It was a foregone conclusion for many not in the Bay area.

The Golden State Warriors defeated the top-seeded team in the playoffs, the Dallas Mavericks, but they had beaten the Mavs all three times in the regular seasons as well, two at the end of the season with the same personnel that they would be using in the playoffs.

The Utah Jazz were not the Dallas Mavericks, though. They were tough inside. They were big at every position, including point guard. They had just finished defeating a very good Houston Rockets team in 7.

The Warriors played them well, but were worn down over 48 minutes by the tough Jazz players and their deep bench. (The Jazz rarely needed to dip too far down, but their bench was even deeper than we saw in this series.)

Where do the Warriors go from here?

The Golden State Warriors have a very good team, and one with an offense that is very hard to defend for most teams out there. They have the right personnel to run it. They need to stick with it.

They have talked about getting in a better rebounder or two to help them with the huge rebounding deficiency that was exploited by the Jazz in the series, but they have to be careful in doing this. They have to find big men who can run the floor with their explosive guards and finish well on the break. Unfortunately, those players aren’t necessarily so easy to find. But that is what they should really be looking for if they choose to go with this route.

The other option is to stay small and just find more quick players to extend the bench. The Warriors very well might have beaten the Jazz if they had a few more good players who could make three point shots, run the floor, and steal the ball. They didn’t, and by the end of four of the five games, you knew they were not going to have enough juice to keep it up… and they didn’t. If you can find a couple of smalls who rebound well despite their size, all the better.

Where do the Jazz go from here?

Well, the Western Conference Finals, obviously, but how far can this team really go? Honestly, it depends on who they play against. The Jazz probably wouldn’t have made it this far but for playing Golden State instead of the Dallas Mavericks. The Western Conference Finals will match them up against the Phoenix Suns or the San Antonio Spurs. The San Antonio Spurs play a lot like the Houston Rockets, who they beat in the first round in 7 games. The Phoenix Suns play a lot like the Golden State Warriors, who the Jazz defeated in 5 games. I’m not so sure that the Jazz would beat the San Antonio Spurs without home court advantage, but anything is possible, especially with Kirilenko playing well again. The Utah Jazz could probably defeat the Phoenix Suns, even without home court advantage. The regular season records certainly seem to confirm those assumptions.

If the Utah Jazz are fortunate enough to defeat their Western Conference Finals opponent, a tall order indeed, they will most likely play against the Detroit Pistons, Cleveland Cavaliers, or the Chicago Bulls. Although formidable, none of those teams are likely to be any more difficult than the Suns or the Spurs.

Any team coming out of the East should count themselves fortunate that they only have to play one team from the Western Conference en route to the NBA Championship. The Miami Heat would never have made it last year if they would have had to have faced multiple Western Conference opponents.

It’s not about whether you’re the best — it’s whether you’re better than the teams your are facing on a given day. It’s just like it is in any other sport, especially any other sport with a bracketed tournament — and it’s why sports players so often use the trite phrase “take it one game at a time”. It’s why the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat were ousted in the first round this year after playing in the NBA Finals last year. It’s why Golden State could defeat the team with the most wins, but could not even win two games against the Utah Jazz. It’s why the LA Clippers dropped games last year in order to have a better first round matchup. It’s all about who you play and how you play them.

Because of who the Jazz have faced thus far and who they yet might face in the Western Conference Finals and NBA Finals, they might have a better chance this year of winning an NBA Championship than they did when they were much better but facing an even stronger Chicago Bulls team led by Michael Jordan. It’s just interesting how things sometimes work out.

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