Well, so much for not running.

The Jazz beat the Warriors at their own game (more or less) Monday night, squeaking out a 116-112 win. The game featured 16 lead changes, 20 ties, and two point guard juggernauts going head-to-head with marvelous results. Our own Deron Williams came out on top, leading all scorers with 31 points to go with 8 assists and 5 rebounds. He also played physical defense against Golden State’s Baron Davis, who got 24 points and 7 assists but couldn’t seem to turn it on when he really needed to (perhaps bothered by his sore hamstring, which D-Will admitted he tried to exploit).

I’m hoping this performance puts to rest any fears from around the league about how boring and physical and generally offensive to basketball the Jazz are. Just because the Jazz prefer NOT to run doesn’t mean they CAN’T run. (And thanks, Jerry Sloan, for blowing smoke about that fact, but you didn’t fool anyone.) This game was beautiful to watch, intense, competitive, physical (but that’s the playoffs, baby), and downright exciting. Folks around the league are realizing now that this series might be fun after all, and not just because of the Warriors.

I do hope we’re able, as Matt Harpring said, to be versatile and slow things down when we need to, and not get into a track meet with this team ALL the time. It does play into Golden State’s favor, even if they were a bit surprised last night. One other side note — keep in mind that the Warriors don’t usually play at altitude. That could affect their fatigue, no matter how much they want to push the tempo.

Game 2 Wednesday night. Let’s get it done, gentlemen.