You know, if this was any other team that was heading back home with a 3-2 lead and a good chance to wrap things up, their fans would be stating that they just wanted to win it at home.  But most fans this morning and last night seem to think that the series is over and that we should start a fire sale on Boozer, Memo, and AK.

But there’s probably at least a little reason to panic.  The Jazz are coming off their worst game of the year.  Most thought that this should have been a sweep after they won the first two on the road.  And they were a blocked lay-up shy of doing that.  But I don’t think that anyone expected them to sweep before this series began.  Most had the Jazz in 6, which is where we stand now.  So no need to freak out.  But then if the Jazz somehow drop game 6, then by all means, EVERYBODY PANIC!

That said, Tom Landry stated, “Act like you’ve been there before.”  Does this team look like they’ve been in the playoffs already? From their hesitant play to their post-game interviews.  It looks like they’re still trying to adjust.  Boozer seems to know he’s talking to national media and he’s trying to make an impression.  How many times do you adjust your tie in an interview?  Maybe it’s just a nervous tic, but you don’t see other big name guys fidgeting that much.  Deron’s as calm as can be.  They were in the WCF just last year!

As I stated in my half-time notes, the Jazz have had open looks all series and just can’t knock them down.  Missed jump shots, botched lay-ups, etc.  Boozer did respond to my call to step it up in the second half, but no one else could get things going.  Why is he so intimidated by Mutombo?  He can handle Yao, but not the finger wave?  He had a couple of nice moves by Mount M, but where have those been all series?  It doesn’t matter if he’s not hitting the 15-17 footers, he should be able to post up on him all night.

The Jazz teased us with a little run to start the third that looked like they had finally figured something out.  The Rockets then promptly when on a 7-0 run to push the lead back to 17 and that did it.

The Jazz also teased fans in the beginning by hitting their first 2 three pointers of the game after going 0-65535.  But then they proceeded to miss their next 7.  I’ve never seen so many shots go in the hoop and rattle out than in this series.  And that goes for all shots and both teams.  Did they over-inflate the ball?

So now it’s back to the ESA for a deciding game 6 (for both teams).  It’s simple.  If the Jazz out-rebound and get more assists than the Rockets, they win.  Man, that sounded like John Madden.  I completely overlooked Alston’s return.  He’s supposed to be injured though, right?  He’s absolutely been the Rockets’ biggest force since his return.   

And although defense wins championships, it’s a little hard to win when you can’t put the ball in the hole.  Nobody expects them to put up their regular season average of 106, but give us something fellas.  Deron can’t go 1-on-1 all night.

Other blogs,

• My Utah Jazz
• Biased
• The Dream Shake 
• Ross Siler

• Boozer.  We need you man.
• An ugly series just turned hideous.
• Good, Jazz hold Rockets to 38% shooting.  Bad, the Jazz shoot 37%.  And Utah is only 4-9 from the line.
• Maybe the T on Booze will get his going.
• Brewer is shooting 57% in the series.  And despite Ronnie shooting 3-8 for the game, sorry Kyle, you need to sit for now unless we’re up two with 3 seconds to play.
• Will we see Deron go 24 in the second half?  Do you play him the rest of the game so that you have a chance to win and time to rest him?  Or do you rest him a bit and hope you hang in there but with a more likely chance of losing?
• How many overturned calls this series have gone against the Jazz?  This game had a call on Mutumbo out of bounds.  Next thing you know, it’s Rockets’ ball.
• Did they make a rule change this year that you can go over the back?

Despite the amazingly crappy play, the Jazz start the second half down just 11.  If they can start making some shots (they’ve had open looks all series), they can still pull this one out.  Otherwise, hello game 6.

  T-Mac is rubbing off on me.  Just when I should be writing 2-3 times a day and stepping it up in the playoffs, I disappear.  Let’s just say real life was playing me too physical.    I don’t have any tapes I can send in to the league unfortunately.

So let’s get going again with a few playoff notes as the Jazz try to wrap things up tonight in Houston.  It’s hard to bring something new to the discussion when you haven’t written for a bit, but here it goes.

