Oh PLEASE, the series is over, the fact is we have played sub par basketball and won speaks volumes for how good the Jazz are. This series will be over in 4...BOOK IT! I'm not really saying they are a bad team, I just think the wheels have fallen off the wagon, and this happened in the regular season. They are playing horrible basketball, they won't win it with Boozer alone.
If anyone is comparing this series to Dallas 2 years ago, they are sorely mistaken. 1. Their best offensive player right now--Boozer--is not a go-to guy. 41 points? The guy was hitting shots he has no business of hitting and he cannot sustain shooting at such a high percentage over the course of 7 games. He's not a Jason Terry or even *gasp* a Dirk. 2. They don't have a killer-instinct player. Dallas had Terry killing us with his jump shots and Howard had his moments. Harpring is a tough player but he isn't a player you want to base your gameplan around. Williams looked like that Terry-esque player in game 1. I actually thought the dude was going to get 30 easy that game. It's still early, but the way Sloan runs his offense, Williams probably won't sniff 30 at all. 3. The only way they could beat the Rockets is by playing a better team game. Coming into the series, that's what they had going for them. Their whole recipe for success is by working together. But in the playoffs, you need that go-to guy. Pistons had Billups taking charge. Aside from Boozer, no one looks like they want to say "Look, I want the ball. I want it because we need it". I can see them beating the Rockets if: 1. Deron Williams is active on offense scoring wise. He's a good shooter and they need not only his assists but his points too. 2. They get Yao into foul trouble early. Refs apparently bust a nut everytime Boozer posts down low on Yao and is calling Yao for every ticky tack foul they can. They take Yao out of the game, then they can have more focus on... 3. They can get Okur closer to the basket. Look, the dude can shoot 3s. Fine. But he doesn't have to rely on the 3 for points. 16-18 foot jumpers...something other than 3s. 4. They stop starting Fisher. He's good for buzzer beaters and that's it. They need to get Harpring, Giricek or even Brewer in there. They need size in there not only to get body up on McGrady but to get some athleticism in the backcourt. But since I don't any of that happening, Utah is doomed.
How on earth can the Rockets get over confident after their less than 40% shooting for consequetive games. On the other hand, I do feel that they need to be more confident in order to improve on their overall performance. Not to belittle your opponent but just feel confident that as long as you bring your best, you'll get a win no matter what the opponent do. Or do we fan like Rockets player to feel just the opposite???
Heres a fact : Only 11 thats right 11 teams have ever come back from a 2-0 deficet in the first round of the playoffs since the new format has been in place. I'm not saying the Rockets can be # 12 but if we play the way we have all year (53 wins and would be over 60 with a Healthy Yao and T-Mac) we should win this one in 5.....
LOL Rockets might not (hope not) be the 12th team but is definitely part of the first 11. I think that painful experience should have tell them not to lower their guard in SLC. Not that they did 2 years ago though, they just lost to the best 6th man of that Dallas team. (the referee)
Big difference 1) Mavs were a better team 2) Mavs had Cuban the *** who sent in tapes and screwed over Yao 3) Yao isn't the same Yao of '05. 4) We played AMAZING 1st 2 games in Dallas in order to win close, in this series we played Bad and still managed to own them.
Look at it this way Rox Addict, only 7 teams have ever come back from being down 3-1 when the Magic played the Pistons back in '02-'03. Only 10 teams have ever come back from a 2-0 deficit when the Rockets played the Mavericks in '04-'05. And yet, in both series, both teams became the 8th and the 11th team respectively to do that. And what constant do we have that those teams also have? Tracy McGrady. Not knocking on him, coz I'm probably one of the biggest Mac-fans since his rise in Orlando, but just saying, anything is possible. And this's happened twice to Tmac in 2 consecutive playoff appearances. I sure as hell don't want it to happen a 3rd time. The way we're playing now on offense, I can hardly see us beating the Jazz on their homecourt, and the one thing I - and I'm sure many others - would wanna see is for the Jazz to win 2 at home and come back to Houston tied 2-2. And frankly, McGrady's jumpshot just looks off now. We're capable of playing better than that, so let's hope the team keep their head in the game, get their offensive act together and put the Jazz away fast.
I get no joy out of saying "I told you so." That said this thread title is right. This is far from over. It was far from over when we were up 2-0 and its far from over when the Jazz have come back and tied it. It was naive to think we had this thing wrapped up but its wrong to think now that the Jazz have come back we're defeated. Stay Humble, Stay Hungry!
