guys who come off the bench for the Rockets. And all 3 have been major contributors this season.
well, yeah. how hard is it to remember luther head, juwon howard and dikembe mutombo? i hope after the second round josh mcbeadyeyes knows full well who the bench players are.
Yeah, nobody in the league has heard of Mutombo, Howard, and Luther Head. Besides, our bench isn't that important because those are the only three guys on the bench that get minutes.
bottom line, shane has to step up.. play more agressively like shooting three's instead of passing it back to rafer and driving/posting up if he has a smaller defender like fisher on him..
Am I wrong.. or is this the first playoff series this group of Jazz are playing together as well?? so how can they be more playoff ready than us. I need one of those stats people, to tell me how many playoff games do the Jazz players have versus how many playoff games have the Rockets players had. George Karl seems to be a little misinformed. Surprising when its to two teams in his conference.
Mavericks are some cocky bastards considering their playoff record. I hope Luther goes off against them!
JVG needs to post the comments from the Mavs players in the locker room before we play them. God, I hate the Mavericks.
LOL, yes the Utah team, assembled three seasons ago, which has banked three straight trips to the lottery,really has a big advantage in being playoff ready. With Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer havinga combined ZERO games of playoff experience - the Rockets have a real gap to close. I hope they don't decide to forfeit because they're so nervous about going up against all those playoff tested veterans. Karl is a douchewad, an overrated coach, and stupid to boot. Hopefully he will get fired again after the Nuggets flame out again.
Hah. These comments are so obviously cherry-picked. Houston going to the playoffs for the first time? Jazz more playoff ready? Dude -- you're supposed to be preparing your team for the playoffs, not laying around smoking dope.
I really dislike Josh Howard a lot. I think he is the new NBA "villain" for me. I wish the Rockets could activate Bob Sura for one game for the sole purpose of tackling him to the ground.
well the reason they're taking utah it seems like is that they're more well-rounded (which is true) while we're totally dependent on our superstars. and teams nowadays are more well-rounded and don't have 2 superstars (mavs, suns, spurs, pistons...) we just need to prove them wrong. they still don't respect us.
