Sunday, May 6, 2007

Utah Downs Houston in Game Seven


Last night, on Cinco de Mayo, the Utah Jazz eliminated the Houston Rockets from the NBA playoffs by winning game seven of their first round series. Utah vs. Houston was a great series. Utah is not a great team, but they have a great coach in Jerry Sloan, an emerging star in point guard Deron Williams (pictured, at left), and a veteran cast of surrounding players. Getting past Houston in the first round of the playoffs was a big step for this Utah team. They may not be a threat to win the West this year, but they're building something out there in the Wasatch mountains.

Earlier in the week, Golden State played giant killer by knocking the mighty Dallas Mavericks out of the playoffs. Golden State's improbable series win over the defending Western Conference champions is the biggest first round NBA playoff upset since the Denver Nuggets' stunning knockout of the star-studded Seattle Supersonics in 1994. Most likely, writers, analysts and "experts" will say that Dallas turned out to be over rated- that their loss to Golden State was a monumental flop by a team that wasn't deserving of its reputation. In reality, the NBA playoffs are about match ups and intensity. I think that Golden State was able to exploit Dallas' weaknesses. Head coach Don Nelson remembered how Miami's Dwayne Wade walked all over Dallas' back court in last years' NBA Finals. He knew that Dallas had trouble with quick penetrating guards and, thus, let Baron Davis do his thing against the Mavs. Then Nelson, who had previously coached the Dallas Mavericks and knew their stars inside and out, took advantage of Dallas superstar forward Dirk Nowitzki's questionable inside game. Golden State bet that Nowitzki wouldn't hurt them in the paint. They were right. They forced the seven footer to stay outside, and relegated him to being merely a spot up shooter. Golden State's "small ball" approach did Dallas in. It will be interesting to see if it works against their next opponent, the aforementioned Utah Jazz.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

DWill will be the best player in the NBA by next year. Hes already the best player in hte western conference adn teh best point guard in the association. The reason he got screwed out of his all star game spot is because espn and the nba wouldnt let him on because he was a Illini. Espn analysts wont even talk about DWill because of there anti Illinois bias. He gets no love on sports center for the same reason. Espn gives all the attention to Carlos Boozer cuz hes a Dookie. But the Jazz have 2 illini (DWill and Dee Dee) so espn and the nba are against them. The nba wont let the jazz win this series against golden state because they have 2 illini players. Thats why Cookie wasnt getting much playing time for the Lakers and why Frankie Williams aint in the league any more. Espn and the nba wouldnt let teh lakers play Cookie cuz hes an illini and is from God's country-central illinois. Frankie is the best basketball player that ever played but he cant get in the league because of the anti illini and anti central illinois bias from espn, the nba, and the chicago media.

Anonymous said...

Forgot to say thats why we got rid of teh chief too, because of the chicago media and espn bias.


LONG LIVE THE CHIEF!!!!!!!!

OSKEWOWWOW.