Round 1:

Well, the regular season is over, and the Jazz find themselves in the exact same situation as last year – Fourth seed (due to winning their division), no homecourt advantage, and opening the playoffs in Houston. (incidentally, my bracket prediction wasn’t even close… wishful thinking, I guess)

I’m hoping that the Jazz can do it in 5 or 6 games this time around. A seven game series is tiring. Not to mention that if the Jazz win in round 1, they’ll almost certainly face the Lakers in round 2. And I’m betting on a Lakers sweep of Denver, which would mean the Lakers would get plenty of rest if the Jazz / Rockets series goes long. Let’s hope that Denver’s dirty duo (Carmelo and K-Mart) do a little damage to the Lakers in that series. I’m kidding. Kind of.

In order for Utah to beat Houston, a few things will HAVE to happen. The keys to a Jazz victory (in my opinion) include, but are not limited to:

• Run your offense: In Monday’s game versus the Rockets, the Jazz started out a little shaky. Houston was forcing them into jump shots and taking them out of the paint. The Rockets defend very well against the 3 point shot, so the Jazz can’t fall back on that as a crutch. They must play through the paint. Pick and Roll.
  
  
• Contain McGrady: Tracy McGrady burned the Jazz badly in their home-opener this season, scoring 47 points. On Monday, he started off the game on pace to do it again scoring 10 in the first quarter. Brewer was in foul trouble early and McGrady was getting whatever shot he wanted. The Jazz were able to hold him scoreless in the second quarter, however, and he finished with 22 points on the night. McGrady IS the Houston Rockets, now that Yao is out, and he must be stopped.
  
  
• Rebounds: The Jazz out rebounded the Rockets 50-38 including 16 offensive boards. This gave the Jazz a huge advantage one second (or third… or fourth… or fifth) chance points. That said, they really had to battle for many of those. Scola is an animal on the glass, and they will have to work hard to keep him off the boards.
  
  
• Bench Production: The Utah Jazz have one of the most productive benches in the league. Harpring and Korver provide energy and physical play. It was Korver who iced the Jazz’s victory in Houston this season with some clutch 3-pointers in the fourth, yet he is a streak shooter. Let’s hope he’s on a hot streak. Harpring beats the crap out of people battling for position. He had 9 rebounds on Monday against the Rockets. Millsap blocked 3 shots and had some incredible plays. The one I’m worried about is Price. When Deron Williams leaves the game, there is a tangible drop in the teams energy. Price will really have to step up his play.

So there you have it. It will be a tough series, but I really believe the Jazz are the better team. They’ll have to steal a game on the road, but they’ve already won there once this season. Go Jazz!!

Season Finale

So much is still at stake tonight as the Jazz take on the San Antonio Spurs. With the Western playoff race ever tightening, a win tonight would guarantee the Jazz the number 3 seed in the West, along with homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs (not to mention, it would break a forever-long streak of consecutive losses @ San Antonio). A loss tonight would mean that the Jazz stay at the fourth seed minus homecourt advantage in the first round (unless by some miracle Houston and Phoenix both lose tonight).

Although a million different scenarios are still possible, here is how I think (and hope) it will all end up:

{Click Image to Enlarge}

In order for this to happen, tonights games must play out as follows:

• New Orleans beats Dallas
• Denver beats Memphis
• Utah beats San Antonio

None of those is a long shot, and I think that this bracket highly favors the Jazz. It puts us as far away from playing the Lakers as possible, and gives us a fairly easy road to the conference final, while making the Lakers' path much more difficult.

So it all comes down to tonight. Go Jazz!!

2 Down, 4 To Go!!

The Jazz have played excellent defense in their last two games. They held San Antonio to just 64 points on Friday, and last night they held New Orleans to 66. In these two games, the Jazz have completely validated what Sloan has been saying all year – if you want to win, you have to play defense. Especially last night against the Hornets, when the Jazz didn’t have a particularly good night offensively, they were still able to handle the Hornets without any trouble because of the caliber of defense they played. With the playoffs right around the corner, it’s definitely a good sign to see the Jazz stepping up their defensive game – especially on the road like last night.

The Jazz have 4 regular season games left:

• 4/10 @ Dallas
• 4/12 vs Denver
• 4/14 vs Houston
• 4/16 @ San Antonio

Every game is so important in this tight Western Conference race. The Jazz can’t afford to lose even one if they want to secure home-court advantage at least for the first round of the playoffs. Let’s hope they win them all!

Missing Memo

(Isn't this an awesome picture?!)

