Just John

My "heel team" is the Utah Jazzzzzz (the extra z's are for them boring me with their free throw shooting contests). It's sad, because under most circumstances, I would like them. I enjoy watching Boozer, Williams, Kirelenko, and Okur when they're not fouling the other team constantly and can play smooth-flowing basketball. They also eliminated the Rockets, and probably the Warriors too so that's a big strike against them.

Ugh... The Utah nightmare will not end. Phoenix better make a comeback, because a Spurs/Jazz series would be lame beyond belief. I can just see it now... Each team shooting 45 FTs a game, getting in the penalty with 9 minutes to go every quarter... *Shudder*

Ron's BD dunk + MVP Ballin' gif combo is great.

Well, Andrei Kirelenko is headed straight to the Warriors gift shop. I can't say I'm too surprised by the result here. GS was so close to breaking through in Utah, I suspected the change of scenery would push them to big performance. What I am surprised with was how lost Utah looked for most of the game. None of the hustle or energy that was present for the first two games, and no domination of the offensive glass. GS did a decent job holding them to one shot until the game was out of reach. I expect them to play better in Game 4, but I doubt they'll win. I also saw the NBA has already dismissed Amare's claim on that dirty play by Bowen. I expected it to get taken a little more seriously than that.

But Marc Jackson says these are the two classiest teams in the league...

Nice resilient performance from the Pistons there. Or nice choke-job by the Bulls, whichever you prefer. How many teams have swept someone, only to get swept themselves the series after?

Well, GS did everything they could to give that game away, and Utah finally took it. Only good thing is the Warriors should probably win both back in Oakland with the home crowd and the refs not giving so much leniency to Utah's hack and shove defense. Still think Utah will win this series, though. GS can't get an important rebound to save their lives. It's sad I'll probably have to resort to cheering San Antonio in the WCF after Utah knocks out my favorite team and the feel-good story team.

I don't know how the Warriors manage to stay close. Seems like the Jazz are scoring on every possession. If the Jazz don't score on the first try, they're getting foul calls or easy offensive boards. The entire Warriors team will foul out by the start of the 4th quarter if the game keeps going this way.

GS can't be too discouraged by that loss. Much like Game 5 at Dallas, they played tough and got their pace the entire game, they just lost at it. Only difference is now they are playing a game down for the first time in the playoffs, so it'll be interesting to see how they react in Game 2. And man, Detroit looks sharp right now. I don't see how they won't win the East with relative ease.

He should be gone. Houston has maxed out their potential under his system, and they need a more offensively-minded coach to get to the next level. The Rockets looked their best this season when they ran and scored 100-110 points a game. The half court thing just doesn't work when you only have one real creator.

Yeah, I don't know what the deal was there. Tony P really sold that one well too. This has been an extremely physical game and that was just disappointing. To be fair, Tony got jobbed on that "charge" where Raja Bell moved into him while in the restricted area a few plays earlier. This game was fun to watch, but eerily similar to those 05 games which has to be disconcerting for Suns fans.

Yeah, something else I took away from the Houston/Utah series is that if one team has a rep for playing aggressive D, they won't get as many fouls called on them as they should. The refs can't call 'em all, I guess. Suns have to like the pace so far, but they need to go on a big run because you never know when San Antonio might clamp down.

Alright, part one of the offseason plan is now complete! Now it's time to get Rashard Lewis. Brings up the question who will take the coaching job, though. I agree with the notion that Houston needs a more offensively minded coach. Is Rick Adelman doing anything?

They certainly had the better coaching. Bench was better too, but that goes back to JVG using too short of a rotation.

Which begs the question: Why the fuck does JVG not do anything about it??? Chuck Hayes looked more effective on Boozer in his limited minutes than Yao did at any point in the series. TNT even had that graphic that showed the Rockets were doing better with Yao out. You'd think a Rockets assistant or Jeff would have taken notes on that as well. Like I said, this loss is all on JVG and his refusal to make adjustments when there were clearly better options present. You can blame Yao too, but there's not much he can do if the coach is making him guard someone his skills aren't suited for. Too bad that bus Dirk just got thrown under will be swerving to hit T-Mac now.

Final Pick Golden State d. Utah (4-2): Utah looked lost most of the time against Houston's small lineup, and at most positions, that one isn't very good. GS is athletic at every position and should be able to throw Utah off much like they did to Dallas. Utah's only shot is to run with them because they have enough shooters to compete, but I think Sloan will insist on slowing them on D similar to Avery. Also, Don Nelson isn't afraid to change something if it doesn't work, so there will be no "Yao Mings" in this series for Utah to constantly exploit. GS will also actually chase down long rebounds unlike Houston which will give them a huge advantage since that takes away one of Utah's big things from the Hoston series (second chance points) and adds to something that helped GS (fast breaks). Expect Boozer's numbers to drop when a faster, more athletic player is on him for a whole game.

