Do we think Utah's road struggles might be related to their horrible uniforms? Also let's consider this a Rockets-Jazz thread.
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Style Points
05 May 2007 09:38 pm
Comments (45)
Yes, I know, it's only one game, but...are all you Bulls people sure you want to stick with your pick for that series?
Looks like my Pistons might not have calcified just yet. Nice win!
I actually kind of like these powder blue alternate road unis for the Jazz.
I will go out on a limb and suggest that the Jazz are not struggling on the road at the moment.
as a bulls fan, there was only a few good things to take out of that: first, luol deng still had a good game. second, small ball w/o duhon worked relatively well (luol is unguardable at the four). third, i don't think the bulls will play much worse: many of their turnovers were foolish and strange. so, while it isn't exactly encouraging, the dominance that occurred was the bulls over themselves.
the big worries for me were this, as an addendum: they extended their lead w/o billups in fourth, and rebounding was surprisingly bad.
Deng had a decent game, but so did Prince. Deng outscored him 18-13, and they both had 8 boards, but Prince had 4 assists and 1 turnover, vs. 1 assist and 4 turnovers for Deng. So that matchup was about even. Problem for you guys is that Deng is the Bulls' best player, while Prince is the 3rd or 4th best player on the Pistons. Deng vs. Prince being even + Bulls starting guards getting outscored 40-22 = blowout.
God DAMN Charles is asshole.
Cleveland didn't let Boozer go. He screwed them over by renegging on a handshake deal.
"Yes, I know, it's only one game, but...are all you Bulls people sure you want to stick with your pick for that series?"
Don't get too cocky just yet.
I think this is the Pistons' series, but I think the first 4 games go to the home team.
If I'm right, you'll have some moments to sweat down the line.
except assists are somewhat deceptive...deng had at least two passes that should've been assists, but other bulls players blew the opportunity. furthermore, prince was inefficient. he was actually surprisingly bad today, given the relative level everyone else was playing at.
now, the question is, will the bulls guards get outscored that much? i don't think so; gordon had some great opportunities that he missed, and foul trouble knocked him out of rhythm.
i think the pistons will win this series, but this game was an exception to how the series goes. or least, i hope it's an exception.
"Cleveland didn't let Boozer go. He screwed them over by renegging on a handshake deal."
And he cost Lyndon Baines Johnson several rings in the process.
Rockets-Jazz coming down to the wire here. Game 7, gotta love it!
Fuck. Utah is going to beat the Warriors. Once again, JVG proves that a hangdog look is worth more to your reputation than actual success.
Okur is winning this for the Jazz by hitting some clutch 3s, and then sneakily bricking other ones strategically to run time off the clock as Utah gets every offensive rebound.
Holy crap, how did the Rockets let 8 of the last 10 seconds to run off the clock without fouling?! They looked like a confused college team.
Unreal.
Gotta give Utah credit. Boozer had a ginormous game. Doing that on the road in Game 7 is pretty great.
How the hell does Yao get beaten for that many offensive rebounds by a guy 9 inches shorter than him?
Oh, and lest we forget, McGrady let us know: it's on him.
Jazz win!
"Holy crap, how did the Rockets let 8 of the last 10 seconds to run off the clock without fouling?! They looked like a confused college team."
Down two with 13 seconds left, I respect trying to trap rather than immediately fouling and risking going down four. Harpring made a nice pass to make them pay.
"Gotta give Utah credit. Boozer had a ginormous game. Doing that on the road in Game 7 is pretty great."
Seriously. Can you imagine how fucking devastating a pairing of him and LeBron could've been?
They were down 2 with 9.8 seconds left. I don't think that's enough time to screw around with not fouling, for precisely the reason you give--one good pass and you're toast.
Seriously. Can you imagine how fucking devastating a pairing of him and LeBron could've been?
As we just saw, an elite perimeter player and an all-star post player isn't necessarily enough to contend in the playoffs. Boozer and LeBron would certainly have been a great pairing, and probably the core for a strong contender in the East, but I don't know about handing them multiple championships. I would have thought that Yao + TMac was enough for at least one trip out of the first round by now, but it hasn't been.
As a Seattle native, UW fan who lives in Portland I gotta throw out that the Rockets were going to trade for Roy on draft day before the Blazers beat them to it. I think he would have been the perfect fit for them, T-Mac at SF and a creator like Roy at the 2G.
Of course with an idiot like Van Gundy coaching them though it probably doesn't matter.
"I would have thought that Yao + TMac was enough for at least one trip out of the first round by now, but it hasn't been."
Much like Dirk, Yao and T-Mac are both narrow shouldered souls.
LeBron and Boozer are both broad shouldered souls. They can carry a bigger burden.
As I am not the first to note, that was a helluva game.
As someone once said, both teams played hard.
Boozer makes all his free thows down the stretch. McGrady misses a couple of shots down the stretch. Whamm-o.
Well played. Well officiated. Perfect drama.