• First of all, thanks to everyone that wrote me on the blogging awards.  I wasn’t able to pull off the upset, but it was good to see My Utah Jazz get second in the NW division.
• And thanks to those that signed the Save [Y]our Sonics petition.  We were able to get over 200 sigs in just a day.  So for the time given and the niche that I have, I think that was pretty good.  I forward it to LHM’s assistant but never got a response.  Unfortunately he voted for the move.  But it looks like the Sonics owners are digging themselves pretty deep with the recent emails that have come out.  So there’s still a little hope.
• Is anyone surprised about T-Mac’s crying about physical play?  He was crying about it last year too.  And Adelman’s joined in this year.  I guess it doesn’t matter which coach they have.  He’s got to put the blame on something (someone) other than himself.  Is his complaining coming from the fact that he can’t hit a free throw?
• Is this series uglier than last year’s?  The Jazz broke 100 once last year and that was the game 7 win.  It’s not just the low scoring.  No one can make free throws.  There seems to be a ton more turnovers.  They’re just ugly, ugly games to watch.  They hearken back to the Knicks/Heat series back in the ’90s when the final scores were 58-54.
• Is it McCryBaby?  T-Mock?  He really doesn’t know how to pronounce Deron’s name?  I have to admit, it was hard for me to pronounce it “darrin” at first.  Even the Trib’s search has problems with Deron’s name.  But the guy’s been in the league three years.  You played them last year in the playoffs!  And has his coach never said in practice, “Watch out for Deron Williams?”  Maybe that’s the problem.  He’s not listening in practice.  He’s had to have spoken his name some other time.  Anyone find a clip?  A nice anagram for Tracy McGrady is “drag my cry act” as in, “I’m going to drag my cry act to every news conference.”

  Thanks Tracy for pissing off Deron Williams.  He said it didn’t bother him.  Right.  Just like being snubbed for the All-Star team didn’t bother him.  Here’s hoping for 30 & 17 tonight.

• One of Malone’s sons was just drafted into the NFL.  I don’t doubt the kid’s story about being shunned by Malone, but I would like to hear a comment from Karl on this.
• The Jazz finally get a “There’s only one” NBA split-screen video.  We need one now with David Stern and Clay Bennett.
• Always a bridesmaid.  He should have won in 97 and 98.  And if they’re going based on turnaround this year, then he should have won in 04 when the Jazz finished 42-40 when they were expected to compete for the worst record of all time.  Seriously, have you seen their roster?  Tell me how that team wins that many games.  Like most others have stated, it appears that you have to have had a crappy team and then turn them around.  That’s why the COY award will be renamed the Jerry Sloan COY award and he will never have had actually won it.

First of all, if you were at the game last night, throw away your white t-shirts.  away I did with mine and the Jazz immediately scored two threes at the end of the game, got a turnover and had a chance to win it.  The things are cursed.

With the exception of Deron Williams, the white jerseys of the Jazz gave them about as much basketball ability as the people wearing white tees in the stands.  The tees must have sucked out the power out of the player’s jerseys.  And if you don’t believe me about the power of the white jersey, just remember the game in Boston where the Cs chose to wear their green unis and got beat by the Jazz who were in white.  And one more note about the white tees.  We’re already stereotyped as being one of the whitest places in the nation.  Do we need to don white tees to remind everyone?  Bring back True Blue!

So my streak is over.  I can no longer say I’ve never seen the Jazz lose in person.  Losing a game is a lot tougher when you’re with a crowd of 20,000.  You have to be somewhat civil.  If you’re at home watching, you can let whatever expletives you want fly.  The worst part about watching a loss in person is that there are the few fans of the opposing team that are cheering afterwards and you have to do everything within your power from pushing them down the steep steps of the upper bowl.

And maybe it was me that jinxed things.  I had a moment in the men’s room with David James before the game started.  Not a Larry Craig moment.  We were the only ones in there and I at least waited until he was washing his hands before bugging him.  I was trying to think of something to say that would make me look look intelligent.  So while we were washing hands (not each others), I said, “What’s the line tonight?”  I was star struck by DJ for crying out loud.  What a lame question.  He did answer back quickly with “8 1/2.”  We exchanged a couple more small-talk phrases before I left the conversation awkwardly.  And by awkwardly I mean I just walked out of the men’s room.

