Jazz — Rockets thoughts
Posted by Andrew on April 22, 2008
When the Houston Rockets were in the midst of going an entire month without losing, it was amazing how so few people actually took them seriously. In fact, the lack of respect they felt because most of us expected them to crumble without their All-Star big man, only fueled their desire to win at any cost. Despite their eventual twenty-two game winning streak, most of us openly questioned: are they legitimate title contenders? Well, after dropping the first two games in their first round series against the Utah Jazz, both of which were at home, we all know the answer the that question now.
A great story? Of course. Title contenders? Nope. The Rockets reeling off twenty-two wins in a row, second best in league history, ten of which were without Yao Ming, was indeed a Hallmark moment for the league, but the lack of size in the middle and scoring output that had been missing is why most of us failed to see them as a contender. Its certainly no disrespect to the Rockets, who once again find themselves the victims of unfortunate circumstances.
Now their on the verge of losing four in a row as the series heads to Salt Lake City, where the Jazz have a league-best 37-4 home record. I know Rockets fans are probably hoping that if they can just steal one in Utah, the series would return to Houston for game five, but lets face it, that’s just not going to happen. The last thing the Jazz want to do it get back on an airplane headed for Houston, and they simply don’t lose very often at home. Charles Barkley perhaps said it best when he said, “The great teams are the greedy ones … they always go for the sweep.” I suppose we’ll find out if the Jazz can stay hungry and in fact bring out the broom later this week.
And by the way, what happened to those who worried that the Jazz couldn’t win on the road? Their unimpressive regular-season road record certainly displays a bit of inconsistency, but they’ve already beaten several very good teams on the road this season (including Boston, Detroit, Phoenix, New Orleans, and Orlando), and winning two in Houston should now only give them added confidence for their next opponent — and some helpful rest.
This series will stick to Tracy McGrady, who once again won’t be able to get his team out of the first round, but is if fair to stick him with at least some of the blame? After all, he’s killing himself out there, carrying his team on his back, and has the fourth highest scoring average [28.8] in playoff history, so you can’t say he doesn’t elevate his game in the post-season. Having said that, his brilliant play in the first three quarters of the each of the first two games has been simply amazing, but the fourth quarter is where stars are made, and McGrady has basically been non-existent in the fourth quarter of each of the first two playoff games. His combined one point in the fourth quarter of Games 1 and 2 simply aren’t going to get it done, and although its rather obvious that he’s been running out of gas, the great players find a way to produce when it matters most.
This is a team that is obviously capable of winning twenty-two games in a row, ten of which were without the services of Yao Ming, so the prospects of getting swept in the first round with or without him has to be pretty somber. Yes, I realize Rafer Alston , who was injured for the first two games of the series, was a big part of that winning streak, but last time I checked, he wasn’t an All-Star, or irreplaceable, so that excuse needs to go out the window.
If the Rockets want to avoid getting swept, they need to start to “man-up”, a term that’s so often heard nowadays, and start to play the same kind of defense they displayed during the streak. Otherwise, they can kiss their season goodbye, which they may have already done by losing last night on their home court.
* Send questions or comments about this post to ajohn135@gmail.com
April 22, 2008 at 10:41 pm
I think losing Alston and Yao was huge. The Jazz are just a better team, anyway. They had more impressive wins and had a better point differential (thank you, Hollinger, for that bit of conventional wisdom nowadays!). So losing Yao and the point guard is going to result in a lopsided playoff result. I don’t think the Rockets are underperforming at all. I think the Jazz are really good and Houston just lost two big pieces.
Only 8 teams out of 30 are going to win a playoff series this year. The fact that McGrady hasn’t been one one of those 8 during his career is mainly a result of the fact that he hasn’t ever been a Spur, Laker, Piston, Sun, or Net and bad luck. It’s not as if he’s an A-Rod sort of superstar who *chokes really badly* in the playoffs. It’s just that his team doesn’t win. I think it’s just the kind of statistical blip that means almost nothing but which people talk about all the time.
I’m never picking the Mavs to win anything again. I’m already giving up on the Hornets pick. I saw the last play of game 7 against the Spurs in 2006, and I was duped into thinking that Dirk was a warrior. He’s a loser!
April 22, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Way to pile on.
April 23, 2008 at 1:35 am
I just wanted to write something about this series because all day I heard how unfair this world is to Tracy McGrady, and I felt something needed to be said for the way the Jazz have pounded out two road victories when there were a lot of questions about their inability to win on the road.
