Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Everyone to Rockets, Rev it up Now

Clearly I have been watching a bit too much Little Einsteins (a show that I could certainly do without, but my daughter just can't), but in between TiVoed repeats of it I have managed to see Games 1 and 2 of the Rockets-Jazz series. It's incredible how much better the Jazz are this year than last. Even when someone is having an off night, they have enough weapons to still do you in. I've heard several people opine that the Jazz are doing so well because the Rockets don't have Yao or Rafer Alston in their lineups, and it's true to a point, but nobody remembers how much Carlos Boozer abused Yao last year and it's just a cold hard fact of life that Deron Williams would hand Alston's head to Rick Adelman on a platter. There's nothing I like more than D-Will with the Eye of the Tiger. He will do anything he can to win the game and he's really become the leader of the team. You could see him coming out last year during the playoffs, but he's taken it up another notch this year.
At any rate, this series is a hair's breadth away from being over, with a sweep a very distinct possibility. The Jazz sweeping the Rockets is something that should send a statement. These Jazz aren't the same team that sleepwalked through December and posted a terrible road record (let the record show that they've actually had a winning record on the road since they traded for Kyle Korver - and let's also mention how they play down to the competition and that there's nobody to play down to anymore), they are a team that is without a doubt the best team they have fielded since the 1997-98 NBA Finals squad. In fact, they might even be better than them unless they're playing in San Antonio.
It will be interesting to see what happens when we play the Lakers...I'm terrified of playing them. There are two teams that seem to own the Jazz and have for a long time: the Lakers and the Spurs. Since Phoenix is putting up token resistance against the Spurs and I don't know if the Hornets and CP3 will be able to knock them off, for the Jazz to get a crack at Boston in the Finals (an eminently winnable series, BTW), they have to exorcise the demons of the past decade. It's possible, and it will be exciting (with the exception of the token "we gave up" game that they always toss in there where [enter opponent here] wins by 80 points), and there's a chance - a chance, that the Jazz could go all the way.

2 comments:

Rob said...

I never get to watch the Jazz since I don't have cable, but I was traveling and got to see game 2 on Monday night. They looked really good. Hopefully they sweep Houston and Denver takes at least 1 game from the Lakers.

Michael 聖 Brady said...

At this point, I am not too scared about the Lakers. But let's still hope that we get the Hornets instead of the Spurs. The Jazz can beat anybody out of the East.