Deron carried the team in the first half with 21 points.  No one else could find the bottom of the basket.  They managed to tie it at 44 going into the half when it felt like we were down 20.  They built a 6-point lead after four but then pulled a T-Mac in the fourth and disappeared.  End despite how poorly they played, they still had a chance to win in the closing second with Deron driving to the hoop only down 1.  I can’t think of anyone else I want taking that shot.  There were a couple of people open.  But hand it to Houston for playing tough D again to finish the game.

The Jazz did themselves in of course by missing 13 of their 33 free-throws.  They had 11 more attempts than the Rockets and blew the game.  There were no other factors.  Yes, the refs sucked again.  I’ll defer to Biased for commentary on the suckiest refs in the playoffs.  I’ve never seen though where one ref controlled the game so much.  He overrode two calls that would have been in Utah’s favor.  And he called two continuation fouls for the Rockets where one player was shooting and someone else was fouled.  So they got the and-1 with a different player shooting the free-throw.  Have there been two of those called all year?  In the entire league?  He was truly awful.  But the calls were bad both ways.

It’s no time to panic.  We have to go back to Houston now and this series is going to go longer than it should have.  Nobody outside of Houston expected Alston to have the game he had.  And if one other Jazz man had a decent game, we would have pulled it out.  I’m a big fan or Korver, but I would like to see more Brewer.  He played well but just broke 30 minutes. I would say cut back Harp’s minutes, but he was the only one that played decent while he was in there.

And if I’m Sloan, nobody leaves practice until they make 20 straight free-throws.  And you have to run 5 ladders for everyone you miss in a game.

Other notes,

• No videos as I wasn’t home in time to get any
• No male should be wearing a Korver jersey.
• Great chants of “Tracy’s tired!”  And he was.  He missed a couple of big free throws and a layup.  “Houston sucks!” chants resulted in a Alston three.  That worked just as well as the “Utah sucks” chants in Houston.

Other blogs,

• My Utah Jazz
• FLA, and again, and one more time
• Ross Siler
• The Dream Shake

I put my undefeated in-attendance record on the line tonight when the Rockets come to town for game 3.  I don’t think my streak of 7 games is in jeopardy though.  It would be one of the bigger playoff upsets if Houston were to pull this out.

They’ll have Alston back which should provide a boost.  But he’s still a little sore.  But apparently a 80% Alston is better than what they have.

We’ll get to see if McGrady has anything left in the tank to make this series interesting.  Biased has a great write-up on how McGrady’s gone sarcastic on the whole “It’s my fault” comments.  If you want superstart treatment and status, you better be able to take the criticism.  It’s easy to laugh when you’re up 2-0 like last year.

It’s kind of a theme out west that all the series are 2-0.  The only exception is that the Jazz are the only ones to win on the road.  The Suns will probably win at home and the Mavs have done well against the Hornets at home.

So should all play out as expected, the Lakers and Jazz will start round two while the other series will probably go seven.

So let’s put this one away early and shut the door on any hope the Rockets might have left.  Expect some big money shots from Memo early and a nice 15-3 run to start the first.  Deron and company will take care of business.  The ESA is going to be out of control.  So much that Locke said, “I am off to buy my earplugs.” Wuss.  Free white t-shirts tonight at the game.  Let’s hope they don’t forget the upper-bowl this time.

From KSL.com,

As if Jazz fans aren’t typecast enough.  Now a group of FLDS sympathizers are going to protest the game on Thursday v. Houston.  They’re protesting the treatment of the FLDS church and families in Texas that’s going on right now.  The Salt Lake City attorney, Bob Breeze (who looks like he’s trying to drum up name recognition for himself), is calling for a protest rally and even to go so far as this,

Breeze is asking local FLDS supporters to show up at the hotel rooms of the Rockets’ players. “We’re working on a plan to have a number of the polygamist women go and have a meeting with the team players,” he said.

