That sentence needs to stand alone for effect. Nobody expected the team to be playing as May winds down, but yet, here they are. Amazing. A team that limped to the finish line with what seemed to be a lot of inner strife is in the NBA Final Four. What an accomplishment! Whan an achievement! What an indictment of how poor the NBA is today!
I know what you are probably thinking. You're thinking "YB, why do you have to put a downer on what has been a great season?" Well, because it has not been a great season. Let's not forget how bad the team looked from mid-March through the end of the season. Let's not forget that they lost nine of their last eleven road games. And let's not forget that they lost their last three home games that mattered.
The Jazz, to their credit, have beaten two teams in the playoffs that were very favorable matchups for them. The Rockets were a two man show and the Warriors possibly shared a brain among the team. The Jazz were able to exploit the opponents' weaknesses and win the respective series. Now, they are facing the team that has long been the schoolyard bully to them. Not only are the Spurs taking the Jazz's lunch money and running their underwear up the flagpole, they are laughing while doing it. They will continue to laugh. Oh, sure, the Jazz might win a game or two in Salt Lake but is that really an accomplishment?
The Jazz, as currently constructed, will not win a game in San Antonio. Not today. Not next week. Not in the near future. And that is the problem. The current "success" of the team will make it very difficult to justify making some of the moves that are necessary for the team to ever get to turn the tables on the bully.
Will the Jazz ever find the player who can look Tim Duncan in the eye and not cower away from him? Will they ever find the player who might be able to slow down Manu Ginobalding? They won't if they don't look, and right now I can predict the quotes coming from the Jazz Front Office: "We like our team. This is a good young team that made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals. We don't need to do anything drastic." Two out of the three sentences will be big themes during July. Possibly all three.
Is this really a Conference Finals team or is it a team that made the best of good fortune? Many fans will say that since they are still playing, they must be a Conference Finals team. Other fans might recognize that the team limped to the end, had some serious internal issues that were made public, and were able to defeat two teams that they should have beaten. Some of the players have really stepped up: Carlos Boozer has become an offensive and rebounding force, even coming through in the clutch. Deron Williams is staking claim to the title of Next Great Point Guard. Andrei Kirilenko has wiped his tears, bucked up, and gotten back into the fight. Paul Millsap is not afraid of anybody. And that's where I stop. Where is Mehmet Okur? Where is the leadership of the Great Veterans, Montecore Fisher and Harpringsucks? Where is a two-guard? Will the team ever play defense?
Until these questions get answered, the Jazz will be able to enjoy the glow of being a Conference Finals team. They will likely go into next season with pretty much the same team, with minor changes such as a new backup center (Aaron Gray) and no Ronnie Brewer (first round picks not in the top three are expendable). They will advertise the team as Western Conference Finalist, but no matter how much lipstick they put on it, it is still a pig.
Let me leave you with this last deep thought:
Right now
Let the fool world break in two
Right now
Stars can stumble from the blue
Right now
Just as long as I'm with you
Uh huh
Uh huh
Uh huh
Uh huh
Harpring Sucks.
3 comments:
I agree that the Jazz are probably not one of the two best teams in the West right now, and in that sense not a conference finalist.
However, you acknowledge they're better than the Rockets, which does make them top four, in Boozer's first full year back, William's year ever, and Kirilenko's year of insanity. Just the continued inp[rovemnt in these players will puch us into the top two next year.
We're not a pig, we're a debutante.
IAWTP
We had dem ol' pigs out back. Use'ta wallop 'em wit a razorbelt. Scruffy noses, piggy whiskers, eh? Take 'em downtown to sell for pence. Larry H. Miller could profit from that bargain, I reckon.
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