What was suppose to be the game where the Lakers were going for the sweep, turns into a game where we will see a turning in the tides. 

With a Jazz win, it now becomes a three game series.  And although the Lakers might have a better team, a best of three series is as close to an NCAA tournament upset-type atmosphere as you'll get in the NBA.  A Utah win gives them a very real chance of upsetting Mr. Sterns LA/Boston ratings bonanza.  I didn't really believe in the Lakers/Celtics conspiracy until I saw the following in ESPN the mag,

Okay, so the title is a little off, but they were both in there.

On the other hand, an LA win will pretty much seal the deal for them.  Jazz fans can start planning on the annual locker room contest clean out.

It's going to take as good of a game from the Jazz as game three, if not better.  It's Sunday primetime for the NBA and the Lakers.  They won't want to see their MVP fall two years in a row.

Expect a lot more questionable calls and for the Lakers supporting cast to play better. 

So come on Jazz, give the your moms/wives a great Mother's Day gift.

You've seen the Kobe pass to himself a millions times by now.  And it's pretty impressive.  Until you consider that he traveled, twice.

Watch the video below.  The first travel happens after he tries to shake off AK by dribbling back and the setting with two feet to do a pump fake.  Then he moves both of his feet before he jumps to throw the ball at the backboard.  You can see it just with the video playing full speed.

The second comes as his right foot touches the floor while the ball is still in his hand.  My screenshots aren't that great, but when I watch it on TV, there's no doubt.  If you have VLC or another video player, you can slow it down.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

This weekend is crazy and I don't have time for much of a recap.  Here's a few thoughts though.

• Boozer's back.
• Deron has got be be one of the toughest guys in the league.
• When Memo's shot is on, it has a little less arc on it.
• Laker's didn't get a big game from anyone not named Kobe.
• The refs did their best to keep it as close as it was.  As soon as the Jazz would push it to 9+, out came the whistles.

Thanks to CB Jack at My Utah Jazz for pointing this out.  This video is Boozer and Deron getting interviewed.  First, watch Steve Brown behind them get snubbed by both.  I'm sure they had to get back to the locker room though.

But the best part is at the end when Deron is heading back.  A fan pinches Deron's towel as he's walking away and pulls it off of him.  Pretty Smooth.  Hover your mouse over the video to see the list of others.

Make sure to check out the game thread .  Great stuff going on in there.  Sign up and start chatting.  It's the best way to do a game if you're watching from home.

Other recaps,

• MUJ, One , two , and three
• The Utah Jazz
• Ross Siler

Time to start the comeback.  And I'm not talking about a late-game, fourth quarter, double-digit overcoming type comeback.  I'm talking a series-changing, momentum busting, show them what Jazz basketball is all about type of comeback. 

It has to start from the opening tip.  We saw it in game 6 of the Houston series where the Jazz went all out for the entire game. 

• Deron will start believing that he is the One.  He's got to realize about midway through the first whether or not the team has it.  If they don't, expect him to take over early.  He can take Fisher any time.  You remember the guy that couldn't guard anyone last year?  It's the same guy.  He's not getting any better.  Time for the student to kick his teacher's can.
  
• Everyone's down on Booze.  And rightfully so.  We all know what he's capable of though.  You don't just lose that skill.  If he can get a couple of quick layups early, watch out.
• Fisher and supporting cast can't shoot any better than they did in game 2.
• Like I said in the recap of game 2, Brewer actually played Kobe pretty good.  Bryant just hit some incredible shots.  Those aren't going to fall again.  He should be in the twenties though.
• If we can get an influx of trolls, now you know why.  My reply would be,
  
  
  
  

Win and this is a series.  Lose and the players will start making vacation plans, again.

Other blogs

• The Utah Jazz
• FLA
• My Utah Jazz
• Forum Blue and Gold

With this story coming out about Derek Fisher  and his return to the ESA, I imagine this is worth revisiting.  I've written about it already and so I'll point you there for how I feel.  I would like to add and maybe modify a couple things about it.  You can also read an opposing view from CB Jack over at My (Our) Utah Jazz.

First, everyone can boo all they want.  That's a fan's right.  But I think fans were booing for the wrong reason.  Part of it was because he's a Laker.  I don't blame them a bit for that.  But I think that the majority of booing fans thought that Fisher had an elaborate plot to use his daughter's disease for his ticket out of Utah and back to LA.  That is completely ridiculous.

How could he have counted on the Jazz brass giving him his unconditional release?  No buyout, no trade, nothing.  The Jazz were just going to let him walk away?  It had never been done before in the history of the league, ever.  And that was the crucial part of his plan?  Everyone was shocked that they were just going to let him walk and that he would give up that guaranteed money.  There is no way that was his intent.

