What a run the Jazz had. I could not be more excited to be a Jazz fan. Michael Wilbon made an incredible point last night during the broadcast. He pointed to the fact that with Stockton and Malone, everyone was wondering when the window of opportunity was going to close. With this team, the window is wide, wide open.

I just can’t believe what a difference 17 games makes. Before the playoffs started, the Jazz were on a slide and nobody, with the exception the few truly optimistic fans, expected them to make noise in this years playoffs. The thinking was that they were young, inexperienced, and in the middle of a funk.

Now, the Jazz are viewed as a true title contender. And not just for next season, or the season after, but for the foreseeable future. Not only that, but the Jazz play an exciting brand of basketball, much more fast-paced than the Stockton-to-Malone era teams.

What this means is that the Jazz are in the perfect position to really get over the hump. In other words, they are now in a position to get the “Karl Malones” of the world (star players past their prime seeking a role on championship team). Utah may have a bad connotation with many of the athletes in the league, but I am sure they would gladly spend seven months here for the opportunity to win a championship. This is especially true in the luxury tax era, where few teams are willing to throw down loads of cash for a marginal improvement.

I am very optimistic about next year and beyond; as is everyone in the national media. What a difference 17 games makes.

It’s all down to this.

One game, one shot to get a win in the one place we haven’t had one since Basketball John was wearing number 12. We win tonight or it’s over.

And we may have to do it without Deron Williams and Derek Fisher, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. Which would make a herculean task just plain impossible.

There’s a lot of things that have to go right for the Jazz to get the win tonight. Everyone’s got a different opinion. Tony Mejia of CBS Sportsline says that the lack of production from Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko cannot continue if the Jazz are to win. Scoop Jackson of ESPN says the Jazz’s hopes rest on the wide shoulders of Carlos Boozer. Boozer, meanwhile, says he needs help from the whole team, specifically the bench. (If D-Will and Fish can’t go, this is especially true — step right up, Dee Brown.)

Me? I’d go with “all of the above.” We’re going to have to play a near-perfect game to get this win, and we’ll probably need a healthy dose of luck into the bargain. But I see at least a few things that are absolutely vital:

1) Memo must be money.
We have no hope without his shooting, because he’s the only player on the Jazz roster aside from Williams (and sometimes Fisher) who has proven that he can hit the clutch 3-pointer. We have missed that all season. We can’t stretch San Antonio away from Boozer and the paint if we have no outside threat. Memo always says he has confidence in his shot. Well, he better have enough to make them tonight.

2) The Beast must remove his leash.
Listen, the Spurs are a superb defensive team, and all credit should be given to their efforts in shutting down Carlos Boozer in the fourth quarter of Game 4. But this man has the strength and finesse to be aggressive and take matters into his own hands. For goodness’ sake, the man didn’t shoot a single free throw in Game 4. That can’t happen again. Be strong, Carlos. It’s on you.

3) No stupid fouls.
I was really frustrated when I wrote my Game 4 recap on Monday night. After reading pretty much everything about the game from different national sources, I think I agree with the consensus they came to: flops or not, Steve Javie or not, the Jazz should have been more intelligent in their defense. San Antonio really did nothing from the outside in the fourth quarter — they simply lowered their heads and muscled their way to the line. We can’t guard Parker and Ginobili so closely on the perimeter or they will either blow past us or get the foul, or both. Take a step back, make sure you don’t get burned, and force Parker and Ginobili to shoot from the outside. Then adjust accordingly.

4) Keep your cool.
The entire Jazz organization — fans included — needs to regain its composure after the Game 4 technical/debris debacle. The Spurs are so good, so implacable, so unnervingly consistent that it’s easy to get rattled. We can’t afford that tonight.

Add your keys to tonight’s game below. Game 5 tips off at 7 p.m. MDT on ESPN. Good luck, gentlemen. We’ll need it.

Maybe I should take a few hours before writing this one.

I’m so frustrated at the moment that I’m not sure I can give a decent analysis of this game. I’m frustrated at a lot of things — the refs, Manu Ginobili, the refs, Tony Parker, every Jazz player not named Deron Williams, the refs, our fans for losing their cool and throwing things, the refs…

See, I’m already doing it and I promised myself I wouldn’t. I promised myself that I would write about how we should have pulled ahead in the third quarter, or early in the fourth. I promised myself I’d write about San Antonio’s stifling, (mostly) clean defense, one of the best team defensive performances I have ever seen. I promised myself I’d write about D-Will’s heroic play, how he would not be denied, how he has proven that he is the best player on EITHER team in this series. I want to write about all these things. I hope my frustration burns out quickly enough so I can.

