-Boozer did what your franchise player has to do, he came out and owned the 1st quarter, 15 pts, hitting 7 of his first 9 shots, most 15 foot jumpers over Yao Ming. He was a stud, with his 41 points. Had he gotten the "T-Mac treatment" (more on this later) he would have approached 50. Maybe his best game ever.
-TMac and Yao again played/shot awful in the first half, and Houston was only down by 2. The uglier and lower scoring the game, the better for Houston. If Utah can get this series in the 100's, I really don't think Houston can keep pace.
-Jazz continue to let Houston lull them to sleep in a half-court, late 90's grind-it-out game. If they would look to push the tempo they would leave Yao, Mutombo and Juwan Howard in their dust
-Mehmet Okur continues to struggle. Just 4-23 in the first two games. It appears he's gonna be our "Casper" (disappearing act) player this year, much to my worst fears. More on this in the coming days. If he give us nothing besides tough defense, he did play Yao really tough and was on the bad end of alot of tough if not horrible calls, but Utah can't win if he doesn't give us double digits.
-Virtually every 2nd-half call went the Rockets way, some good calls, some close and others absolutely horrendous. The fact that Utah shot ZERO free throws in the 3rd quarter doesn't begin to tell the story. Yao can do whatever he wants (travel, dislodge with his shoulder (didn't he used to complain Shaq did this?), sprout roots in the paint) and he gets away with it. You can't touch T-Mac without a foul being called, and sometimes you don't even touch him and it's a foul. No doubt in my mind the League wants Houston and it's "Stars" to advance, so they'll do their best to see that happens. The fact that Utah's first home playoff game in 3 years was one of only two to get the NBATV-diss should tell you what they think about the Jazz.
-Houston Rockets fans are absolutely classless. As Deron Williams lay on the cort with what looked to be a serious head-injury, the derogatory chants revealed their true colors. It's tough when you show less class than Utah fans, congratulations Houston you just did. Classless classless Rockets fans. The only more noteworthy item to take note of is 87 year old TNT announcer DickStockton saying it was good sportsmanship of the Rockets to give him an ovation. How you confuse an ovation boo's and "Utah Sucks" chants is beyond me.
-Finally this was some great experience for Utah. Now they know what to expect in the playoffs, the physical play and more importantly they "Star Treatment" and the tough calls that go against you. Now they can go home and protect their homecourt, where I expect Okur, Kirilenko and Deron Williams to play/shoot much better.
-1st realy playoff experience for alot of their guys and it showed. Boozer/Okur combined 6-31 from the field. Ugghh. Kirilenko only 15 min.
-Fisher made the play of the game by blowing a wide-open, you'll never get an easier shot in basketball, layup that totally swung the game in the Rockets favor.
-Deron Wiliams definitely ready for the big stage. Shoulda had a triple double (15 pts, 9 reb, 9 ast) if not for imcompetent play by his teammates.
-Houston having Yao guard Boozer forced Booze to settle for 16 footers, and he couldn't throw the ball in the ocean tonight, just 1-9 in the second half. Of his 4 field goals, two were baseline jumpers in the first 8 minutes of the game, the other two were dunks off feeds from Deron Williams. That's it. Not the way you want to start your first playoff series.
-Also Yao Ming (13-15 FT's) definitely going to get "star treatment." He was coming over everyone's back and there was no call, but if you touch him its a foul. Should be fun.
-1 pt in first half for TMac, Yao misses 10 of his 18 shots, hold rockets to 32 point first half and Utah loses by 9? Not a good sign.
Sliceman is an under the radar closet sports writer and sportsjunkie. Read his blog now before it becomes the next big thing and there's no room left on the bandwagon.
