Game 3

What a difference a game can make. Well, the Jazz won game 3 which is HUGE, but we are still in a hole. Listening to sports radio and talking to people around town you would think that we were up 3-1 and trying to close out the series. Everyone is acting as if all the trouble is in the rear view mirror and we are going to coast into the second round. These are the same people who, just yesterday, were talking about getting swept. I think its safe to say that, if nothing else, the momentum has shifted.

Ok, ok, I will be the first to admit that I bought into the whole doomsday, end of the (basketball) world mentality. Just read my last entry, it oozes negativity and hopelessness. While I think I was a little extreme in my pessimism I still don't think my perception of the situation was that far from reality. Going into game 3 the Jazz were in trouble and had few positives to take from the two losses in Houston. They came back to Salt Lake bruised, battered and emotionally broken.

After winning game 3 the trouble is still there, but the severity of it is reduced. We are half way out of the hole but nevertheless still in a hole. Its not going to be easy to climb out, either. There is no doubt the Rockets are going to come out swinging in game 4; they will be going for the knockout. They want to finish it off back in Houston. If they are going to win in Utah it has to be Game 4.

Here are positives and negatives I took from last night's game:

First the negatives.

• Memhet Okur sucks. Ok, maybe that's an over-generalization, especially considering he played in the all-star game, but during the playoffs he has played worse than a blind, retarded monkey.
• We couldn't execute when we needed too. I say "couldn't" instead of "didn't" because we tried, but Houston's defense was stifling about mid way through the 4th quarter. As a result we threw up bad jumpers and turned the ball over. Luckily the Rockets were ice cold and couldn't hit anything.
• Boozer is settling for jump shots. When he makes them he is unstopable but when he is cold, man oh man is he cold. I don't understand why he doesn't use his strength to his advantage and power the ball down low more often. Instead of going for the higher percentage shot and getting more oportunities to score from the foul line he'll stand fifteen feet out and shoot a jumper. He could muscle almost anyone for position down low, he needs to take advantage of that.
• We have yet to play consistantly well. In game 3 the Jazz played much better, but it was still subpar. Offensively we struggled tremendously at times. Defensively we were fairly solid but also benefited from Houston's bad luck. Most people would look at the Rockets being held to 67 points with only four players getting on the scoreboard and assume the Jazz locked down on defense. To an extent they would be right. But they had tons of really good, uncontested looks at the basket that simply didn't fall. I can remember Juwan Howard getting at least 4 wide open shots that just rimmed out. The same happened to Shane Battier and Luther Head.

Now the positives.

• Andrei Kirilenko guarded McGrady. Its about damn time!!!! If A.K. isn't guarding T-Mac then there is no reason to have him on the floor. Period. Jerry Sloan finally woke up, but the fact that it took him two full games to do so is troublesome.
• A.K., although he didn't have an outstanding game, looked more alive than he has all year. His numbers were not impressive but if you watched him you could see the difference. He was productive (in a non-factor sort of way).
• Paul Millsap: 9 points on 4-4 shooting. Did I mention Yao was guarding him? He made the 7'6" Houston center look like the Rookie.
  
• The Jazz kept their composure and fought through Houston's runs in the second half. This is something that we have not done all series not to mention the last month of the season. We made a habit of giving up when things got close. Last night guys were diving for lose balls, making the extra pass and not giving up on plays. That's why Utah had 12 steals and forced the Rockets into 19 total turnovers.

There were more negatives and positives I noticed but those were the ones that really struck me as most important. I'm not going to make a prediction for game 4 because I really have no idea what's going to happen. I know I picked the Jazz to win last night and then lose the next two but after seeing fire in them down the stretch I think anything is possible. I know this is cliche and sounds insincere but in all honestly I think it will come down to who wants it more, to who has the greater desire and intensity.

Go Jazz!!!!