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I close my eyes, and I see Bruce Bowen in the corner, nailing yet another 3-pointer. I see Tony Parker barreling through the paint like a runaway locomotive. I see Fabricio Oberto calmly putting in layups off of back-door cuts, while all five Jazz players are rooted to the floor. And above all, I see Tim Duncan doing everything — pinpoint bounce passes, turnaround jumpers, even free throws (!!!).

When I open my eyes, all I see is the bare truth: the Utah Jazz are down 2-0 to the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. And we’re not coming back up.

These first two games have been so bad, it’s like one of those nightmares where just at the most horrible moment, when the tension is unbearable and you’re sure it CAN’T be real, you gasp and wake up. But there’s no waking, no comfort, no chance to catch your breath and put things in perspective. There’s only the Spurs and their bedamned efficiency and stifling defense and intimidation. They’re monsters. They’re the Boogeyman. They’re a silver-and-black hole that we just cannot escape from, after 18 straight tries in Alamo country. And there’s not a thing we can do about it.

It’s sickening how alike Games 1 and 2 were. We hang tough for a quarter, make some shots, get a few stops, generally perform well. Then we get summarily dismantled in the second quarter, as the Spurs simply choose not to miss (I swear, it’s like a conscious decision for this team). Then we pull back late in the fourth quarter when the Spurs have been mailing it in, just close enough to make them stop toying with us and put in the knockout punch. It’s like playing Tecmo Bowl and running backwards with Bo Jackson for thirty yards just for kicks, JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN, then realizing that the clock has already hit zero and you have to stop screwing around and actually score before someone gets a lucky tackle on you. That’s how the Spurs are against the Jazz in San Antonio. They’re Tecmo Bo. They’re too good to be allowed.

We played better overall last night. Boozer was involved, D-Will continued to do his thing, Memo hit some early shots. We had it going in the first quarter. We were better than Game 1.

But so were the Spurs. Every time we try to turn it up a notch, they get just that much more intense, that much more focused. And I don’t know what we can do about it.

These two games have exposed what Jazz fans already know: we’re simply not a very good defensive team. As much as the national media likes to talk about slow-paced, physical, grind-it-out Utah basketball, it isn’t true. We’ve won this year because we’ve been too good offensively. We’ve been weak defensively all year, especially when Andrei hasn’t been on his game. Boozer is at best an average defender. Memo is underrated defensively but still not fantastic. Deron Williams is physical but not quick enough. Fisher is too small. Gira is too clumsy. Brewer is too young. Millsap is too small. Harpring is too slow.

We were able to cover this weakness in the first two rounds — the Rockets aren’t a good shooting team, and the Warriors are too streaky. But you can’t hide a flaw this big against a team this good. They will strip you bare.

Things will go better in SLC (they can’t go too much worse). Memo will shoot better, as will Harpring and Fisher. Even Tim mentioned post-game that we shoot a lot better at home. And the Spurs will shoot worse (PLEASE GOD let them shoot worse). We’ll have more defensive energy. We’ll get a few more calls. I’m trying to stay optimistic.

One thing that Mark Jackson said last night on the ESPN broadcast was that the Jazz are letting the Spurs get whatever they want offensively. When you know a team is doing that, you have to make a conscious decision as a team to deny your opponent at least one thing, anything, so that you get some control back and start to dictate the game, if only a little bit. The Jazz need to clog the lane and stop Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili from penetrating, because that sets up everything else. They also need to be a LOT more aware on back-door cuts and screens — there’s simply no excuse for letting Fabricio “I should be in a GEICO caveman commercial” Oberto drop 14 and 7 on us. Close the lane, make the Spurs shoot from outside, and they’ll start to miss those shots in the pressure of our home court. It’s the only thing we can do.

But will it be enough? At this point, I don’t think anyone with a grain of realism can think we can win four of the next five games. We did it against the Rockets, yes, but as Williams points out, the Spurs are not the Rockets.

All we can do is hope.

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Layton Shumway is the copy chief for Brigham Young University’s Daily Universe newspaper. You can reach him at lss83@byu.net.

I can’t believe the Jazz are in the Western Conference Finals. It is surreal. I remember the first time they made it this far with Stockton and Malone. It seemed like it took years to accomplish and that the team had to overcome huge hurdles, both physically and psychologically. This team on the other hand, just went straight there. Amazing.

That being said, San Antonio represents all of the afformentioned hurdles for this Jazz team. They have dominated the Jazz for the better part of ten years. If the ten year matchup history between these two is any indication, the Jazz are in for a rude awakening.

Unlike many in the national media, I don’t think this series is doomed to a foregone conclusion. The Spurs have shown some chinks in the armor vs. the Jazz, and this series is a great opportunity for the Jazz to break through. And I think they will.