But I have to say this: 27 Jazz fouls to 17 Spurs fouls. Manu Ginobili made 11 out of 13 free throws in the fourth quarter alone. As a team, the Spurs shot 21 more free throws than the Jazz. One Jazz player fouled out, another was ejected (without saying a single word to a referee, possibly a first in NBA history), another got two fouls in three seconds and then a technical foul as he walked AWAY from the referees. Look at the box score if you don’t believe me, and show me any other statistical category that had an impact on this game. (Okay, turnovers. But not points OFF OF turnovers.)

Whose home court is this, anyway?

Opponents will point to the fact that the Jazz interior defense was too slow, Spur players like Parker and Ginobili too aggressive and too fast. They will say that the Jazz shot fewer free throws because they simply didn’t take the ball in. They will say that Carlos Boozer should have played more like the “Beast” everyone says he is and forced the issue in the paint.

They are right, up to a point. I won’t dispute that.

But the officials set the tone in the first half by giving Boozer two fouls in the first quarter, and by letting San Antonio abuse Paul Millsap inside, making him skittish the rest of the game. The one place the Jazz have an advantage over the Spurs is interior depth. The referees negated that advantage by allowing Parker and Ginobili to throw themselves in the general direction of the basket and bailing them out with fouls on Utah big men.

I know that writing this sort of thing undermines my credibility. It makes me sound too much like a fan and not enough like an intelligent observer. But dammit, I’m sick of shooting fewer free throws than our opponents AT HOME (the fourth time it has happened this postseason). And I’m sick of seeing out-of-control dribble penetration tolerated, even promoted. We saw this sort of play unduly rewarded last year with Dwyane Wade in the NBA Finals. We are seeing it again now. And it’s a shame.

It’s a shame because Deron Williams has the heart of a lion. He owns this Jazz team, and is trying to lead by example, but didn’t get enough help from his teammates, even from Boozer, whose decent numbers belied his impact on the game (he didn’t have much of one). You can see it in his eyes — the hunger. The desire. He reminds me of (and I don’t want to do this, because I know D-Will is his own player and I don’t want to compare, but I’m going to say it anyway) John Stockton, the way his mouth would get tighter and tighter the more he wanted to win, to control the game, to impose his will upon it. With Deron, there’s no visual appearance of that intensity, except in his eyes. To see the defeat in those same eyes as he walked off the court, and to know that it wasn’t his fault, is almost too painful to bear.

If (when) the Jazz go on to lose this series, there will be at least one positive outcome. This series will show, once and for all, that this is Deron’s team. This is the series that will mold him into a leader of men. This will teach him how to motivate his team, to raise their play to a higher level (because it takes more than assists to actually make your teammates better). And it will motivate his teammates to put it all on the floor for him, because they see how much it kills him to lose. And that will make Deron Williams a far more dangerous player, and the Utah Jazz a far more dangerous team.

Hope? Yeah, I still have hope. We have one more game. This loss could be the boost we need to get over the hump in San Antonio. It isn’t over yet. But when it is, win or lose, I can at least look back on tonight and on this series and say, “I was there for the birth of a superstar.”

I guess, in the long run, that’s not so bad.

———————————————-
Layton Shumway is the chief copy editor for BYU’s Daily Universe newspaper. You can reach him at lss83@byu.net.

Wow.

On the strength of 31 points, 8 assists and 5 steals from Deron Williams and the usual beastly efficiency of Carlos Boozer (can we all agree that his nickname should be “Beast”? I keep seeing him called a “beast” everywhere, seems like a natural fit), the Jazz blew away the Spurs in the second half of Game 3 to set up a possible series-tying Game 4 on Monday.

We expect this from D-Will and Booz. They’ve been doing it at this level all year — and the national media is finally starting to notice. The love was flowing from the ABC announcing crew of Mike Breen, Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy tonight. (Van Gundy better give some respect — we already beat his team and lost him his job.) It’s really gratifying to hear everyone realize that the Jazz DIDN’T make a mistake drafting Williams over Chris Paul. The Jazz drafted the better player. The fans have known it all year. Everyone else knows it now, too. (Peep the highlight clip below at about 0:50 where D-Will broke Jacque Vaughn’s ankles. Filthy. Thanks to lagoonfreek for the link.)

But tonight’s game ball goes to the Jazz bench, who hung tough to keep it close in the second quarter (finally, a second quarter where we don’t get outscored by double digits) and then turned on the jets to destroy San Antonio’s hopes of a sweep (it will be very nice to shove that in the faces of all my colleagues who predicted a sweep). Paul Millsap scored eight points in a four-minute span in the second half. Gordan Giricek kept us in the game early with some timely shooting. Matt Harpring seemed to break out of his recent funk a bit with a strong three-point play in the second quarter that sent Tim Duncan to the bench with his third foul. For crap’s sake, we got seven points from Jarron Collins. Much respect to all of you, guys.

