Comments on: Thoughts from Game 1

By: LordByronHouston

LordByronHouston — Wed, 09 May 2007 16:05:39 +0000

Carlos Boozer = Oscar the Grouch? More like Carlos Boozer = Groucho Marx.

I love Monta to death, but unfortunately, I don’t see how we can have him and Baron on the court at the same time in this series. We need more size out there. I look for Monta to play sparingly, unless Deron Williams stays hot. In that case, I’d like to see Monta stay in front of him, and force Deron to shoot from the outside. Deron had a truly wonderful game, but before we all anoint him the next Baron Davis, let’s remember his almost pianful-to-watch inability to hit a shot the last time these times met in Oakland. He’s not unstoppable.

I know we need to do a better job rebounding, and if that starts with crashing the boards harder and not looking to run at every opportunity, I’m okay with that. I don’t think, however, that we can change our defensive strategy on Boozer. As long as we keep fronting him, he’ll have problems offensively (like he did in Game 1), but will clean up on the rebounds. If we alter our strategy, however, he’ll get a ton of easy buckets inside and will put Biedrins, Barnes, Jackson, and Harrington all in foul trouble. I’d rather take my chances playing tighter defense and conceding the rebounding edge on defense. Okur is slow and we should be able to get out to D him up. Other than that, there isn’t anyone on the Jazz that really intimidates me from the outside. Baron/Monta can do a better job on D. Will, and there you go.

108-97 Warriors tonight. GO DUBS!!!

By: ADAM

ADAM — Wed, 09 May 2007 13:53:34 +0000

You can sit here and wonder about what ifs all day long. Everyone knows that the refs are going to blow calls every game for each team. Refs are exactly what they are, not computers! I am a huge W’s fan and have been a season ticket holder for years. Personally I think that the Jazz were hurt more by no calls in game 1 than the W’s. Boozer got fouled almost every other possesion by the W’s. How many free throws did you see him shoot? The W’s have only themselves to blame for the loss. They didn’t make the plays on either end of the court when they needed to in the late stages of the game. I don’t mean to be a pessimist but I think the W’s are coming home 0-2. The Jazz had 21 Turnovers in game 1 and the W’s didn’t take advantage of it, not to mention that they were out scored in fast break points 25 to 19. There are plenty of things to point the finger at for this loss, not the refs for hells sake! Thats the oldest excuse in the book. Get used to referees they’re not gonna change, they never have after all these years of complaining. Its funny because you didn’t hear any of the W’s players say a damn thing about the refs after the game. So grow up and be a man about it. The W’s have a lot of maturing to do while playing the Jazz because they aren’t going to mentally fold like the Mavs did. The W’s are lucky to be where they are and they’ll be lucky to move on. The Jazz however are where they are because they were flat out better than Houston and thats why you don’t see anyone talk about them beating them. It wasn’t so much the under dog situation that the W’s had. Thats why you only see highlights of the W’s beating the Mavs and not the Jazz beating the Houston.

By: wander7

wander7 — Tue, 08 May 2007 19:29:36 +0000

what about the momentum stopper that the refs got involved in when they didn’t assess the clear-path foul to the Jazz.

By: jason

jason — Tue, 08 May 2007 18:32:10 +0000

The Jazz were called for so many non fouls. How you guys can claim no foul is unbelievable! What should worry you is this: The entire NBA is pulling for the Cinderella GSW. Not one time did TNT come back from a commercial and show a clip of the Jazz beating Houston. Every clip was of GSW beating Dallas. Charles was the only one who thought Utah will win and as soon as they went back to Reggie he disputed it. Milsap called for 3 fouls and a traveling call, 1 foul legit, he didn’t travel. Williams driving and bumping Davis, Foul on Williams. Davis driving and plowing Williams twice as hard, Blocking on Williams. Jackson flat out pushing Boozer after boozer takes the ball, ref looking on, no call. GSW were saved by the refs in the first quarter until they got their game going and the Jazz still won. Go Jazz Go!!!

By: itsagreattimeout

itsagreattimeout — Tue, 08 May 2007 18:20:44 +0000

I thought the game was very encouraging. Despite all our problems we were able to hang with them in their stadium, and play our style of play. If all our away games are that close, we’re bound to win one of them. And that’s all we need.

By: Tim Dickinson

Tim Dickinson — Tue, 08 May 2007 15:19:13 +0000

I worry we’ve just seen the start of a troubling pattern. The Jazz are quick enough to run with the warriors and keep it close through three quarters. But the warriors don’t really have an answer when the Jazz slow it down and grind out possession after vital prossession down the stretch. Sloan’s system sets up good shots, and having an agile banger like boozer down low creates vital second chances. It’s that fourth quarter discipline that did in Houston in game seven, and we saw a near instant replay last night.

The warriors were up 5 or 7 points early in the fourth, playing loose and driving to the basket before Sloan clamped down. His team came up with nice stops and clean looks at the other end. Memo bricked an open three but Boozer was there to clean up the garbage.

I think the warriors can probably run these guys off the court at the Oracle. They feed off the crowd and take their fast break to a whole ‘nother level.

But I think it’s going to take a minor miracle to steal one in Salt Lake if the Jazz arent afraid to run the break for three quarters themselves and then apply the breaks and seal the deal.

By: ADAM

ADAM — Tue, 08 May 2007 13:47:24 +0000

This game goes to show you how versatile the Utah Jazz are. They just won a 7 game series against a Houston team that wants to slow down and play in the half court. The Jazz matched Houston and spanked them at their own grind it out beat you up style of game. Two nights later against the W’s they beat them at their own game as well by more than matching the speed and up tempo play that the W’s bring. What really scares me is that the Jazz didn’t want to play that way and they still won the game. In the end Utah I think will eventually impose its will on the W’s and take over the series. The confidence that last night gave them knowing that they can run with us and win the game is going to be a huge factor for the W’s to overcome. To end I just want to say that Deron Williams is a freak of nature for someone that is only in his 2nd year. Superstar in the making to say the least.

By: Andrew Rosenblum

Andrew Rosenblum — Tue, 08 May 2007 13:24:21 +0000

Wow, Deron is a lot better than I realized.

I fully agree with your assessment, Marcus, particularly on the boards. They have to rebound better — the good news is that I think they can. Andris having only 5 boards is really an off-night.

Also, it was one of those nights where the Jazz were getting some breaks in terms of calls and long-rebounds and they still only barely won.

By: dareedle

dareedle — Tue, 08 May 2007 12:27:26 +0000

Overall, the Warriors played like an overly confident team. We were lacking effort plays from rebounding, taking the ball to the basket, slashing to the lane and guarding the wide open Okur. Every time Jackson was taking the ball to the rim, his counterparts were sitting on the three point perimeter instead of banging the boards. Games like this are more indictative of our underacheiving regular season than our series against Dallas. Hopefully, we can learn to play like Detroit, who has learned to grab the opponents jugular and not give an inch. One team is playing for a championship, the other is playing for ESPN highlights. Will the Warriors show up to play our scrappy underdog style of tenacious D, or will we showboat our way into a fishing trip with Chuck?

By: EJ

EJ — Tue, 08 May 2007 11:51:11 +0000

oh, and what do you give me for this:

carlos boozer = oscar the grouch