honestly, i dont even hate the jazz as much as i want to. i like williams and i like boozer, and its hard to hate fisher. to be honest with you, they are better than the rockets were this year. it hurts, but we lost to a better team, and that's the way it goes sometimes. let's be better next year.
Sad the way this ended since I know the Warriors could've had games 1 and 2. But like everyone's saying, I can't help but think how we would've fared against this undisciplined Warriors team. Maybe they'd be too quick for us, but I had a feeling that after going through the tough Jazz defense, we'd thrive against the warriors. Couple things I noticed from this series: 1. Warriors were just too tired. For the 2nd time in a row, they lost it in the 4th quarter because their legs weren't in it. Actually, I think for all their losses they were in it till the very end -- all close games. Which makes this even sadder for the Warriors. I notice this very same trend with Nellie's Mavs. Blowing out leads and whatnot. 2. What the hell, how is Fisher this good? All of a sudden he's averaging 45+% in 3-pointers when he only averaged 31% in the regular season. I guess this is when playoff experience counts. But was he even this good during the Lakers run a few years back? I knew he could shoot, but he canned every open three it seems, and took it to the rim with authority. 3. I think Harpring gets away with a lot of hacks. I don't know if anyone calls him out on it though. Spoiler DIRTY 4. How are the Jazz this good? I thought they were stumbling towards the playoffs, losing a few in a row. But somehow they pull it together? Which makes their run even more amazing. Granted, they did go against the Rockets and the Warriors, two flawed teams. I'm willing to bet Boozer and the other Jazz who have stepped up their game will have lower production the next round.
I underrated this Jazz team. They’re a lot better than I thought they were. Without question, a superior team to the Rockets. And with the valuable playoff experience their team is gaining, especially the younger players (Williams, Milsap, Brewer), the gap between them and us is only going to widen next season unless some major upgrades to the roster are made this summer.
the jazz aren't better than the rockets as much as they were a bad matchup. Yao just has to be more of a presence. the series is on him.
The Sonics and Clippers didn't do much with their "playoff experience." Sometimes teams get good match ups, or catch breaks in seeding. Just because the Jazz are going to lose to either the Suns or Spurs in the Conference finals rather than the first or second round doesn't mean they will have greatly improved over the Rockets.
What other Western Conference playoff teams would have been a better matchup for us? Phoenix? Dallas? San Antonio? Golden State? Especially considering how horrible the Jazz played heading into the playoffs. If the Rockets had faced the Jazz team that showed up against Golden State, with Kirilenko/Okur/Fisher all playing the way they have, I honestly don't think the series would go past 5 games. Hell, the Jazz won 4 of the last 5 games in our series.
Dallas and SA are good matchups for the Rockets. Better teams than the others, but a more natural matchup as they play more half-court, controlled basketball. Phoenix and GS were the worst possible matchups. Jazz was somewhere in between, probably. Perhaps those players didn't play the way they did against GS because we have a ridiculously good defense that gets people out of their comfort zone.
Why do people keep saying the Jazz were a bad matchup? They were exactly who we wanted to play in Round 1. They struggled badly down the stretch, particularly on the road. Their defense had gone into the tank. We had home court over them. And we had two "alleged" superstars who they had no answer for. Aside from the Fakers, who else seeded 5-8 would have been a better matchup? Denver maybe, but with Carmelo and AI's scoring ability along with Nene and Camby tagteaming on Yao inside, they could've been a potentially nightmarish opponent. And I didn't want any piece of Golden State(at least not in the first round). They were red hot down the stretch and embarrassed the Rockets late in the season at home. We got the matchup we wanted. The problem was Yao played like a pansy against Okur and T-Mac failed to show up when it really mattered.
I watched every game of the Jazz-Rockets series, and all I saw was controlled half-court basketball, just like the Rockets like it. They beat us at our own game, and then turn around the next series and beat the Warriors at their own game. They are a much better team than people give them credit for. In terms of versatility, they’re not that far off from the elites (Dallas, SA, Phoenix). Anyway, if the only teams the Rockets match up well against are teams that are vastly superior (SA, Dallas), that doesn’t bode well for our playoff success. Or perhaps the Rockets focused too much of their defensive attention on those guys, and not enough attention on Boozer, Williams, and, to some extent, Harpring. Also, Okur and Fisher were in incredibly bad shooting slumps heading into the playoffs, and Kirilenko just returned from an injury right before the playoffs. So the Rockets lucked out.
You mean our "ridiculously good defense" that was carved up like a turkey in game 7? Let's face it, the Rockets just weren't playing their best ball when they needed. Our best ball of the season was during the 9-1 stretch when Yao was injured. THAT was ridiculously good defense for a sustained period. The last few games of the regular season and in the Jazz series, we didn't bring our "A" game.