Well that makes sense.  This can only end well. 

I’ll be at the game and will see if I can get pictures.  And come early to make your own protest sign.  Breeze stated that he will be providing the paint for your signs.  I wonder if he’ll let me use any to paint my face.

Game two videos starting with the last 1:50 of the game.  Great stuff

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Ronnie Price Breaks down his game

Online Videos by Veoh.com

TNT’s recap of the game.  I love Barkley.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

And More Tracy McGrady

Online Videos by Veoh.com

That’s why I shouldn’t, and don’t usually, predict point spreads or margins of victory.  I stated in my preview that either the Jazz were going to lose or we were going to blow them out.  I then stated at the half that we would win by 15.  I was a quarter right.  We won, but that was as good as my predictions go.

It was bound to be a closer game (I now have put on my hindsight glasses).  Bobby Jackson wasn’t going to be as bad as he was in game 1.  We were still playing a team that had won 22 in a row (10 without Yao).  And were still going up against one of the best defensive teams in the league.

I was right about another thing.  The Jazz do get better as the game goes on.  They made incredibly clutch shots (on the road mind you) down the stretch.  None bigger than the shot of the year from KK.  His turnaround jumper, with about 4 seconds left on the shot clock, went off the side of the backboard.  AK got the board and passed back out to KK who caught it and shot it with 1 hand with about .5 on the shot clock.  The swish with about :20 left finished off the Rockets and gave the Jazz a 2-0 series lead.

The defensive of the Jazz was hands down the biggest reason for the W.  Bobby Jackson did score 18, but it took 7-17 to do it.  The Jazz held the Rockets to another 41% shooting game.  Houston did themselves in again making only 16 of 26 free throws and only 4-19 from the arc.

And the best defense of the game came from AK in the second half.  He was assigned to guard McGrady for most of the 3rd and 4th quarters.  It paid off as T-Mac had only 1 point in the fourth quarter and was just 9-22 overall from the field.  He filled up the stat sheet with 9 assists and 13 rebounds.  But he disappeared when the Rockets needed him the most.  I won’t go over his shortcomings, I’ll let The Dream Shake express how Rockets fans feel (PG-13).

Okur was back last night getting 16 & 16.  It really didn’t seem like he was getting that many rebounds.  A very quiet 16.  Boozer, in foul trouble again, scored only two points in the first.  He came back in the second to score 11 and had some huge baskets to keep Houston at bay.  He had some great post moves and I don’t know why he hasn’t eaten Mutumbo up yet.  If he can light up Yao, Mutumbo should be a walk.

One of the most underrated players in this series has been Ronnie Price.  He filled in for Deron by hitting 2 threes in his eight minutes of relief.  One of those threes came at the end of the third when the Rockets had just gone up by one.  It sent the Jazz into the fourth on a positive note and gave them the lead.  He also had another steal with a great dunk on the other end by outracing Brooks for the flush.

Deron Williams had big shot after big shot.  And that was despite all the abuse he was taking without getting a call.  The biggest no call of course came when he was running out to challenge a three and Aaron Brooks absolutely leveled him with his shoulder.  It was a great screen except that Brooks moved at the last second to instigate contact with Deron.  That hit sent Deron onto his side and he had to go to the locker room for a bit.  It seems like Deron is the little Shaq of the league.  Shaq wouldn’t get a lot of calls when he would get hammered because he was bigger and stronger than everyone else.  Deron finished with 22 points and just 5 assists.  The Jazz as a team only had 19 assists total.  There was great D on Houston’s part as the Jazz weren’t really able to get into their offense.  They didn’t get many lay-ups or cuts to the basket.