Their are key differences between this Jazz team and most other up-and-coming squads. I see five reasons why the Jazz will win this series.

1. Jery Sloan
He has this team playing tough, playoff basketball and will match the Spurs blow for blow.

2. Deron Williams
I know he laid an egg in game 5 against the Warriors, and some will point to that as evidence that he is not quite ready for the big spot. But I have said since the beginning of the year that Deron Williams is special. Most now agree that he is great, but I still maintain that he is going to be one of the top five players in this league. He has it.

In fact, I think his performance in game five will propel him to excellence in game 1. He is a big time player, and big time players show up in big time situations.

3. Man for man the Jazz match up extremely well against the Spurs

PG: Deron Williams vs. Tony Parker - Edge Jazz
Edge: Jazz

SG: Derek Fisher vs. Michael Finley - Even
Edge: Even

SF: AK-47 vs. Bruce Bowen - Edge Jazz
Edge: Jazz

PF: Boozer vs. Duncan
Edge: Spurs

C: Memo vs. Oberto - Edge Jazz
Edge: Jazz

6th: Harpring vs. Ginobili
Edge: Spurs

Bench: Giri, Millsap and Collins vs. Francisco Elson, Jacque Vaughn and Brent Barry
Edge: Jazz

4. Rest
The Jazz can not afford to turn the ball over 25 times a game against the Spurs and expect to have any chance of winning. Fortunately for the Jazz, they have had time to heal their wounds and more importantly, practice. The Jazz run a precision offense and they need practice in order to correct mistakes and get in sync. Winning game 5 and closing out the series against the Warriors early was huge in this respect.

On the flip side, the Spurs are working on a 36 hour turnaround after completing a difficult six game series against the Suns.

The Jazz have a great opportunity to steal one in San Antonio.

5. Mental Toughness
For some reason, this Jazz team has grown up fast and aquired a great deal of mental toughness. In this playoffs alone, they have accomplished the following:

Won their first playoff series
Overcame a two game deficit to win a series
Switched playing styles between two series and won both series’
Won a game seven on the road
Bounced back to win on the road after a 20 point blowout loss
and are 2-0 in closeout games

All of this is incredibly difficult to do. People don’t realize that teams don’t just do that, especially during their first trip to the playoffs. And that is why you can throw out all of the past 10 years history of play vs. the Spurs. The Jazz are ready to beat the Spurs. This team, against all reason, against all odds, is ready to go to the finals.

Jazz in six.

That is why

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Now that the series is over, I must take a moment and give serious props to the Golden State Warriors. Most notably their fans.

First, I want to give them props for a truly exciting run in the playoffs. What they were able to do to Dallas is truly amazing. To beat a 67 win team in the playoffs is no short order, and they did it with style and swagger - they actually expected to win. It was impressive. They should hold their heads high knowing that they lost to a very good Jazz team that was just not a good matchup for them.

Secondly, their organization is on track. Chris Mullin has made a few questionable moves, but the last few have been stellar, namely hiring Don Nelson and trading for Al Harrington and Stephen Jackson. They have created a force and the will be feared for years to come. They are one of the few teams that has the pieces to get Kevin Garnett and with their style they will be able to attract top free agents.

And Last, the fans. They are unquestionably among the very best in the NBA. Before the trendy, high-class

The Warriors are the most fun team in basketball to watch. The Jazz are boring.
In my opinion no two statements could be further from the truth. For my money, I would rather watch the Jazz’s brand of basketball, than Golden States any day.
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So much has been said about the Baron Davis-Jason Richardson fouls, here and in other places, that I wanted to air my final thoughts about the matter and be done with it. Frankly, I’m getting sick of talking and reading about it, and I think we should all take our cues from the players themselves, who have already made peace and moved on.

First, see the video and judge for yourself.

the Davis/Fisher play (check at about 0:48)

the Richardson/Okur play (I think the commentary is Turkish)

Note that I’m not posting anything about the Harrington foul. It was a basketball play and was properly called at the time, in my opinion. No more need be said.

LOTS of different people have sounded off about the Davis and Richardson fouls, notably among the mainstream media Charley Rosen on FOX Sports, Kelly Dwyer on SI.com, and Bruce Jenkins in the San Francisco Chronicle.

In the blogosphere, there were equally vitriolic viewpoints coming from right here and at Golden State of Mind. (See Ballhype for several other blogs on the subject.)

It’s impossible to give an opinion on this without bias. And I’m not going to try. Obviously, I’m going to favor the Jazz in my statement here. If you don’t want to read that, you don’t have to come to a Jazz fan site. Having said that, I am a journalist by profession and by choice and I try to stay as objective as possible.

I don’t think either of those fouls was malicious. Neither of them was intended to hurt anyone, as Fisher himself said. Even Okur said he overreacted.

