Everybody is already writing off the Utah Jazz.

They went into San Antonio and lost both games. While losing the games, they fell behind by large amounts, their defense looked terrible, and even their runs never got them very close to winning either game.

From the look of both games, they don’t have a chance to win.

Right?

Let’s look at the recent history…

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Well, after the Detroit Pistons finally defeated the Chicago Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers took care of the veteran New Jersey Nets, we know that the Pistons and the Cavaliers are playing in the Eastern Conference finals.

And now we also know that the Utah Jazz, who have been waiting around for a week, will be playing against the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference finals.

One thing can be said about both of these series. Neither one is going to be pretty to watch. All four teams are great in the half court. None of them run a whole lot. All of them are physical.

And with their play throughout the playoffs, all of them deserve to be here.

Here are my predictions… Read the rest of this entry »

Well, we all know that Big Shot Bob won the game again. It has gotten more publicity this time than at any time in the past. People have talked about it at water-coolers, in blogs, on the radio, on television. David Stern even talked it over with Dan Patrick.

Of course we know that this time Big Shot Bob won the game for the San Antonio Spurs by taking a cheap shot on Steve Nash in game 4 to draw Amare Stoudemire off the bench and get him suspended for game 5. This will probably go down as the most infamous shot by Big Shot Bob to win a game.

And since the Amare suspension happened in game 5, which took place in Phoenix, it very well could have won the Spurs the series. The Amare-less Suns, as we know, lost that game.

Tonight San Antonio has a chance to close out the series in San Antonio. Read the rest of this entry »

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?
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Hard fouls are normally a part of playoff basketball. Uncontested layups are frowned upon by NBA coaches in the regular season, but they are looked upon even worse when it’s time to “win or go home”. Players are often removed from games for not being “tough enough”. And the worst complement that can be presented to a post-season bound NBA team is that they are “soft”.

With that said, though, it seems like the cheap shots have been coming a little more often lately than they have been in the last several years. (I don’t dare go back much further or the old-timers start talking about the Lakers and Celtics series of the 1980s.)
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