I couldn’t find anywhere to confirm this, but Slam Online is reporting this quote from Andrei Kirilenko:

I will bite a throat for my teammates.

Did a Google search on it and couldn’t find any where else reporting this. Slam doesn’t provide any links. I’d like to see what context this was in. But if AK is talking about this in the context of his arrangement with Masha, then well, it’s not that tuff.

Technorati tags: andrei kirilenko, utah jazz

Don’t know why I didn’t see this coming… But over at Sports Media Watch, they raise the following situation: Now that the Warriors are leading the Mavs 3-1 in their series and if they win, it would cause huge ratings nightmares for the NBA. And should the Jazz beat the Rockets in their series, they could beat the Warriors in the next series and have a potential of a San Antonio-Utah matchup for the conference finals. Being that both teams are from small markets, the ratings for that could be down the tubes. And then you would probably have the Jazz or Spurs playing the Pistons in the finals. Double-ouch for ratings for that series. Of course a lot of things have to play out for this to happen, but with GS winning last night, it’s got more than a chance at happening. The Utah Jazz & Golden State have to win to make this happen AND the Jazz would have to beat the Warriors, something that’s not a given considering how GS has been playing and their last few head-to-head matchups.

To keep this from happening, will the crafty David Stern instruct his referee minions to call the games appropriately?

Technorati tags: nba, playoffs, utah jazz, david stern, golden state warriors

Thanks to the kind soul who turned in Okur’s shot.  Minus his three-point shooting, he was 6-7.  But more importantly, he frustrated Yao all night and Yao responded with his usual thug-like behavior.  It takes more to set off a bear trap.  The big three, Boozer, Okur, and Willliams (BOW) all had great games. 

Complete Box Score

After a Jazz run in the late third & early fourth, you could see the Rockets mailing it in.  If you’re a Houston fan, you haved to be a little concerned with their lack of care.  What it seemed like was Houston saying, “We don’t have to win any games here.”  That’s true, but it shows an arrogance that could lead to their demise.  They shot better in this game, but overall played pretty poorly.  And good news, their bench finally got on the board.

But it seems like Okur has Yao’s number the past two games.  That can’t be explained away just because the Jazz were playing at home.  And having AK on McGrady has shown that despite Kirilenko’s 0-1 shooting, he can have a huge effect on the game.  Houston’s top two were held to 38 points combined, the Jazz had the advantage from the free-throw line. 

So, heading back to Houston on Monday, what are we suppose to suspect?  Which game are we going to see?  Unfortunately, I think the Jazz will have to battle the Rockets and the refs again.  But if Okur plays as well as he did on both ends of the floor as he did tonight, I think the Jazz pull the game out.

If Mehmet plays one-on-one with himself, does either of them score?  How long would a game to 21 last?  Two, three hours?  Maybe he should stop drinking this stuff.

Looks like this is shot at the Huntsman Center, home of Runnin’ Utes basketball.

Here’s some additional highlights and interviews from the players

Technorati tags: utah jazz, houston rockets, playoffs, deron williams, matt harpring

YouTube recap

Well, well. Look who played crunch time minutes, Mr. Kirilenko. And look who won? Man, that’s a coincidence. Here’s his line: 2 points on 1-2 shooting, 3 rebounds, and 0 blocked shots. Here’s a stat that they should put in for players, what did they guy who you were guarding shoot? In this case, McGrady shot 9-23. Andrei was all over him all night. And where the Jazz have faltered the last two games, the 3rd and 4th quarters, they put it away. One of the reasons why there were able to do that was McGrady was not able to get it going and get the Rockets back in the game. So although the stat line won’t show it, Kirilenko was the biggest factor in the win. He showed that he didn’t need to contribute offensively to help the team. He had one purpose and that was to take McGrady out of the game. You could tell AK had a different aura about him tonight. Hey, maybe the translation thing worked.

And finally the Rocket’s poor shooting caught up with them. They shot only 33% tonight. I think that puts them in the mid 30s for the series. It’s amazing they’ve won two games. The Jazz didn’t shoot that much better, shooting 39% and an Ostertag-like 2-15 from downtown.