April 23, 2008 at 7:15 am
The Jazz season road record against playoff teams was 11-11, not quite as disaterous as their overall record indicates. If they had one road games in places like New York, Miami, Charlotte and Minnesota, they would have finished first in the West.
I totally agree with you about Tracy McGrady getting all the undeserved sympathy. He is the one that has put the pressure on himself. Remember “It’s on me!” from last year’s playoffs. He’s a fantastic player but the fact remains, HIS teams have never gotten past the first round.
April 23, 2008 at 11:24 am
I believe star players need to take responsibility for their team, so although he is playing against a better team without two of his fellow starters, dropping two at home can’t be acceptable. He’s played his heart out and there’s no shame in losing to a better team, I just think he could’ve made a bigger difference had he played well in the fourth quarter of either of those first two games. The great think about playoff basketball is there’s still at least two more games left in the series.
April 23, 2008 at 11:49 am
If you lose you and your team failed. (speaking of failure, check out the very funny failblog.wordpress.com) But continually bringing up the fact that he have never been past the first round is getting old. It’s not as if he’s like A-Rod, a real choker in the playoffs. He plays really well. If you’re asking why this superstar hasn’t won a playoff series, it’s partly bad luck, or you could say it’s because he’s not even more of a superstar than he actually is. But the latter argument seems lame, since you could apply it to anyone and say they they would have won more if they themselves were much better than they are.
Only 8 teams per year make it past the first round. If you haven’t been on the Spurs, Lakers, Nets, Pistons, Mavericks or Suns in the past 10 years then you have a pretty good shot at being one of those who never made it out of the first round, whether you’re a good player or bad player.
I think if the Rockets get swept it will prove that losing Alston and Yao was pretty bad, and that the Jazz are a darned good team.
April 23, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Grant Hill’s never made it out of the first round, either. After his last season in Detroit, before injuries ruined whatever he and T-Mac could have had together in Orlando, he was roughly the same age as McGrady is now. Yet he never caught half the shit that’s being directed at McGrady these days, and Hill was a guy who was supposed to be the face of the entire league. Also unlike McGrady, Hill’s numbers usually decline in the postseason.
I don’t know what this means, exactly. Maybe Hill’s successful days at Duke gave him enough latitude for people to let slide his lack of NBA postseason presence. Or maybe people just expect more out of McGrady because he’s so much more exciting to watch, and that makes it suck more for all of us to see him continue to falter.
April 23, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I was going to bring Grant Hill up after listening to Jim Rome today, but you obviously beat me to it. Like Barkley said, however, is that Hill gets a pass because of the “nice guy” or “good guy” image. McGrady certainly isn’t a “bad guy,” but few players actually have the same classy image that Hill does.
As much as I hate to say it, the fact that Hill staying in school for all four years might actually give him some sort of distinguished image that McGrady simply can’t acquire in the eyes of the media. The other thing, of course, is the fact that they feel sorry for Grant Hill because of all the injuries he’s suffered, so it may not be entirely fair to criticize him. Except for when he was very young, Hill hasn’t been the main figure on his own team, so maybe he’s not the one entirely responsible for not getting to the second round. Who knows?
April 23, 2008 at 10:01 pm
I don’t listen to Rome but I heard an announcer bring it up during one of the Suns games. It surprised me because I thought his Detroit years went better than that, so my memory must really suck.
You may have a point, that some people will always view McGrady as “a high schooler” and be harsher on him for it. He also made the boneheaded move in Orlando of saying it “felt good getting to the second round” while the first round was still going, and of course failing to get to the second round after giving that quote.
The first time Hill was in the playoffs without being the main guy was last season. For the first four, he was the man, like McGrady has been for his last five(T-Mac’s first postseason trip was as a backup in Toronto).
One nitpicky correction to your blog post: Yao Ming played in the first 12 games of the win streak. His injury happened almost smack dab in the middle. So they won ten in a row without him, which is still damn good.
April 24, 2008 at 12:12 am
I think Hill was considered the main guy during his early years, but he was probably too young for us to have high expectations of leading his team deep into the playoffs. Then he got hurt, and wasn’t expected to carry a team on his back for a number of years in Orlando.
You’re right, Yao was a part of the streak, so I should have worded that better — I’ll make sure I fix it. But like you said, winning ten in a row is still very impressive. People thought they were dead in the water when he went down. Had he been healthy, they’d obviously be in a much better position to compete in the Playoffs.