As great as Lebron is, I don't know that for sure about him yet. So far in his career, he's led his team to a couple of playoff wins over the Wizards. As Kriston might say, that's...nice. Nice. Not thrilling, but nice.
Oh, and lest we forget, McGrady let us know: it's on him.
I'm taking this back. I just watched his postgame press conference and it seems mean to rub it in. He tried his best and it wasn't good enough. That's tough to take.
I would have thought that Yao + TMac was enough for at least one trip out of the first round by now, but it hasn't been.
Yao + TMac might be enough. Yao + TMac + JVG? No.
"I just watched his postgame press conference and it seems mean to rub it in. He tried his best and it wasn't good enough. That's tough to take."
FreeDarko's got the appropriate audio-visual response up.
i don't especially watch houston or anything, but jeff van gundy was an excellent coach in new york, wringing more out of the limited talent on that squad than anyone should have been able to. i find it hard to believe that he's suddenly become an idiot: personally, i'm underwhelmed by the personnel.
Ca't believe Petey didn't say "All those times I said the 'Powder Blues are going to win their first round series' I of course meant the UTAH powder blues."
Oh, and as to the game, any time you are down by two points in the final minute and give up TWO OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS to the other team, you don't deserve to win. Utterly pathetic.
JVG in NY. It's impossible for me to distinguish his playoff record ('95-'96 to part of '01-'02) from the broader playoff record running from '87-88 to '00-'01. And, of course, he quit twenty games into the '01-'02 season, once it was clear that the Knicks were going to suck for a while.
He's not a bad coach. In fact, he's a good coach. He's just overrated.
It's impossible for me to distinguish his playoff record ('95-'96 to part of '01-'02) from the broader playoff record running from '87-88 to '00-'01.
Huh???
In the late '80s through mid-90's, the Knicks had one of the NBA's 50-best All Time players, in his prime. JVG never had that - he either had an aging star past his prime, or no superstar at all. And yet JVG took that team to a bunch of second rounds, one Conf. Finals, and one NBA finals. That was a heck of a job.
I haven't watched Houston much, but he has two players that are MUCH better now than he ever had in NY. So, I'm not sure why he's not doing well. But I don't think it is from a lack of ability to get a team to play at or above its talent level.
If only both of these teams could have lost. Sloan and JVG represent all that is wrong and ugly and joyless about basketball.
Unlike Sloan, JVG seems like a minimally decent human being, but he's an even worse offensive coach. Yao is a great passer, but he never gets to show it. The Rockets should put him at the high post and spread the shooters around the floor. Single coverage, he hits that little jumper. Double, he can get it to any spot on the floor with one pass.
And yes, Jerry Sloan is an asshole.
"Much like Dirk, Yao and T-Mac are both narrow shouldered souls.
LeBron and Boozer are both broad shouldered souls. They can carry a bigger burden."
It's good you've looked into their souls, Petey.
In the late '80s through mid-90's, the Knicks had one of the NBA's 50-best All Time players, in his prime.
Remind me again when Ewing turned into a pumpkin, and what statistic you're using to track that transformation. His PER survives for about four years into the JVG era, when Camby suddenly appears.
Well, I think the last year of his prime was JVG's first full year. After that, he had the wrist injury (which caused him to lose most of the next season) and other injuries (including the achilles that kept him out of the Finals against the Spurs). His PER may have been fairly high for a couple of years, but I don't think that takes into account those type of things. His PPG went down every year of JVG's career, too, so I think that shows he was on the downside.
fine, let's assume that ewing's play never declined: that was the total Knick team. i've been meaning to check this out definitively, but i'm pretty sure that ewing had the worst teammates of any the nba's 50 all-time greatest, and yet van gundy found ways to both win and improve the play of almost all of the guys on his squad.
now, if the issue is not whether or not van gundy is an "idiot" but rather whether or not he's "overrated," well, i got nothing to say: i have no idea what van gundy's "rating" is. he can coach my team anytime, though.
plus, just to note for the record, even though al's chelsea went down to defeat today, his vision on the inability of the rockets to grab those critical rebounds last night remained clear, and somehow i don't think that's van gundy's fault.
obviously the second chance points were the immediate cause of Utah's victory, and Yao has owned up that he has to get those rebounds. otoh, although Yao looked like he was moving okay, Yao had come close to hyperextending his knee a few plays earlier. add in the lesson I took away from this series - teams can pound Yao with impunity every time down the floor and suffer few consequences, while Yao on the defensive end is officiated closely. the Rockets either need an enforcer at Hayes' spot (ironically, Hayes and Howard ARE the two strongest guys on the team), or Yao himself has to start making people pay.
even though al's chelsea went down to defeat today,
You know, that was just gratuitous. Anyway, a formal congrats to ManU; as I said on an earlier thread, they were definately the better side this year.
geneology mlm leads
Comments closed May 19, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
Why did Cleveland let Carlos Boozer go again?
Posted by Antid Oto | May 5, 2007 9:52 PM