For those who are skeptical about the Jazz....

[OhMyBosh]

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What's funny is the inherent stupidity in the assertion that you quoted. The Rockets had one of the best stretches in the history of the game.....and all sorts of attention was paid to it. It was the lead in to sports center for the last week plus that it stayed alive, it was all over ESPN, nba.com, Foxs, SI...etc etc. No one said at the time that the Rockets were the best team ever, or that they were suddenly going to win a championship, but they paid respect to an amazing stretch of basketball.

However, if you ask the casual observer, or even the average producer/webmaster in charge of running media ops, to comment on how well the Jazz have played offensively for the last two months. They would likely say somewhere better "pretty good" to "excellent". Its doubtful any one would think that they played at a pace that would blow away the best full-season accomplishments of the greatest teams in NBA history.

This doesn't suddenly make the Jazz the favorites, or even mean that they are the best offensive team in the league (which, imo, they are), but it certainly is worth a little consideration and discussion.

You have no idea how humorous it is to see people come in and compare shooting 1-for-1 from the field to a quarter season's worth of rarely-ever-seen magnificence.

I think part of the reason for all the coverage was they no one expected them to keep winning. The Houston roster is terrible without Yao. To be able to extend the streak to 22 games without their most dominant (and sometimes only) low post scorer.

Utah has been there all year among the leagues elite. I don't think any team in the league can play against them and actually believe they should be able to win it. They can match up with anyone.

Come to think of it, there is one story of their season that was over-shadowed the entire year: Deron Williams. He's been absolutely superb, but Chris has been better.

[erudite23]

I'm PRETTY sure whoever follows the league knows how good a team Utah has. Why do their fans keep begging for more respect and recognition? They aren't overrated or underrated in any sense. Teams know what they're up against when they face them.

Not necessarily.

Don't get me wrong here, I know that there are those among us who believe that we are totally disrespected and ignored by the nation at large, particularly the media. I'm not one of them.

But, there is still a faction out there that simply refuse to acknowledge them as a serious player in the West.

For example. Don't know if you follow the Sports Guy at all, but he has a friend named House who is supposedly a HUGE basketball fan. The SG had him on the podcast the other day to predict the outcome of the playoffs. Well, House flat-out laughed at the prospect of Utah beating the Lakers in round 2. Laughed. Out loud.

Now, say what you want about who is the better team of the two, and who would win and who is better.....but it certainly isn't a matchup that is particularly lopsided one way or the other. Utah has the best margin of victory in the West, and has performed better than LA throughout the last 3 consecutive months--even with the huge stretch they had after getting Gasol--and matches up well with them from a roster standpoint....etc etc.

Its fairly close, and I'm inclined to think that LA wins a 7 game series between the two.....but it would be very close, with things swinging back and forth numerous times.

House is a Wizards fan. The Jazz beat the Wizards by 42 a few weeks ago. He still disregards the Jazz.

I think there is a group of people that refuse to take them seriously, mainly because they a)haven't won a title yet, b) are from Utah and not a major market where their stars would have gotten much greater exposure and, therefore, respect, and c) they aren't self-promoters.

All I'm saying here is--to those people--maybe you should realize just.how.well. they have been playing lately.

Nothing more, nothing less.

[AmazingJason]

If you consider the Sports Guy and his lackey to be representative of what true fans think, then you're sorely mistaken. Everything he does is based on setting up comedic one liners. It's not based on any insightful analysis or basketball intelligence.

In talking with my friends or family who follow NBA basketball, practically all of them acknowledge how dangerous Utah is in the West. In fact, most people I know consider Carlos Boozer to be one of the best post players in the league and Deron Williams to be in a similar class as Chris Paul.

[carrottop12]

You take a team's best stretch and say "if they did that all year" they'd be the best. No kidding.

The fact that they have beend doing it for the past 20 games going into the playoffs means something.

[JellosJigglin]

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The fact that they have beend doing it for the past 20 games going into the playoffs means something.

Eh...the Lakers are 23-5 with Gasol in the lineup.

I think the Jazz fans are being a little insecure. You may be right that they don't get as much media attention because they're in a small market. Actually, I'm positive you're right on that point. But I think most fans who follow the NBA know how dangerous Utah can be. They're a pretty respected team and they're managed by a great coach. They just don't have a big fan base. The media is going to pay attention to their demographics. I don't think you should equate media attention with respect.

As a Laker fan I would definitely expect a tough battle against the Jazz. An upset is not out of the realm of possibility. Actually I think the 2 teams match up very well, but only because each team's strengths are the other team's weaknesses.

[JStockLivesOn]

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haha, nice, the OP just got manhandled. Seriously, who cares? Wake me up when they do it for the ENTIRE SEASON.