April 24, 2008 at 12:49 am
McGrady can do a lot for his legacy if he can win a game or two in Utah, which is obviously easier said than done. However, with Rafer Alston back, you never know what can happen.
April 24, 2008 at 12:58 am
There are several things that could happen in SLC, but the smart money is on the Jazz to close it out in four games. If they allow it to go back to Houston for game five, the series isn’t in trouble, but they lose some much needed rest time.
April 24, 2008 at 8:10 am
Sorry for the threadjack but Bill Simmons has some interesting comments about “Juicy Matchups o for this year’s playoffs on the ESPN site:
“8. Hornets-Jazz (West Finals) This one appeals only to roundball dorks like myself, but I’m not gonna apologize. The thought of Chris Paul and Deron Williams pulling a Corrales-Castillo on each other for the Point Guard Championship of the World makes me giddy. Along with a Finals berth, the NBA could put the team name Jazz on the line. If New Orleans wins, they get to take back the name. Who’s with me?”
What do you think? Should the Jazz put their name on the line? But whast will the Jazz get when they beat the Hornet’s since they’ve already got the name?
April 24, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Personally, I think its a stupid idea if you were asking me. I know people have a hard time taking Bill Simmons seriously, but he wasn’t kidding when he said this. The team name is indicative of the franchise. Just because there is now a team in New Orleans, doesn’t mean they have the rights to the name “Jazz,” or that they’d even want it. They came from Charlotte and will always be the Hornets, because that’s the name all people associate with them. That’s like the Bullets changing their name to the Wizards, yet most true fans of the team refuse to stop calling them the Bullets.
Here’s an idea for Simmons, if the Timberwolves ever get good enough to beat the Lakers in the Playoffs, maybe they should get the name “Lakers” back and Los Angeles should be tagged with the name Timberwolves for the rest of their existence … yet I don’t see that going over too well.
April 24, 2008 at 5:07 pm
I think it’s wrong to change team names, because it preserves the history of the game rather than some cheesy concept the local tourism bureau comes up with. I read a blog post a few weeks ago about changing the name of the Jazz and all the suggestions Utah people came up with were really lame. The Jazz team name is now just a name, it doesn’t refer to music anymore.
But still, laying the team name on the line, that would be cool! Of course the Hornets would have to give up something if they lose. How about the Jazz get Tyson Chandler! Just so no one tries it, I’m going to ban anyone from this blog if they say that Jazz could change their name to “Saints”.
“threadjack”
We don’t have anything against randomly changing the subject on this blog. Anything to get more hits. Okay, not anything…
April 25, 2008 at 12:19 am
Where was Boozer in the fourth quarter of Game 3? Non-existent.
April 25, 2008 at 1:12 am
Boozer is not having a great playoffs. Last year he was unstoppable even going against Yao, this year he can’t get his offensive game going. Okur and Kirilenko also decide to shoot about 2-12 every other game. The Jazz seem to have one warrior who brings it every night and 2-3 “stars” who are sure to shoot it a lot every night but not much else. The ft shooiting from Boozer, AK and Okur was pretty weak, too.
That last play of the game was a killer. Had Williams got a good shot and made it, the series would be just mopping up, but now they’re left to wonder if Alston is going to make it a whole new series. I’m still sticking to my Jazz in 5 prediction, I think they’ll go back and win games 4 and 5.
April 25, 2008 at 1:39 am
I think its more likely Jazz in six, like I initially predicted. I see the Rockets taking care of business at home, but the Jazz retuning to Utah to close it out in Game 6.
This could be a good thing for the Jazz — teach them not to take teams lightly just because they’re up 2-0 and playing at home. I’m sure they’ll maintain that they didn’t take them lightly, but I didn’t see that same killer instinct I saw from them in Games 1 and 2. Hopefully, they’ll get that back now. Boozer is a big part of that.
April 28, 2008 at 2:18 am
I realize this may be old news, but how many of you caught that Deron Williams throwdown over Shane Battier the other night? Those kind of plays are why he’s probably my favorite player in the league today.
April 28, 2008 at 4:14 pm
You’ve got to give the Rockets some props for still fighting, unlike the Mavericks and Nuggets.
April 29, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Contrary to what you other guys may think, I’m going with the Rockets tonight, though I believe Utah will close ‘em out back in SLC in Game 6. I know Andrew hinted at that opinion as well, but there are many who think it will be over in Game 5.
May 2, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Boozer needs to come out swinging tonight … I’m glad the local press has been all over him because he has been a disappointment in this series.