And I’ll echo the sentiment by RRR.  The refs are plain awful.  I really can’t remember a year when the they’ve been this bad.  They missed calls, they made wrong calls, and this particular set seemed to think that the game was about them and that they’re in control.  Do you want to know how you’ve got bad refs?  When their antics resemble Enrico Pollazzo and not officials.  They’re out of position on calls and in Deron’s leveling, the ref was more worried about whether the shooter’s feet were behind the three-point line than what was going on in front of him.  And of course Rockets fans have a legitimate gripe when AK did some great acting to draw an offensive foul from Scola when Bobby Jackson had just made a game-tying three.  But there were other missed calls.  Scola and McGrady got to extend their arms all night to make room.  Price was called for a block when Jackson was spinning out of control.  Deron was called for a travel after receiving the ball in the air and coming down.  And Boozer was whacked on the head on one of his lay-ups.  Like RRR stated, can we can find competent refs amongst the population?  And whatever happened to Stern’s promise of more transparency for the refs?  There needs to be some accountability for these things.

The Jazz withstood the Rockets’ best (and the refs’ best) and now head home to the SLC to wrap things up.  Stranger things have happened but the Jazz should take care of business at home and move on.  The Lakers could as easily sweep the Nuggets so the Jazz probably won’t have time to rest.  And that’s probably a good thing.  They don’t seem to play well coming out of a long break.  So fans, relax a bit and get ready to rock the ESA on Thursday.

Other notes,

• Was anyone else waiting for Harp to miss the lay-up on his break-away?  Instead he shows that his knees have a little more mileage in them by throwing it down.
• McGrady quote, “Offense is really not an issue.”  Really?  41% from the field and 62% from the FT line isn’t an issue?  4-19 from three?
• Videos coming soon

Other blogs,

• Biased Fan
• FLA & Again
• My Utah Jazz
• Deadspin
• Ross Siler
• True Hoop
• Daily Dime

• If the Rockets lose, McGrady will have no one else to blame.  He’s a one-man show tonight.
• Both teams are playing great defense.  T-Mac has three blocks.  Jazz getting a lot of help in the paint with deflections and boards
• Deron has just two assists and Boozer just two points.  Deron made his first three threes.
• The Jazz failed to pull away while McGrady was on the bench from about 6:00-3:00.  They basically had their first string out against the Rockets bench.
• Memo gave the Jazz some cushion with a couple of big threes to close out the quarter.
• The Rockets finally out-score the Jazz in a quarter, 24-21 in the second.

The shooting percentage for the Jazz is down.  They’re shooting just 40%.  That’s got to improve in the second half.  Boozer needs to come back.  And if Mehmet will take it to the hole a couple times, we’ll be in good shape.  That’ll open up the three again.  It will be a shame if the Jazz drop this one.  They’ve taken the brunt of what the Rockets have dished out.  The Jazz are a second half team and I think will get stronger as the game goes on.

Jazz by 15.

Okay, I’m taking that back.  I totally forgot to take into account the crappy refs again.

This time last year the Jazz dropped game 2 to Houston on the road and were heading back to the SLC to try to salvage the series.  This year things are a bit different.  The Jazz already have stolen home court and can effectively end Houston’s season tonight with a win.  I always hate saying that type of thing because it always comes back to haunt you should it not turn out.

As I said in game 1’s recap, I think Houston is done.  I think McGrady is already looking to next season when Yao and Alston are back.  He’s tired of the “can’t get out of the first round” player and wants to be able to say it wasn’t his fault.  And to a point it’s not really.  Nobody expected them to win this series with the injuries they’ve had.  But he still owes his fans a competitive series.

Look for the Jazz to do the same defensive scheme tonight.  As Ken, Scrum, and FLA stated, they’re going to keep playing T-Mac straight up and send help.  Someone else is going to have to beat the Jazz.  We’re going to have to see Scola or Bobby Jackson have a career night.  Battier was great in the first game, but unless McGrady has 50+, just having two scorers won’t be enough.

Have you ever seen Memo and AK both have good games on the same night?  I can’t remember the last time both of them had close to 20 in the same game.  They must share one pair of lucky socks.  Boozer and Williams will get their’s tonight.  We’ll need a good game from one of the sock mates and KK and Millsap to do their thing.

Either the Jazz blow them out in this one or the Rockets pick up a win.

Other blogs,

• My Utah Jazz
• The Dream Shake (gets straight to the point)
• David Thorpe