I have come to an indisputable conclusion: We NEED Mehmet Okur. Here are a few stats to support my point:

1. Memo has missed 10 games this season due to injury / illness. The Jazz have gone 4 - 6 in those games.


2. The Jazz are 20 – 7 when Memo scores 15 or more points.


3. The Jazz are 15 – 4 when Memo has 10 or more rebounds.


4. The Jazz are 15 – 3 when Memo has a double-double.

He brings a dimension to the Jazz that very few teams have. There aren’t many players his size that have such a good outside jump-shot. That is extremely valuable to the Jazz. He stretches opponents’ defenses. If he is out on the perimeter, the other team has to put someone on him – thus opening up the lane for Williams to penetrate or pass to Boozer in the low post. I really hope he is better soon. We need him at full strength for this final stretch.

The Home Stretch

It’s crunch time. The Jazz only have 11 regular season games left. That means they have 11 games to try and push themselves to the top of the Western Conference and secure home-court advantage for the playoffs. Here is my expert analysis of the situation :

Things that could help the Jazz:

1. 7 of their remaining games are home games, and the Jazz have the best home record in the NBA (29-4).
2. 4 of their remaining games are against Sub-500 teams.
3. Dirk Nowitzki suffered a major injury against San Antonio last night. Dallas being one of our tougher road games, this might give the Jazz an edge.
4. Their schedule is spread out – they will only play one more “back-to-back”. All other games will have at least one day of rest between them.

Things that could hurt the Jazz:

1. The Jazz still have to play the San Antonio Spurs twice. Their last game of the regular season is against the Spurs and will be played at San Antonio.
2. The Jazz’ last 6 games are against Western playoff contenders.
3. 4 of their remaining games are against Sub-500 teams (notice how this one made both lists…)

Here’s another random fact… The LA Lakers are in position to end up as the number one seed in the West (darn Lakers... I hate those guys!). The Golden State Warriors are in position to finish at number 8. If that happens, the Lakers will play the Warriors in the first round. Why is this significant? Because the Warriors seem to be one team that has the Lakers number this year. They have won all three matches so far, and they will play again tonight. Could the Warriors end up doing everyone a favor by eliminating the Lakers in the first round? Hey, they did it to the Mavs last year… We’ll have to wait and see. In the words of our beloved broadcaster, Craig Bolerjack, "BUCKLE UP!!"

Good luck Jazz! Here’s hoping we finish off the season 11-0!

The Problem With the MWC Tournament...

The Utes beat the Lobos 82-80 in overtime last night, so they will advance to the semi-finals, where they will face # 2 seeded UNLV tonight at 10:00. Good Luck UTES!!!

The other semi-final game will be played between BYU and San Diego State. (Go Aztecs!)

So here's my gripe. Since the Mountain West Conference was formed nine seasons ago, the Men's Basketball tournament has been held at the Thomas & Mack Center (home of the UNLV Rebels) six times -- this season being the sixth. Six out of nine seasons. And the plan is to continue to hold the tournament there every year. Of the five tournaments that have been played on their home court, the UNLV Rebels have appeared in the tournament final four times. They have won two conference championships.

How is this fair to the other 8 teams in our conference? Having the home crowd behind you, playing in the same gym you have practiced in all season, and NOT being road-weary are major advantages. Is it any wonder that UNLV has the best overall record in the tournament?

Why couldn't they move the tournament every year, and just cycle through all 9 schools? It just bothers me that they get home court advantage EVERY year in the tournament.

MWC Tournament

With March Madness coming up, the Utes' only shot at an NCAA Tournament berth would be to win the Mountain West Conference Tournament -- and they'll have their work cut out for them.

Tonight, the Utes face off against the number three seeded New Mexico Lobos. Utah lost both regular season meetings against the Lobos -- first in New Mexico (77-67 OT) and then in Salt Lake (72-71). In Salt Lake City, a made free-throw put New Mexico up by three with under 10 seconds left. The second free throw missed, and the Utes got the rebound. Tyler Kepkay pushed it up the court, but thinking the Utes were only down by two, he drove all the way to the basket for the buzzer-beating shot. Had he pulled up for the three-pointer, who knows?

The Utes have struggled in conference play this season, after going 10-4 in non-conference matches. However, don't count them out just yet. Eight of their nine conference losses were decided by single digits. They can play extremely well -- their fault is inconsistency.

The Utes tip-off at 9:30 PM on The Mtn. (my LEAST favorit sports network). Good luck Utes!