After watching the lose game two, I felt sick. Like most of you, the Jazz have consumed a lot of my time this season. Considering I watched roughly 75 games on TV, and read just about every article I could find on the team, I estimate that I spent at least 250 hours on being a Jazz fan, the equivalent of over 10 full days, or 31 work days. This does not include my time posting on this blog.
Watching the Jazz tank these last few weeks can really make a guy like me feel like a loser. I have invested myself in their success, only to watch them fall. It is like watching a stock quickly drop without a sellout option. Sadly, when they lose, I lose… at least when you count my emotional investment. After watching the clip posted by theshums, I know at least one other fan feels like I do.
The question I ask myself: Is it all over? I for one, am not willing to throw in the towel.
After all, these are the comeback kids!
The best indicator of the future is the past, and the Jazz has given us all kinds of reasons to believe that this Jazz team can be the first to overcome a 0-2 series deficit. It was such a common occurrence, that I can’t remember how many times this season that this team had seemingly lost after falling behind late, only to rally and win in the forth quarter. If it is not the forth quarter for the Jazz in this series, it is getting close.
Their past has indicated to me, that they can overcome and win this series.
On the other hand, Houston in their last playoff series lost after taking a 2-0 series lead in their match up with Dallas two seasons ago. Tracy McGrady has never won a playoff series and Yao has always been regarded as soft. This Rockets’ team history indicates to me that they are fully capable of losing.
Now, the Rockets have to come into the very best home court in the league. Neither the Rockets, nor this Jazz team for that matter, have ever experienced anything like the ESA during playoff time. With the fans in their corner, the Jazz will win these two games and turn this series into a three game affair.
Crazier things have happened. Some of you will remember the Jazz blowing a two game lead against the Mavericks in a five game series back in 2001. Does anyone think that this Rockets team is better than that Stockton to Malone Jazz team? Does anyone believe that the 2001 Mavs, a rookie playoff team at the time, was any better than this Jazz team?
This series is not over.
April 25th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Your optimism was much needed, brother. Thanks.
There truly is nothing like the Delta Center come playoff time. It is, without question, the hardest place to win in the entire NBA, especially in the playoffs. I only hope that the old Delta Center magic transfers over to the EnergySolutions Arena. (Yes, I’m well aware that it’s actually the same building, but I’m stupidly superstitious like that.)
This Jazz team is wildly unpredictable. They have been all season. That’s a reflection of their youth and inexperience. There’s no telling what will happen in the next two, or four or five, games. Keep that in mind, Jazz fans. I echo McSean: this series is NOT over.
April 26th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
This is a very, very inaccurate preview of Game 3:
http://www.nba.com/nba_news/jazz_offense_070425.html?rss=true
It’s written by an AP writer who must not have watched the first two games. The Jazz’s losses haven’t had so much to do with their inside game as they have with the inability of Mehmet to hit outside shots and Kirilenko to guard anyone. Boozer and Harpring are beasting the Rockets inside; it’s just a matter of getting some calls.
Yao’s gonna get his; if you’re worried about countering that, the series is already lost. You’ve got to find other ways to offset him.
P.S. If Mehmet stays off the mark all series, I hope all the people who were crowning him “Greatest Cluth Jazz Player Ever” in midseason will do us all a favor, retract their statements and keep whatever other brilliant opinions they have in the future to themselves.