Ranking my preferences for the NBA teams

From favorite to least favorite:

Teams I love to see do well:
1. Utah Jazz
2. Minnesota Timberwolves
3. Phoenix Suns
4. Cleveland Cavaliers
5. Boston Celtics
6. Miami Heat

Teams I am indifferent about:
7. Atlanta Hawks
8. Golden State Warriors
9. Indiana Pacers
10. Orlando Magic
11. Memphis Grizzlies
12. Washington Wizards
13. Toronto Raptors
14. Sacramento Kings
15. Charlotte Bobcats
16. Oklahoma City Thunder
17. Los Angeles Clippers
18. New Jersey Nets
19. Philadelphia 76ers
20. Milwaukee Bucks
21. Dallas Mavericks
22. New York Knicks


Teams I really can't stand:
23. Chicago Bulls
24. Portland Trail Blazers
25. Detroit Pistons
26. New Orleans Hornets
27. Houston Rockets
28. Denver Nuggets
29. San Antonio Spurs
30. Los Angeles Lakers

3-0 Without Deron

-Denver probably just regained the title of 2nd best team in the Northwest Division with the Iverson-Billups trade. I was not impressed with Iverson at all when the Jazz played Denver this year. Good trade for the Nuggets.

-Deron joined Boler and Booner for the 3rd quarter tonight, and he didn't sound like he will be ready for Wednesday's game like he had originally hoped.

-AK does it again – 15 pts 11 rebs 2 assists and 4 steals.

-Jerry Sloan got win 998 as Jazz head coach. When he reaches 1,000 victories with just one team (Utah Jazz) it will join Stockton's assist record as unbreakable records.

-Millsap was an animal with 24 points and 9 rebounds. It will be interesting to see who the Jazz don't sign out of Boozer/Okur/Millsap.

- Jazz were -3 with Price on the floor compared with +19 with Knight on the floor. I doubt that the Jazz would be 3-0 right now if they hadn't swapped Hart for Knight.

-The defense is looking better, only giving up 86.5 ppg so far this season. The Jazz are also 2nd in the league in point differential (13.0).

Thoughts on Opening Night

The Jazz managed to get by the Nuggets in their season opener despite playing without Deron Williams.

The "Lights Out" beginning was fantastic. I had chills the whole time. I might have to go to a couple more Jazz games this year because of the new intros and sound system. Deseret News was kind enough to have a video of it: http://deseretnews.com/video/1,5563,600,00.html

Boozer was huge and that is what you have to do when Deron is out.

Price was good enough despite his shooting. I thought it was fitting that the last 2 free throws came down to him.

C.J.'s dunk in the first quarter was amazing.

AK was amazing off the bench.

Boozer and Okur had double doubles.

Not the prettiest win but a win is a win and the Jazz were able to do it without Williams.

Jazz/Celtics Finals?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2008/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=playoffpredictions-080418

John Hollinger, ESPN's stats dude thinks so. It is a good article with statistical evidence. I'm a big stats guy, more so in baseball than in basketball but I like basketball deep stats too. Some things Hollinger says:

Utah has the best chance of coming out of the west at 31 percent.

Jazz played amazingly well over the last fourth of the season. They had an offensive efficiency rating of 116.0, which over a full season would have made them easily the best offensive team of all time.

Jazz were 37-12 after Jan. 1. They had tons of blowout wins over quality teams. Here are some blowout wins this season:

Beat Boston by 18 at their place, the Celtics' worst loss of the season.

Beat New Orleans by 28 and 22, two of Hornets worst losses of season.

Beat San Antonio by 26, Spurs worst loss of season.

Beat Lakers by 24, Lakers worst loss of season.

Beat Phoenix by 22.

Beat Denver by 27 two times.

He points out Utah won 18 games by more than 20 points. The only loss by 20 points for the Jazz was the last game against the Spurs. But can you really think that last game matters, Deron Williams was injured and the Jazz probably lost on purpose, not wanting to face the Spurs in round 1.

Great article by Hollinger, nice to see the Jazz get some love from ESPN. It is about time.

By the way he predicts the Jazz to beat the Rockets in 6, the Lakers in 6, the Hornets in 6, and finally losing to Boston in 6 in the Finals.

2008 NBA Playoffs

The Jazz lost in convincing fashion last night against the Spurs, proving that it would be better to not have home-court advantage rather than have to face the Spurs in round 1. The difference is that the Jazz will definitely beat the Rockets in round 1 while they only can beat the Spurs.

