Jazz know what they have to do to slow down game

[RonnieBrewer (Reverse Layup)]

Jazz know what they have to do to slow down game
Jake Curtis, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, May 13, 2007

The Utah Jazz cannot let the Warriors turn into wild dogs again tonight, and
the Jazz must take better care of the ball to prevent it.

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, who likened the Warriors' beastly performance in Game
3 to "wild dogs," knows that to turn off the Warriors offensive avalanche,
his team has to cut down on turnovers.

"Very few teams can afford to turn the ball over on the road, because
turnovers turn into layups," Sloan said.

And the layups lead to a faster tempo, which leads to more points, which
leads to involvement of the raucous Oracle Arena crowd, which leads to
uncertainty by the Jazz and confidence for the Warriors. Each factor in that
chain seems to feed the others, ultimately creating the frenzied attack that
overwhelmed the Jazz 125-105 on Friday.

The Jazz tied a season high with their 25 turnovers Friday night, and they
had 16 in the first half, which is more than they committed for an entire
game in any of their seven first-round games against the Houston Rockets.
It's no coincidence the Warriors scored 70 points in the first half, which
is the most against the Jazz this season and the most yielded by the Jazz in
a playoff game since 1984.

Giving the ball away often at home does not have quite the cumulative effect
and can be overcome, as the Jazz demonstrated while winning the first two
games despite committing 43 turnovers.

But on the road, turnovers are nothing but trouble, leading to scoring totals
the Jazz can't handle. The reasons are obvious.

"It's tempo and it's definitely turnovers," Jazz point guard Deron Williams
said, "When they get steals, they're running."

Even though Williams contributed to the problem by committing seven turnovers
Friday, he and fellow starting guard Derek Fisher need to stay on the floor.
They sat out much of the second period, when the Warriors rolled up 40
points. While Williams was on the bench that period, the Warriors outscored
the Jazz 31-18.

Trying to guard Baron Davis has led to Williams' foul troubles the past two
games, but Williams does not expect to do anything differently against the
Warriors' powerful point guard.

"It's definitely tough," Williams said, "especially when you can't be
physical back with him."

Williams refused to criticize the officiating directly, but did say, "I
thought I played good defense."

With reserve point guard Dee Brown also out (sprained neck) on Friday, the
Jazz had to turn to Andrei Kirilenko to play the point, and that was a
disaster, allowing the game's pace to accelerate and the turnovers to
increase.

"That's their game," Kirilenko said, "and if we play their game it's hard to
stop them."

Brown probably will play tonight, which may help a bit, but the Jazz also
realize they have to be more patient on offense and work the ball inside,
turning the game into a halfcourt contest of power.

"We need to force them to play against our big guys," Kirilenko said.

The Warriors' defense has encouraged the Jazz to take outside shots early in
the shot clock.

"Their defense makes you casual sometimes," Sloan said.

But Golden State has used a variety of defensive schemes to make it difficult
for Utah to get the ball to Carlos Boozer, the heavily muscled power forward
who has not had a monster scoring game like he did against Houston.

"It's difficult to get it to him," Williams said, "but we have to find a way."

So that's the Jazz's plan to reduce the Warriors' offensive production: cut
down turnovers, slow the pace, bypass the first open outside shot and work
the inside instead. That may tame the wild dogs.

Poster child: Kirilenko has seen the pictures of him getting the facial on
Baron Davis' fourth-quarter dunk, but he is not disturbed.

"I don't care," he said. "I will be posterized because I am trying to contest
every shot. I've been posterized many times in my career. I will keep coming,
and once in a while, I will be posterized."

"Posterized" would be one of the great verbs in the English language -- if
it were in the English language. The definition on the basketball court is
clear, however.



http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/
archive/2007/05/13/SPGCPPQ74C1.DTL 

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