So now he has the freedom to sign wherever he wants.  He had spoken about being closer to NY so that he would be closer to the doctors.  Where exactly would he have gone though?  The Knicks?  There's so much wrong with that I won't comment.  New Jersey had a PG.  So did Philly.  Nothing made sense.

So now, take off your cowboy boots, Gators, sneakers, or other footwear of choice and put on his family's shoes for just a minute.  Forget about basketball, jobs, and everything.  When you have crisis in the family, or any crisis, what does everyone seek out?  Everyone seeks comfort.  Experts will say that for emergency food kits that you should pack comfort foods that you like.  The reason is that it gives you a sense of normalcy when things are in a whirlwind.  That's what happened with the Fishers.  The biggest clue to this is in the LA Times article ,

This, even though he wanted to bring his family back to within driving distances of trusted doctors and his wife's family.

They simply wanted to be closer to family.  And I don't think anyone else in the same situation wouldn't want to be closer to those that could help things be a bit more normal.  And that's not even talking about how much additional work would be required of Fisher's wife.  With Derek on the road for long periods of time, she would have an almost unbearable task of taking care of the rest of her kids, let alone the additional care that Tatum would require.

Tell me what other situation would have worked out better for them?  When you factor in family, medical care, and a team for Fisher to play on, where else would have been a better choice?

And really, if you want to boo someone, it should be Larry H Miller.  He could have easily got something in return.  It might not have been much, but it would have been something.

But what's done is done.  And from a basketball standpoint, both teams are better off.  Before all this, everyone complained about Fisher's contract, the fact that he was constantly being played at the two guard, and that he would give up 50 points a night.  Now his salary is off the books and that allows the Jazz to have more flexibility in signing Williams and others.  Ronnie Brewer has finally got the chance to develop.  Fisher's departure indirectly landed us Korver.  How is there any downside to any of this for the Jazz?

Except that he's now killing us in the playoffs.  Just like he did last year to his former team the Warriors.  He said he was shaken in his first game back to the ESA when he was booed.  LA lost by their largest margin of the year.  But they came back next time with a vengeance and snapped our home winning streak.  It also gave Kobe some extra venom.

So what will throw him off this time?  How about loud applause at his intro?  Wouldn't that take a lot out of Kobe's revenge factor?  It would also show that when he was booed in December, we weren't booing Derek the person, we were booing Derek the Laker.  It would let him know we appreciated him as a Jazz man, but that now he's the enemy.

And then after the ovation, boo as much as you want.

Stop me if you've heard this one before.  The Jazz have one poor quarter.  Boozer does jack on either end.  The Jazz get down double digits.  The backups lead a comeback in the final quarter, only to fall short.

Second verse, same as the first.

Utah is known for their strict liquor laws. It's all watered down. But maybe the legislators need to call a special session to up the alcohol content, because our Booze is weak. See what I did there?

One of our team captains continued his two-month long crapfest. He's the reason we got in the hole early. He picked up two amazingly stupid fouls in the first and was in trouble the whole game. He ended up with only 10 points and 5 boards in just 24 minutes. And it took him 3-11 to score that. Here's a tip. If your guy goes by you or is in front of you for a rebound, get your forearm out of his back. Maybe the league is calling those more now, but you have to adjust to that. I'm still not ready to give up on Boozer, but if this is one of those situations where he comes out after the series and says he's been hurt or some other excuse, I'll be ticked.

And sorry Booze, the AND-1 mantle was passed to Millsap for now. Millsap had three or four such opportunities as he came in to pick up the slack. He shot 7-13 from the field and grabbed 10 boards and finished with 17 points. He did have a blown layup in the fourth that would have cut the lead to 4, but without Paul, the Jazz aren't anywhere near that close.

Williams didn't play well in the first half. And then he realized, "Man, I'm going to have to carry this team again." Unfortunately, his 22 points in the second half weren't enough to bring the Jazz back. He finally started realizing that he could take Fisher any time he wanted to. The highlight of the game came after Boozer got a quick rebound and got it to Williams for the break. Deron was going full speed and didn't stop until he took off from the bottom of the free-throw arc and slammed down a ferocious dunk. Watch the video in the FanShots (coming soon).

You'll look at the box score and think that Kobe lit up Brewer. But Ronnie played excellent defense on #24 all night. The now reigning MVP made tough shot after tough shot. He had a couple of shots that were at ridiculous angles and he was able to kiss them off the glass.

We're still getting karmic payback from Fisher. He would squelch any Jazz run with a huge three-point shot. He was 4-5 from downtown and finished with 22 points. If you're at the game Friday, please, please give him applause. We need to reverse something.