Great ending of a predictable series. Sloan's basketball system wins games. You simply have to admire that. For an average baller myself, I love to play with disciplined, smart and team-oriented players. Watching Jazz basketball tells you how to win without superstars. Jazz all the way!
If it's the Suns they play, the Jazz will take the series in six. If it's the Spurs, I can see the series going the distance but with the Spurs ultimately prevailing. Either way, this Jazz team deserves its credit. They're a darn good team and they play a physical style of ball that only the Spurs and the Pistons can compete with considering how 'soft' the league has become over the past few years. If they can keep this young core together, the Jazz will be a top 4 team in the West for years and years to come, and D-Will/Boozer will ultimately be able to do something the great Stockton/Malone duo was never able to do: win a championship. I REALLY like Boozer the more I watch him play. The kid is rock solid in the post and has a great mid-range game. As for D-Will, I see him becoming the next Jason Kidd but with a better shot. He's still very young but he is unbelievably skilled. Okur will only get better and he has been pretty clutch as of late. Harpering is getting a bit up there but he's still around. AK47 might eventually be traded but when he has his head on straight he's the most versatile defender in the game. They run the same "tried and true" offense of the older Jazz teams and they play good defense. I like this Jazz team's chances...
Unwatchable. Although if I am having a hard time falling asleep, I'll just turn it on the TV and watching 5 minutes of that snoozefest will do the trick, LOL!
I will go out on a limb and say that you slept through the Lakers' 3-peat. He's always been this good in the playoffs, nothing new really. He's one of the most 'clutch' role players I've ever seen, of any era. That Lakers team not only had Fisher, but also had another 'all-time clutch player' in Robert Horry. Twice the clutch = Three Championships. You have to have winners on your team if you want to win. But a team like the Rockets that lack winners and in fact have quite a few career losers will NEVER do anything worthwhile; mark my words.
I agree completely. We forget we were up 2-0 & 3-2. We had very good chances to basically seal the deal if our players step up in the 4th quarter in games 3, 6 or 7. Utah was ripe for the picking. I won't say it is all Tmac and Yao's fault though, they share the blame with Alston, Head and Howard just playing like dog___ offensively. It took a team to collectively shoot 41% and 32% (3s) against a non-special defense. As for the Warriors series, it basically just shows how terribly ill-prepared Avery Johnson and staff were for the Warriors. The Warriors have terrible flaws. Let's not forget the Warriors completely collapased in a 4th quarter in both series with road games basically sown up. The Warriors were a flawed and not realy bright basketball team. As for the next series, Utah will be lucky to extend SA or Phx to 6. I think they would have no chance versus the Spurs, who basically do what they do but better, and little chance versus the Suns. I won't say no chance versus the Suns, but still little chance and only if Boozer just completely dominates whomever he plays. But I see it as doubtfull, as Kurt Thomas matches up with him even better than he does on Duncan. Except I don't recognize this Fisher, or this Horry. Both players looked washed up long ago. Horry is the player that cost the Lakers their chance to win a 4th (03?) and Fisher fell off th map a couple years ago. I haven't see this Derek Fisher in years, he actually looks like the player of his current contract that at the time we all thought was ludicrous for Golden State to offer and in fact later they did and just worked to dump his contract.
i am still not giving too much credit to this jazz team. they are in the wcf by default. The jazz should have lost games 3 and 6 to us but we gift wrapped those games for them. Jazz struggled to score in the early to mid 4th qtrs of both those games and all we had to do was score 4-5 baskets and we could have taken control of the game. Boozer tends to struggle and force jumpshots when they are behind late in the 4th qtr. In the GS series, the jazz were gift wrapped games 2 and 5. GS should have won game 2, but didn't. Game 5 was there for them because utah struggled in the 4th. GS only had 80 something points and were playing horrible. yet they were right there to take the game. Remember that once dallas got knocked out, a "freshman" team was going to make the WCF by default.
You play whoever is there and you win. That's the nature of the game. Geez, people never gave us credits for those two championships because of Jordan's absence, and we scream about it. Now you are pulling this crap on other teams?
I'll have to say I don't remember Fisher on the Lakers the way you do. He was not a very good player and what made him salvageable was having Kobe as his backcourt mate. He hit a couple of clutch shots, one of which was pure unadulterated luck (and he had the nerve to be offended by Shaq's very funny "One lucky shot deserves another" comment). Let's not revise history. The best thing I'll say about Fisher back then is he didn't play any worse in tight playoff games than in the regular season. In other words, he's never been a choker. There were times he was light's out from long range but other times he was a dog. After leaving the Lakers, Fish had been a total dog with both the Warriors and Jazz. It's only in the playoffs that he's been a solid contributor. The recent news with his family is very inspirational to me and is another reason I will want the Jazz to beat the Spurs.
