The Utah Jazz had a great post-season run this season. They knocked off the #4 seeded Denver Nuggets, who is their Arch Rival in 6 games without their starting Center Mehemet Okur and their starting Small Forward who is none other than Andrei Kirilenko, also known as AK-47. How did the Jazz pull of this upset? The answer is teamwork and great coaching. The Jazz showed the entire NBA that they are a great TEAM. Not so much a great assortment of talent, though I should mention that the best Point Guard in the game is Deron Williams. Think about it, they went into the playoffs with all that talk about Boozer and his Oblique, and why he rested out of a game that if won could have gotten them a #3 seed and an easier route out of the first round and second round. As it turns out, had Utah won that game against Phoenix, they would not only have played Portland in the first round, but San Antonio in the Second Round, and had home court advantage, which Utah would have capitalized off of and probably taken them to the Conference Finals. Instead of facing the fact that they had lost home court advantage as a result of this loss, Utah fueled themselves to have the biggest upset of the first round of the NBA playoffs. Nobody had Utah winning against a supposedly more talented, healthier, and dangerous Denver Nuggets team. Utah showed the NBA that they had a better TEAM then Denver, and that coaching matters. Deron Williams played great, Carlos Boozer played well, and the entire cast of role players like Paul Millsap, Ronnie Price, Wes Matthews, Kyle Korver, and CJ Miles all stepped up. Not to mention Kyrylo Fesenko who had a nice defensive presence in the middle, and helped stop Denver from driving to the hole. Jerry Sloan had his players buy into his system, and it really paid off.
The second round of the playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers was a bitter disappointment as games 1 and 2 were narrowly lost, and game 3 was snatched away from them like some sort of cruel joke. Game 4 isn't even worth mentioning since they were so struck with shock that Wes Matthews' tip in was missed. Game 3 was played perfectly with Kyle Korver having his Reggie Miller Moments late in the game to keep them in it. It just wasn't their year. LA had more length, height, strength, and talent than Utah did, and it showed. Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant killed Utah this year, as did Derek Fisher, and Lamar Odom, who always seem to have big days against the Jazz. The Jazz showed that they weren't a title contending team, but a damn good playoff team that can get out of a first round. The thing that I concluded from all this was that Utah needs to get bigger, and quicker at the same time. Somebody who can add size and quickness to Utah would be greatly appreciated. The interior defense of Utah in the paint is their achilles heal, and if they don't fix that, then they'll struggle in the playoffs next season. Overall, Utah has a good season ahead of them next season, and if they can get a good draft pick at the #9 spot, and retain Carlos Boozer, then they should have a chance to make a push deeper into the playoffs than this year. The lack of health finally caught up to them this year, and if AK-47 had been healthy, his length could have propelled them to a higher seed, and a better draw. In a couple of weeks, I'll release my official Utah Jazz draft board, and who I think they should pick if available.
