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Warriors-Jazz already has look of another NBA classic
By Tim Kawakami
Mercury News
Article Launched: 05/08/2007 01:45:44 AM PDT
SALT LAKE CITY - Six more of these, maybe? Please?
Yes, it was only Game1 in the conference semifinals, and the Warriors lost
it 116-112 to the Utah Jazz on Monday at EnergySolutions Arena.
But my oh my. This game felt like a Game 7. Had the gravity of a Game 7 in
the NBA finals. I've got a feeling we'll get a Game 7 in this series,
eventually.
This thing roared, trembled, convulsed and shrieked all the way from Deron
Williams' first screaming drive to Stephen Jackson's potential game-winner
caroming off the rim and into Matt Harpring's arms.
"They made shots down the stretch," Jackson said, "and I missed one. It's not
going to be an easy series. We're going to have to work and they're going to
have to work."
That was obvious from the opening moments of this one. The Jazz started at an
incredible level, and sustained it for 48 minutes.
The Warriors wobbled early, but found their legs midway through the first
quarter, and from there on, it was lightning strikes, back and forth.
When it was finally over, the Warriors players gave one another long looks as
they walked off the court - no heads dropped, and some tight smiles popped
onto their faces.
"It's still a long series," Jason Richardson said. "We've still got
opportunities. We still get to go home. So there's nothing to hang our heads
about. We know we lost the game and they played better than us. But we've got
another game Wednesday."
If there are five or six more like this, the Warriors are going to find
themselves in another all-time series right after pulling off one of the
great upsets in sports history.
And they're pretty good in epic series, as I recall from Game 6 last week.
So right back at it, then.
Monday's whole game - from opening tip to the shrieking, blinding final
moments - felt like the end of the world.
And it was only the beginning of the dang series. Six more!
It seems almost trivial to recount, but this game was decided when Carlos
Boozer grabbed an offensive rebound with less than a minute to play, bounced
off the grappling Warriors defenders and banked in a basket to give Utah a
114-112 lead.
That gave the Warriors the ball with 17 seconds left, down by two, but then
Jackson missed the three-pointer, and it was over.
But please. This game was a lot more than that, though that is what is going
to go into the books.
These two teams proved beyond doubt that they are wonderfully set up to
hammer at each other for many, many games just like this one, and that would
not be a terrible thing to experience, would it?
"Isn't Utah a fourth or fifth seed?" Jackson said. "They had a great year.
They're a good team. They're not the Atlanta Hawks."
And Utah needed to be at its best to keep just ahead of the Warriors in this
one.
Boozer was the Warriors' main worry, and he knocked them around like bowling
pins, as expected, gathered 20 rebounds and delivered when it was all on the
line.
Baron Davis vs. Deron Williams was the prime attraction, and they dived and
swooped at each other like F-14s, zooming in the night.
"We've got to find a way to stop that dude," Richardson said of Williams, who
had 31 points and eight assists. "That guy is unbelievable. That's what teams
feel like when they've got to guard Baron."
Jackson and Andrei Kirilenko, two of the most versatile, spindly players in
the world, roamed every crevice of the floor and protected their teammates'
backs.
"Kirilenko was blocking shots like (Dikembe) Mutombo tonight," Jackson said.
Al Harrington was the big Warrior X-factor, and he emerged from playoff
slumber to provide the points that kept the Warriors afloat during a furious
Jazz opening stanza.
Mehmet Okur was the big Utah X-factor, and he hit shot after shot while the
teams exchanged body blows.
Anything else you want in a game?
Oh, and that supposed contrast in styles we all wrote about heading into this
series? Well, not so much. More like: Whatever you can do, we can do faster.
Utah Coach Jerry Sloan spent Monday morning declaring that his bigger,
brawnier team would be cooked if it played at the Warriors' pace and maybe
he was telling the truth.
The Jazz went out in the first quarter and played faster than the Warriors,
which I would not have said was possible until I saw the blurs of white and
blue in front of my eyes.
What followed was one of the fiercest, most frantic, flat-out best opening
periods of playoff basketball anyone has ever seen.
Each team sprinted at the other and just kept sprinting.
It was relentless. It was remarkable. It was only one quarter!
By the time the first quarter whirlwind was over, Utah had a 37-35 lead and
you already knew that this was going to be another monster series.
Six more of these? Yes, I think that's what we know from this game, and about
the only thing.
http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_5844108
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