Do I think that either foul was justified? No way. Throwing someone to the ground like that is never justified. And I don’t buy that “Okur shouldn’t have disrespected” theory, especially when Davis essentially tried the same thing with his Game 3 dunk, and succeeded spectacularly (man, I don’t even mind that dunk; it was incredible to watch and the game was out of reach anyway).

But do I think that there should be as much fuss as there has been? No. The plays were called correctly at the time (except that there should have been at least a regular foul on Davis). The game is over. Everyone needs to move on.

Also, anyone calling Davis or Richardson “thugs” needs to re-think things. They’re not thugs. They’re not gang-bangers. They’re basketball players. They made basketball plays — two unfortunate, (in my opinion) uncalled-for plays, but plays nevertheless. There’s no need for any sort of racism or lingering hatred or grudges for these events, especially when the Jazz got the win anyway. These fouls — two isolated incidents in an otherwise fun series — say nothing about any individual’s or team’s character or personality or, heaven forbid, race. They’re just fouls. (Let me also add that no author on this blog called any Golden State player a “thug” or insulted him personally in any way, other than to disagree with his actions ON the court.)

Jazz fans. Warriors fans. Let us unite in something more constructive, like the appreciation of our different styles of excellent basketball, or the assets of Jessica Alba. Let us move on to cheering on our teams in Game 5 on Tuesday night, and may the best team win.

(It just so happens that that team is the Jazz. Told you I was going to be biased.)
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Layton Shumway is the copy chief for Brigham Young University’s Daily Universe. You can reach him at lss83@byu.net.

For all intents and purposes it is over. The Jazz just completed the most impressive win of this years playoffs. In one game the Jazz accomplished:

1. A rebound from the game three blowout
2. A win in Golden State where the Warriors are “unbeatable”
3. And by accomplishing points one and two, completely ripped out the hearts of the Warriors

All that is left to do now is closeout the series at the ESA on Tuesday.

And make no mistake, it is going to be over on Tuesday. The Warriors looked completely stunned and dejected as they walked off the court. And after their fourth quarter melt down, which saw two of the most unbelievable cheap shots that I have ever seen (more on this later), the Warriors have already thrown in the towel. Game five is simply a formality. All the Jazz have to do is absorb a couple more body blows and deliver the knock out punch.

—

Back to the cheap shots. We knew the Warriors were a volatile bunch, but did anyone think that we would see what we saw tonight, especially in the fourth quarter? The league should look carefully at this game, and there should be at least one, if not two suspensions. In order of least offensive:

1. Al Harrington taking Boozer’s head off in the third quarter. It was violent, aggressive and malicious. Most importantly, he swung at his head and in the regular season that warrants an automatic one game suspension.

2. Jason Richardson with the dangerous take down of Memo as he drove to the basket with just over a minute to go in the game. I was absolutely disgusted to listen to Doug Collins talk about how you shouldn’t go to the basket late in games.

So if I understand his logic correctly, just because it is the end of a game and the home team has thrown in the towel, it is ok to intentionally do physical harm to the other team if they go to the basket. It is ridiculous. Didn’t we learn this lesson in New York earlier in the year when the Nuggets and Knicks had a convenient little brawl.

And, more importantly, did someone forget to tell Jason Richardson that it is round two of the playoffs? Did he forget that he plays for the most offensively potent team in the NBA? Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to run to the finish line against that type of opponent? Memo was trying to finish the game strong by putting is foot on the gas. I can not believe that he was trying to rub it in.

Regardless of Memo’s intent, he could have been seriously injured by that throw down by Richardson and he should at very least be fined.

3. And without further ado, we have the grand champion of the night with Baron Davis throwing a blatant cheap shot to Derek Fisher’s head. Not only was it NOT during the course of a regular basketball play, but it was to the head of a former teammate. And just to refresh everyone’s memory, Derek Fisher is having a rough couple of weeks.

If there has ever been a worse PR move, I have not seen it. I mean talk about kicking a guy when he is down. What was Davis thinking? Furthermore, what was going through his head as he saw Fisher laying on the court clasping his head?

He should be suspended.

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My guess is that nobody gets a suspension. The league will ride the last California wave as long as they can. If any one of these three players get suspended it puts the final nail in an already closed coffin. That is not good for ratings and league popularity. But someone needs to be punished for trying to turn this game into a UFC.

I for one would like to see Davis be the guy, and not because he is the best player for the Warriors, but because he threw an elbow to Derek Fisher. It was to his head, and it was during the course of a non-basketball play. In the regular season that is an easy call for the league office; Davis gets a suspension. Let’s just see what kind of consistency the league office has.

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In the end, it does not matter to the Jazz. Golden State is mentally finished.