And probably the biggest factor for the win was this stat: 33-0. Apparently Van Gundy gave his bench the night off because no one scored. I remember when the Jazz were playing out of their heads and winning every game convincingly. Their bench was by far head and shoulders above any other team. Brewer, Millsap, and CJ Miles were all playing significant minutes. And now Millsap is the only one that doesn’t have to worry about the dreaded DNP or inactive tag.

Other notes… Yao almost outshot the Jazz by himself from the free-throw line; 18 attempts to Utah’s 16. Okur’s offensive woes continue. He shot a miserable 2-12 and 0-6 from three. To his credit, he played Yao well and made some nice plays on that end. If only one of those threes would go in, it would start building his confidence back up. It was nice to see him still take them though instead of passing them up and dishing to Fisher.

Well, it’s game 4 Saturday, another “must-win.” The Jazz need to hold serve on their own court and go back to Houston on Monday and grab that one too. If they win the next two, that would let them play at home for the series win.

Technorati tags: utah Jazz, houston rockets, andrei kirilenko, nba, playoffs

Surprised to see Deron only with the third place finish.  I didn’t expect him to win it (I thought it would go to Martin), but I did think he would finish second.  But it wasn’t even close. 

Deron Williams went from, “Maybe we should have drafted Chris Paul,” to potentially a perennial All-star.  There’s no doubt he’s what makes the team so good.  You can imagine where the Jazz would have been without him.  I wonder how much of this award comes from lobbying from the players’ teams.

Great quite from the guy that runs http://www.retiresloan.com on the ESPN conversation beta:

RetireSloan (4/26/2007 at 1:17 PM)

Given the fact he sucked it up, plugged his nose, and put on the dead skin of John Stockton — as Sloan demanded — Deron Williams should have won this award by a landslide.

Not a big deal.  I’ve always seen this award as the “You didn’t suck as much as you did last year”  or the “Contract year” award.

Link to ESPN.com - NBA - Warriors’ Ellis is NBA’s most improved player

Finally, someone in the local press calling out Jerry Sloan on his coaching philosophies.

Link to Salt Lake Tribune - GORDON MONSON: Sloan needs attitude change

Technorati tags: jerry sloan, utah jazz

Okay, so this has been done countless times with other translations, but this was probably how most Jazz fans felt watching game 2 against the Rockets.

Angry Jazz Fan

Technorati tags: utah jazz, houston tockets, nba playoffs

Sam Mitchell beat out Jerry Sloan for coach of the year in the NBA. I’m not sure when the writers vote, but I don’t think the Jazz slide at the end of the season helped at all. He wasn’t as deserving this year as he was in 2003-2004 but still did a great job. And that may be enought to keep him around for a few more years. I’m torn on whether or not to keep him.

UPDATE (7:45 p.m.) 4/24/2007:

One one hand he knows how to win. On the other, his style doesn’t seem to match today’s NBA and I think sometimes it shows; most recently in the playoffs. I don’t know how he messed up the AK situation so much. He’s not the type to have a heart-to-heart with one of his players, but he should have handled it differently. Now you have AK who doesn’t know whether he sitting or playing. Here’s the quote from Sloan:

“I probably haven’t gotten him in a position where he’s as comfortable as he would like to be,” Sloan said. “Our job is still to win. . . . Nobody wants to see him play any better and play well than I do. I’m sure his teammates would feel the same way. We all want to try to solve people’s problems, but I’m not qualified to solve those problems.”

Isn’t that part of being the coach?  I know AK is now the fourth option or so on offense, but surely him rotting on the bench isn’t the best use of him?  You don’t have to call plays for him necessarily, but he should be cutting to the basket and getting touches that way.  And he’s still invaluable on defense.  I don’t think he’s lost anything, he’s just not being utilized correctly.  How should he be used?  I’m not the coach, but in the game would be good.

But I know one thing, Jerry doesn’t give a rat’s ass about COY awards, players crying, or what anyone thinks.  Hell, he may have even smirked a little to hear the AK was crying.  But if the Jazz go out in the first round, it may be the end of the road for Sloan, either by his own choice or public outcry.