The key to this game was Duncan’s early foul trouble. Without his presence anchoring the San Antonio defense, Williams was able to get into the paint much more easily, Boozer had to fight less for rebounds, and Millsap was open for back-door plays. It changed the whole complexion of the game (as foul trouble is wont to do — remember Games 2 and 3 of the Golden State series?). Props must also be given to Mehmet Okur, who dropped a goose egg on the scoreboard but played solid defense yet again (as he has so many times this postseason) and hassled Duncan into several turnovers. Much like in the Houston series against Yao Ming, Memo is probably killing himself on the defensive end and isn’t able to get open quite as much offensively. But I don’t mind the zilch as long as that defense continues. As tonight proved, we have other weapons.

Possibly the best thing about tonight’s win? The Jazz won by 26 points, and they STILL haven’t played their best basketball in this series. Andrei Kirilenko has been a non-factor, putting in only two points tonight. Add that to the aforementioned schneid Memo posted, and that’s over 25 points on average that we missed. And we didn’t need them at all. This Jazz team is that deep, and has that much potential. I can’t even believe how much we’re capable of.

Here’s the problem: this Game 3 win could mean one of two things, and the Jazz have lived through both in this postseason. It could mean, as in the Houston series, that we’ve turned the corner — we’ve solved the Spur equation, we’re ready to play tough in Texas, and we could steal Game 5 or 7 if it gets that far. Or it could mean, as in the Golden State series, that we had one good game but we’re still not the better team and will lose in five games.

Game 4 will show what tonight’s game really meant. But I’m happy right now knowing that the silver-and-black can put away their brooms. We’re not done yet.

The Jazz are going to make this a series. They may even win this series.

I just sat down to write some thoughts about this team, the series they are in, and how dominant San Antonio is. I was going to write how it might be better for the Jazz, at least long term, to go out quickly. But I just feel like this team has a bit more fight left in them.

Before this series I truly felt the Jazz had a chance to advance to the NBA Finals. Now after two blowout losses, and make no mistake they were blown out in both games, I still believe the Jazz can win. I know, it is crazy.

Lets just remember for a minute that losing in San Antonio is nothing new to this team. They are now closing in on 20 straight losses in the Alamo city. They have managed to play well in games after losses in San Antonio and this will be no different. Not only do the Jazz play significantly better at home, but they play significantly better against San Antonio at home. The won both games in SLC this year against the Spurs and this trend will continue with a boost from the crowd tomorrow. This will be enough to propel them to a win in game 3.

And once this team finds some mojo, watch out.

In that vein, my keys for winning the series:

1. Bring back Billy

Last fall, Billy Ray Cyrus sang the National Anthem in St. Louis on route to the Cardinals winning the World Series. Several weeks later he sang the same tune on opening night in the Delta Center. In Billy Ray’s own words on the KJZZ telecast, he “brought the World Series mojo” with him. The Jazz went on to win that game against the Rockets and go 12-1 in their first 13 games. Coincidence? You be the judge.

All that I know is that now that Dancing with the Stars is over, Billy Ray should be available to sing the national anthem at the ESA. After all, it has been nearly six months since he originally brought the mojo and mojo has a shelf life doesn’t it?

Let’s bring him back to SLC for game three… and four, whatever it takes! If he shows up and the Jazz subsequently win the series I am growing a mullet. Seriously.

2. Lets Get the Arena Rocking

Jazz fans are the class of the league. We proved it against Golden State and let’s do it again. We can give this team a much needed boost.

3. All Cash. Money

We need Memo to step up. Over the last two seasons, Memo is the leading scorer in games that the Jazz have beat the Spurs. In the first two games, he has come up short.

Boozer and D. Will are going to bring it, they have done so in almost every single game of the playoffs, but Memo has been up and down.

He must go off in order for the Jazz to have a chance to win this series.

4. Score, Score, Score

The Jazz really got away from their game in San Antonio. The most telling observation is the fact that instead of crashing the offensive glass, the Jazz were sprinting back to play defense. This strategy will not work with the Spurs.

They need to score. By putting the ball in the basket, they will put a lot more pressure on the Spurs, and more importantly, it will limit the Spurs effectiveness in the running game.

It is counter intuitive, but it is true with this Jazz team. Their best defense is a good offense.

5. Have Fun

It is incredible cliché, but the Jazz need to have fun. Win or lose, they have had a great season and have taken major steps toward becoming a dominant team. Go have fun and dominate in the process.