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Out of tune Are the Jazz on their last legs?
Posted: Thursday May 11, 2000 07:40 PM
SAL LAKE CITY (CNNSI.com) -- They have been called too old, too slow and too predictable for years. They've been counted out more times than Mike Tyson's opponents. And now, after two demoralizing losses in Portland, the question is being asked once again. Are the aging Jazz finally ready for their swan song? To hear head coach Jerry Sloan, he's not sure what to expect from his team. "We knew coming in here (Portland) we're going to have to be extremely hot," he said. "I thought we had a few guys in the locker room that thought we had a chance, I'm not sure we have anybody now." Utah showed it was vulnerable in the team's grueling first-round series against the Sonics by dropping two games in Seattle before winning Game 5 at home. "At their age, it's very hard for the Jazz nucleus to recover from a series like that very quickly," says Sports Illustrated NBA writer Phil Taylor. "They looked to me like they were tired, just a step slow in first two games against Portland." The Blazers have also used their younger legs and deeper bench to put the defensive clamps on Utah. The Jazz averaged 96 points a game in the regular season. But against Portland they're averaging just 80 and their field-goal percentage, 3-point percentage and rebounds per game are also down dramatically. "This is the best I've seen a team play since I've been with Utah as far as I can remember," Sloan said of the Blazers, who ripped the Jazz 103-85 on Tuesday night. "We couldn't even get the ball near the basket. We had to take outside jump shots. We've always been able to once in a while get one in there. They just annihilated us defensively." Blazers forward Scottie Pippen agreed that defense helped make a difference. "We were doing a good job of really being active and not letting them get the easy passes on the cuts," Pippen said. SI's Taylor says he expects Portland's youth to keep Utah's feet to the fire. "The Jazz are not a very deep team in addition to having old, tired legs so I think that is an advantage for Portland," Taylor said. "They can attack the Jazz's pick and roll. They can really keep pressure up on Utah for 48 minutes by running players in and out. And it's going to be difficult for the Jazz keep up with that kind of pace of play."
But Utah should be more rested for Thursday night's Game 3 and they'll play it at the Delta Center, where they've won 77 percent of their playoff games since 1990. It's a statistic that Portland head coach Mike Dunleavy is well aware of. "The more adversity they get the tougher they're going to get and we have to respond," Dunleavy said. Forward Brian Grant knows that he and the other Blazers will be facing a much different Utah team from the one they saw in the first two games. "They'll fight back," he says. "They will fight, claw, scratch and kick when we go there. It's going to be a game. It's going to be a real hard-fought game." Sloan also expects his players will feed off of the atmosphere. "I expect us to come and play hard," he said. "We're at home and hopefully we can generate some energy." The Jazz may be down 0-2, but surprisingly, SI's Taylor says that may not be as bad as may sound. "It seems like when the Jazz are in this position, when everyone is counting them out, that's when they have you where they want you," Taylor said. "They've always been able to come back." And Taylor adds this Utah team reminds him of a legendary movie character. "They're almost like Jason from the Friday the 13th movies," he said. "They're never really dead. You think they're buried, but they keep rising from the grave." But for the Jazz to keep the critics at bay for at least one more series, they'll have to do something unprecedented. Utah has never come back to win a playoff series from a 0-2 deficit before.
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