Here is my NBA predictions
FIRST ROUND
Lakers vs Nuggets - Lakers in 5

Jazz vs Rockets - Jazz in 5

Spurs vs Suns - Suns in 6

Hornets vs Mavs - Mavs in 6

Boston vs Atlanta - Boston in 4

Detroit vs Philadelphia - Detroit in 6

Cleveland vs Washington - Washington in 7

Orlando vs Toronto - Orlando in 6

SECOND ROUND
Lakers vs Jazz - Jazz in 6

Suns vs Mavs - Suns in 5

Boston vs Washington - Washington in 6

Detroit vs Orlando - Detroit in 6


WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Jazz vs Suns - Jazz in 6

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Detroit vs Washington - Detroit in 6


NBA FINALS
Jazz vs Detroit - Jazz in 5


There will definitely be more posts later about the first round match-up between the Jazz and the Rockets, but for now, if they beat them last year with Yao Ming, why wouldn't they beat them this year without Yao Ming?

Finishing Strong

Lets take a look at Utah’s last 6 games and see why the Jazz must win as much as they can right now:
Apr. Fri 04 vs San Antonio
Tue 08 @ New Orleans
Thu 10 @ Dallas
Sat 12 vs Denver
Mon 14 vs Houston
Wed 16 @ San Antonio

The one positive I see is that if by that last game San Antonio has it’s playoff seed finalized, the Jazz will have the best shot they’ve had in a while to win a game in San Antonio.



Here is how the Jazz have fared against Western Conference playoff contenders:

Golden State 3-0 Remaining: 0
Denver 2-1 Remaining: 1
Phoenix 2-1 Remaining: 0
Dallas 2-1 Remaining: 1
New Orleans 2-1 Remaining: 1
San Antonio 1-1 Remaining: 2
Houston 1-1 Remaining: 1
L.A. Lakers 1-2 Remaining: 1

Overall 14-8 Remaining: 7

That’s not too shabby. They’ve won 2 season series, they are winning 3 more, and they are tied for 2 more. The Jazz could end up winning all the series except for tying one, or they could end up losing 3 series and tying 3 series. It’s in their hands.

Here’s the Jazz remaining schedule minus those 6 games:

Tue 11 @ Chicago
Wed 12 @ Milwaukee
Fri 14 @ Boston
Sat 15 @ New Jersey
Mon 17 vs Toronto
Thu 20 vs LA Lakers
Sat 22 vs Seattle
Tue 25 vs Charlotte
Fri 28 vs LA Clippers
Sun 30 @ Minnesota
Mon 31 vs Washington

The Jazz better go at least 8-3 over that stretch. These final 17 games will be make or brake for the Jazz. They could clinch home court advantage in the Western Conference playoffs, thus clearing a path to Finals. Or they could completely miss the playoffs. I’m sure Coach Sloan realizes this and will have the Jazz prepared.

2008 NBA Playoffs

I thought it would be interesting to rank the Western Conference playoff contenders from the best to the worst matchups for the Jazz.

Golden State: The Jazz dominated them last year in the playoffs and have scored 123 points on average against them this season beating the Warriors all three times.

New Orleans: The Jazz are 2-1 against them this season. Williams seems to really play well against Christ Paul. Paul has only beaten the Jazz twice.

Phoenix: Utah has played well against Phoenix as they usually do with small-ball teams. The Jazz usually overpower those type of teams inside with Boozer. Shaq is too old to help and Amare and Nash are the worst defenders in the league.

Houston: Now that the Rockets won’t have Yao Ming for the playoffs the Jazz should be able to beat them out in a 7 game series, like last year.


Denver: These two always get physical against each other. But the Jazz are more disciplined and more clutch.

Dallas: Jason Kidd is no match for Deron Williams, as evidenced by William’s 17 point 20 assist game against the Mavs. This series could go either way.

L. A. Lakers: The Jazz won’t be able to slow down Kobe at all. Their game at the Staples Center in December was terrible. This would be a tough series to win.

San Antonio. The Jazz haven’t won at the Spurs place since 1999. Ginobili always kills the Jazz. Utah lost to them 4 games to 1 in the Western Conference Finals last year and the Jazz would be lucky to be able to beat them this year.

Ideally the Jazz would face New Orleans in the first round, then Golden State, then Phoenix in the Western Conference Finals. Then they would beat the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals. I honestly can’t remember the last time when the Pistons beat the Jazz.

Unfortunately the Jazz probably won’t be that lucky. To get to the Finals they will most likely have to beat either the Lakers or the Spurs. I’m not so sure the Jazz will.

The key this year will be getting as much home court advantage as possible. The Jazz haven’t lost at Energy Solutions Arena since December and have the best home record in the NBA, only losing 3 games this season. Having been at ESA last year during the playoffs I know firsthand how loud it can get there. It’s tough to imagine the Jazz losing more than one game at home in a series. But, for example, if we have to play San Antonio in the playoffs with the Spurs having home-court advantage, the Jazz would definitely lose the series. Who said the regular season doesn’t matter??