Utah Jazz used a thrid qurter run to easily beat the Rockets in the game six lat night.  Deron Williams decided to hit four threes in the third to push the lead to twenty points in the quarter.  McGrady tried hard and ended up with 40 points for the night.  He even went on a personal 9:0 run vs. the Jazz at one point, but one player is not enough.

So what is the reward for the Jazz?  Sunday morning's date with the number one seeded Los Angeles Lakers.  It will be fun to watch two tall and skinny Euros going at it (Andrei Kirilenko and Pau Gasol) and to watch who will be a better leader Kobe or Deron.  Of course going against this years MVP - Kobe Bryant will not be easy...but hey the Jazz got Boozer and it will be up to him to see the Jazz to a second straight Western Conference Finals.

Continue reading "Utah Jazz vs. Houston Rockets game 6"

Home sweet home.  The Jazz finally provided the Lakers with their first loss of the playoffs.  It took the home crowd, an excellent performance from the big three (Williams, Boozer and Okur) and a quiet night from Bryant (quiet by his standards).  After all of that, the game was still very close; therefore, the Lakers should feel really good about the series.  I guess the only thing the Jazz got going is that they have been there last year - in the Western Conference Finals AND down 0:2 in the series, which they won in game seven on the road (against the Rockets).  That means that although the Lakers are the clear favorites, nobody is panicking in Utah and that approach might be the only chance they have to get back to the finals. 

Finally, is game 4 a must win for the Jazz?  No.  Game 3 was and the Jazz can still win a series with a game 4 loss on Sunday.

Continue reading "Utah Jazz vs. Los Angeles Lakers - game 3"

Utah Jazz tied the series up with an overtime win tonight at the Energy Solutions Arena. Once again, the Jazz showed they are the best home team in the NBA; however, once again they also showed that the Lakers should beat them in the series.  With a 12 point win and 4 minutes to go, the Jazz allowed Derek wanted-him-to-sign-with-Clippers-so-we-booooo-him Fisher to score 10 points in a couple of minutes.  The game went into overtime, where Andrei Kirilenko's defense and Mehmet Okur's offense salvaged Utah win.

Once again, it took above average performances from Deron Williams and Mehmet Okur and injured Kobe Bryant for the Jazz to win in the overtime...not a good sign before game 5.  However, Carlos Boozer had another bad game and you have to think he will wake up this week.

Continue reading "Utah Jazz vs. Los Angeles Lakers - game 4"