Jazz must overcome not only Spurs but also NBA history

[RonnieBrewer (Reverse Layup)]

Mike Monroe: Jazz must overcome not only Spurs but also NBA history
Web Posted: 05/23/2007 11:43 PM CDT
San Antonio Express-News

This is a fact: Unless you are playing the New York Knicks, losing the first
two games in any best-of-7 NBA conference finals is fatal.

You could look it up.

In the NBA's 60 seasons, there have been 57 conference finals in which a
teamhas won Games 1 and 2.

Only the Knicks, first in 1971 and in 1993, managed to make a mess of such
comfortable advantages. They blew a 2-0 lead on the Baltimore Bullets (now
Washington Wizards) in 1971. They whiffed the same 2-0 edge on the 1993
Chicago Bulls. The 1993 Knicks, in fact, have the dubious distinction of
being the only team in NBA history to go up 2-0 in a conference finals and
lose four straight.

The Spurs aren't the 1971 Knicks or the 1993 Knicks, and the Utah Jazz have
no Michael Jordan. Eventually, Carlos Boozer might be a power forward the
equal of Baltimore's Wes Unseld in 1971, and Deron Williams ultimately could
be better than Earl Monroe. For now, though, things look pretty bleak for
Utah, historically and practically.

The problem for the Jazz is simple: Their strengths run smack into the
Spurs' power base. Boozer and Williams aren't going to dominate Tim Duncan
and Tony Parker, and the Spurs surround their All-Star point guard-power
forward combo with a lot more talent.

Remember: It's the Spurs' Big Three who dominated Utah in the first two
games of the Western Conference finals.

If Mehmet Okur is supposed to be the Jazz's third big scorer, they are in
real trouble.

The Spurs messed with the Suns' offense by slapping Bruce Bowen on Steve
Nash, disrupting his distribution. You wonder if Jerry Sloan is desperate
enough to give his version of Bowen ─ Andrei Kirilenko ─ a run at Parker.

Or maybe he should phone Phil Jackson and ask what he did when his Bulls
were down 0-2 to the Knicks in '93.


http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/
nba/spurs/stories/MYSA052407.05C.COL.BKNmonroe.spurs.2707b63.html 

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