Utah, the NBA's premiere comeback squad!

whatever, most of those comeback came against crappy teams. against a good team like the rockets, records like that won't matter much.

 

hmmmm.... I wonder which team got come-back-ed the most... especially come 4th quarter.....

 

Wild guess: The Houston Rockets????

 

I can't stop thinking that if Yao elbows someone in the face early in the first game, we'll win the series in 4 or 5 games.

The Jazz are a horrible match up for us. We can't deal with comebacks, they do it bast. They have an a C who's the worst matchup in the league, by far, for Yao. Their PF can abuse our PF's all night.

Battier's tangibles and defense will mean nothing because there's nothing to defend from the Jazz swingmen.

We really could use Bonzi for the series. I think Battier will be needed guarding Okur and/or Boozer. So we need a boost at the 3-spot. We need to win the rebounding battle.

Hopefully, in the next few games whie Hayes is out, Bonzi will put in some minutes, and over the last 10 games gets into a groove while being able to stay healthy. He's the kind of guy we don't keep our rotation, but is a great weapon to bring out against certain matchups.

The thought of Yao defending Okur outside or Boozer inside gives makes me worried about foul trouble.

On top of that, Deron Williams is a terriffic PG who will exploit Alston if they both play 40+ minutes. Kirilenko also has the length to bother T-Mac.

But you know what? We're going to win. I know it. Okur, Boozer, Millsap and Collins can't guard Yao TOGETHER. No one can guard T-Mac in the playoffs, and the rest of the guys will do their job.

 

haha, touche

 

This would be good experience for the Rocks if the Jazz deliver on their comeback reputation. I bet after 3 seasons of Van Grumpy, they've tuned him out to some extent. Nothing like adversity to get those ears to listen to Jeff's words.

 

From what I know, the Utah Jazz don't play a real up-tempo sort of ball... and any team that doesn't run and gun (like PHX or NO/OKC) is a decent match up for our team.

Make no mistake, Utah is an awesome team who should not be overlooked. That said, I know our team will not be overlooking them and with Yao, T-Mac, and Battier I think we can overcome the Jazz. I just don't know if they are gonna have an answer for Yao and Tracy, and I think our defense is gonna be too much for them.

I think we are a better team, plain an simple, but certainly Utah is a very worthy opponent.

 

Whats sad is not that your point is true it's that the Rockets can't even do that..

 

we will beat utah in 5 games.

why? defense.

 

As a Rockets fan, I would bet you that would not be the case.....if the Rockets play great, IMHO, the best they could do is in 6...but more than likely will have to steal game 7.

DD

 

I don't see how this is a negative for us. It means that Utah gets off to slow starts. Having tons of comeback victories simply means you're not good enough to be blowing people out.

 

Good point about Battier. It's not just vs Jazz. Usually, if a team has a elite PG, they won't have a star swing player, battier and the whole rox team seemd always had problems with those teams. How to use battier in those cases? Move him to 4 ?

 

IF we play defense like we're supposed to: Exactly. Turn the Jazz into jumpshooters and listen to the music as the ball clangs off the iron. We also have to clear the defensive boards. Whoever guards Boozer has to focus on blocking him out. Unlike Dallas two years ago and both Dallas and Phoenix this year, losing to the Jazz in the first round will be a big surprise to me.

 

Doubt it. We've blown leads, but not to lose many games. We lost 26 games and are 1-20 or something like that in games we didn't lead after 3. Our defense is too good to completely blow a lead.

 

We all saw what happened in the first game of the season against the Jazz when Battier started at 4 like so many people here suggested. Boozer - 24pts, 19 rebs. We were outrebounded 47-36. Battier as PF is not an option. Best thing for him to do is to switch on picks involving Okur so Yao doesn't have to step out.

 

This is one of the reasons why I am glad we got Big Jake... we need big bodies to take fouls.

 

Ehsan,
you make a lot of good points in your post, and it depresses me it its analysis. What also depresses me is you comment above. I think you forget the first game of the season during JVG's very brief experiment in playing Battier at PF.

 

I don't think Utah is a matchup nightmare for us. I would prefer Yao on Boozer though, with help from McGrady or Battier when Boozer drives to the bucket.

I always subscribe to the theory let one player kill you, not the entire team.

I see Chuck being able to handle Okur since he doesn't have a posted up game. Chuck is a very good defender on the perimeter and if they run picks for Okur Tmac or Battier can switch and cover Okur.

I'm more concerned with Deron killing Rafer all night on high pick and rolls, which are Yao's/Rafer's weakness.

 

I'd like to agree, but as pointed out, they are a very tough defensive match-up for us, despite being a half-court team. Luckily, we give them some nice match-up problems as well.

Regardless, I do see us winning this series, though I expect it to be a dogfight at a minimum of 6 games.