Season on the line and the Rockets give up 3 straight offensive boards. Pathetic. And that last attempted foul series? Jesus Christ. Those last two minutes were the definition of caving under pressure. Simply disgusting. Sadly, T-Mac will get all the flack for this despite playing well. No one will question the coaching or Yao for not carrying his weight.

Ok, if the Rockets lose this game, I'm placing the blame solely on Jeff Van Gundy and his terrible lineup choices. Houston is failing to accomplish anything with the normal Yao-centric lineup and gets down by 16. Then the small lineup comes in, gets stops, breaks down the Utah D, gets open looks, and cuts the lead to in half in just a couple minutes. Utah takes a timeout and so what does JVG do? Goes back to lineup that got us in such a big hole to begin with. Naturally, Houston starts giving up easy points and stalling on offense as Utah pushes the lead back to double digits. T-Mac, Alston, Battier, Howard, and Hayes should be starting and playing most of the second half.

Late-night predictions: Detroit d. Chicago (4-3): I know I picked against Chicago last round, but I feel a lot more comfortable with this pick than the Heat one. Detroit matches up well with Chicago. Detroit's guards are bigger and more physical, and I'll take Tayshaun and Sheed over Deng and PJ. The center position seems like a wash, because Ben is a lot better than Webber defensively, but offensively it's the other way around. Webber will have to be able to hit the mid-range jumper to pull Ben away from the rim. Both teams play great D and have guys that can hit big shots, but I think Detroit's size (and possibly experience) gives them the slight edge. New Jersey d. Cleveland (4-2): The playoffs the last two years have clearly shown the ill effects of not being challenged for long periods of time. Cleveland was totally half-assing it in the Washington series, and they're too young/immature to just flip a switch. I definitely think NJ catches 'em off-guard and takes one of the first two. Someone besides Lebron is going to have to step up against the Nets' solid D to offset their healthy triple-headed attack. Gooden and Ilgauskas will have to be huge on the boards too. I don't see the Cavs having enough fire or firepower to overcome the Nets, though. San Antonio d. Phoenix (4-2): This will certainly be a fun series. I know the Suns seem like a team of destiny this year, but I'll believe them taking the Spurs in a series when I see it. As far as I can tell, San Antonio still has guys that can run, shoot 3's effectively, and can cut through the paint. Basically, they can play Suns ball if they have to, even though they're known for their D. The Spurs are also the only team I've seen effectively slow down the Suns for any length or period of time. Having Amare in there should help some, but remember, he's still going against Tim Duncan. I'll refrain on the last pick until the end of Game 7 tomorrow.

They do it so pretty much every game gets on national tv. Frankly, I don't mind that since I like to see everyone play at least once. I'd rather wait 2 weeks for a series to end than only be able to watch the Heat, Suns, and Mavs series. Though I wouldn't be upset if they sped things up by running parallel games on ESPN/ESPN2 and TNT/TBS.

You say that like Raptors/Cavs would've been really exciting. Pretty good game in Jersey tonight. I think the Nets have a real shot of making the ECF.

Dirk still has plenty of time to get a ring. Until he does, his choking will stick out like a sore thumb amidst otherwise good stats. He's kind of like Peyton Manning was until this February.

You think the NBA burns all those MVP ballots and pretends it was Nash all along now? I totally agree with the majority opinion about that dogshit effort from Dallas. I mean, GS was down 21 in Game 5, and still fought back on the road. Dallas just quit halfway through the 3rd. I knew they were in trouble when all their 1st quarter points came from Stackhouse 3's. Sure, Stack can chip in for 20+ on a given night, but asking him to carry a team? Dallas got a gift with the Baron injury, and they couldn't do shit. That's one of the saddest efforts I've seen in any sport in a good while.

What a terrible effort by the Rockets in the 4th quarter. There was a stretch where they went for like 6 straight possessions without even getting a shot up. Doesn't help that they couldn't get a call to save their lives while Utah was practically in the penalty 3 minutes in. And Yao needs considerably less playing time against the Jazz. Boozer gets around him like a practice dummy on the defensive end, and Yao's offense seems to consist mainly of turning the ball over and settling for 18-footers. The small lineup with T-Mac, Alston, Battier, Howard, and Hayes has easily been the most effective combo we've thrown at Utah, but that group only sees about 2 minutes of action a game. And I don't blame anyone for not caring about this series. Lots of low-scoring blowouts, no road wins, poor offense in just about every game... If you're not a fan of either team, this series sucks.

The Nuggets really aren't that good. Sure, they have two top scorers, but the team defense and bench are both pretty weak. There was no way they were going to beat a complete team like the Spurs. And good work by LA not pulling their pants down and bending over in Phoenix and giving the Suns a little run in Game 5. That's way more than I expected from them. That Suns/Spurs series should be really fun.