EDIT: And LOL at Jazz fans who think they own the place after beating a severely undermanned Rockets team that has 3 rookies in their rotation, a senior citizen at Center(yet somehow managed to stuff the Jazz on many occasions), playing w/o their 1st(yao) and 3rd(Rafer) best player.

Just remember that we took you to 7 games last year when we had scrubs like Juwan Howard, Kirk Snyder, Luther Head, Chuck Hayes, and Vassilis Spanoulis on our squad.

If Yao and Rafer were healthy we'd demolish the Jazz.

LOL at Rockets fan walking into this series like they were going to take care of business, then after they're badly beaten in Game 1, spending every second reminding us that Yao is gone.

[erudite23]

If you consider the Sports Guy and his lackey to be representative of what true fans think, then you're sorely mistaken. Everything he does is based on setting up comedic one liners. It's not based on any insightful analysis or basketball intelligence.

In talking with my friends or family who follow NBA basketball, practically all of them acknowledge how dangerous Utah is in the West. In fact, most people I know consider Carlos Boozer to be one of the best post players in the league and Deron Williams to be in a similar class as Chris Paul.

You're not listening. I do realize that most fans who actually follow the league as opposed to simply watching SportsCenter every night know that the Jazz are a force to be reckoned with.

What I am addressing is a minority that does follow it, and yet refuses to acknowlege. The Sports Guy might be a bit of a douchebag...but he follows the league religiously. Even moreso....his friend House considers himself to be a veritable expert, and with the way he talks its obvious he follows it closely.

I think a part of it is the East coast thing, and some is just plain blatant ignorance.

Anyway, if the shoe fits, wear it. If not, dont worry 'bout it.

Either way.....its a mighty interesting morsel, no?

[JellosJigglin]

[quote="erudite23"][/quote]

Why are you worried about a small minority? Every team has one of those.

[raphleek]

side note: English is not my first language, but I still think that many of the posters here have reading comprehension problem. Read initial post and rethink. It is not about one game, nor W-L record. It is about margin of victory and offensive efficiency. And reference about the best team of all time was put only to put into perspective how good this efficiency is, not to call Jazz the best team.


(And this topic is not about insecurity of Jazz fans. I thought that boards are to sound opinions, and argue about stuff that you don

[raphleek]

JellosJigglin
It is not a small minority. It is huge population of media analysts and commentators. I think it is an example of how little analysis actually analysts do (with exception of few)

Let me give you few examples.

1. Before the game 1 of Hou-Uta the only thing they were talking was wheatear T-mac will elevate the game, how good Rockets will play, what a splendid job Adelman did. You would get impression as if Rockets were heavy favorite for the game. Not a single reference to Utah players.

2.When Jazz beat Spurs an NO back to back holding both of them to season lows, almost no one paid attention to it . But when Lakers beat those teams (although much lower margin) it was indication how good they are. In almost every Power Ranking that was the reason to keep them high (not that I disagree ).

[raphleek]

...
3. During the game they were blabbering how Utah is a physical team, Harpring defense was called good

[Nate505]

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haha, nice, the OP just got manhandled. Seriously, who cares? Wake me up when they do it for the ENTIRE SEASON.

EDIT: And LOL at Jazz fans who think they own the place after beating a severely undermanned Rockets team that has 3 rookies in their rotation, a senior citizen at Center(yet somehow managed to stuff the Jazz on many occasions), playing w/o their 1st(yao) and 3rd(Rafer) best player.

Just remember that we took you to 7 games last year when we had scrubs like Juwan Howard, Kirk Snyder, Luther Head, Chuck Hayes, and Vassilis Spanoulis on our squad.

If Yao and Rafer were healthy we'd demolish the Jazz.

The Rockets would demolish the Jazz by having different scrubs to a team that lost to them last season?

Korver alone is better than most of the Rockets bench.

[Nate505]

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I think the Jazz fans are being a little insecure.

Can't disagree. There are tons of Jazz fans out there with a huge inferiority complex. Can't say I blame them in part, but I wish it would be toned down some.

Then again, no other city has to deal with stupid jokes about a certain religious belief or polygamy or the fact that there isn't a large black popluation in the state.

[LAKESHOW]

utah is a team most teams truly respect, and never underestimate.

why?

they play a tough brand of basketball. they drive. drive. drive. and ram the ball down your throat.

and they have a point guard that can absolutely kill your teams point guard. very tough. makes the tough shots. and plays BIG. he can look cp3 in the eye, and take him down. cp3 wouldnt think about taking a night off on deron williams.

so they are a very tough matchup for the LAKERs, should we meet up with them in the 2nd round. totally different preparation than weve got goin for denver.