Statitudes

On the seventh day they rested...and on the eighth, ninth and 10th. The way the Utah Jazz talked last week, the team's most fearsome opponent on the road to the Finals wasn't a Western Conference victim but all that downtime while waiting for the Chicago Bulls to knock off the Indiana Pacers. The Jazz, who won the West on May 24 and had seven more days off going into the Finals than the Bulls, should have relaxed. In the last 20 years 19 teams have entered the Finals better rested than their opponents; 13 won the title. What's more, teams that idled for at least five days longer than their opponents have been nearly unbeatable. In winning the NBA championship, it seems, the waiting is the hardest part.

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