The Utah Jazz | as seen by Basketball John

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.