As far as the overall play of the Jazz, they took 101 shots compared to LA's 68. How is that even possible? How can you take 23 more shots and still lose? Well, there's two ways. One is to shoot only 44%. The other is to allow the Lakers to shoot 57%. And the Jazz didn't even play that poorly on D. The Lakers just shot lights out.

But the biggest reason has to be the free-throw discrepancy. LA attempted 43 FTs compared to Utah's 16. For those without calculators, I'll do the math. That's 27 more attempts. And it wasn't even so much the number of attempts as it was the timing of the fouls. Just when the Jazz were getting going, out would come the whistles against the Jazz in successive LA possessions. A classic example of this was when Fisher was running with Memo on a fast break. Memo ducked under the basket and away from Fisher and still got the foul. And when the Lakers were struggling, the refs would bail them out. And I don't know how much contact Deron has to get for a foul to be called. He gets hammered on almost every drive. Doesn't the free throw distance have to be some sort of statistical anomaly?

But despite all that, the Jazz still had a chance to win. It's going to take four good quarters to beat these guys. The Jazz outscored the Lakers by 5 in the final three quarters. The 15 point first quarter deficit was too much, especially on the road.

At the risk of sounding like a first-round Houston fan, the Jazz can still win the next two at home and make this a series again. When you think in terms of winning 4 out of 5, that sounds pretty impossible. But if you think in terms of taking care of business at home, and finding a way to get one on the road, it's not as imposing. But a game 7 in LA, against the NBA's MVP, against a marquee franchise doesn't sound appealing.

Other notes,

• On Deron's dunk, we didn't see a replay until after the game. had that been Kobe, we would have seen it going into and coming back from every commercial break.

• Matt Hapring should never set foot on an NBA court again. I'm with Biased now on this. You have to play CJ. There is no way he could be any worse.

• In both comebacks, there hasn't been that little extra to get us over the hump to tie the game late.

• Andrei, Korver, and Memo played well tonight. Usually when get 40 points from those three, you win the game.

So let's get this going.

Apparently only CB Jack and I think the Jazz have a shot in this series.  But to have a shot they're going to have to play four quarters instead of the T-Mac-like three.

They've got to knock down the shots they're given.  They're getting open looks just like in the Houston series, nothing is falling however.

Is the LA arena ever rocking?  It will come close it tonight when Kobe et al take the floor after the Black Mamba's MVP announcement yesterday.  And are we still going to hear MVP chants from the crowd even though he's won it?  Usually those chants are reserved for hyping up a candidate.

I'll say it again.  We have to have Boozer attacking the rim all night; on both sides.  The Lakers showed that they were beatable.  If the Jazz can hang with them through the third, they could come on in the fourth and pull out the win.

If the Jazz win tonight, this series becomes the perennial "Real Championship" series even though it's happening two rounds too early.

Let's get it done.

Other blogs,

• The Utah Jazz  (from UtesFan89)

• Lakers Blog
• Forum Blue and Gold

This is the right place.  basketballjohn.com has moved to slcdunk.com.  But Basketball John remains.

I'm excited to finally be lauching the new site.  The content is still a little unpolished as I continue to add things.  But the features on it are great.  I wanted to get things going while the playoffs are still going.  Here's a few of things I'm looking forward to the most,

1. Automatically updating comments and game threads.  You don't have to refresh or put in your name every time to leave a comment.  Once you're logged in, the comments in the post or game thread will update in realtime, no refreshing.  I'm a member of a couple SBN sites and game threads are great.
   
2. SBNation is a great community of sports fans.  Once you sign up for SBNation, you can post on other SBNation sites as well (being civil of course).  We should be able to get some good rivalries going that way.
3. I love tinkering with the technical stuff of basketballjohn.com, but it's a relief to not to have to worry about that now.  The techs at SBN will take care of that.  I also don't have to worry about going over my bandwith or CPU limits and getting shutdown by my webhost when I get linked from TrueHoop or the like.
4. FanPosts and FanShots.
   FanPosts are for you to post news, polls, trade ideas, etc.  So if something major is happening or newsworthy, you don't have to wait for me to get a post up on it for you to comment.  Make sure to link to sources and don't just copy/paste from articles.  Cerntainly quote stuff and comment on it. 
   FanShots are a litte more informal.  They're quick links to videos, pictures, and other things.  Check there for your ankle-breaking videos from Deron or Danielle's latest stalking pictures.

You can find more information on all the new SBNation stuff here.  And a big thanks to SBNation for bringing me on.

If you haven't used a SBN site before, it will take a bit of getting used to, but I think you'll find you like it.

To kick things off and build up members, I'm starting a small contest where you'll be able to win a Jazz prize.  It will at least be equivalent to a hat.  So sign up if you haven't already (don't forget to add an avatar), and then click on the add SLC Dunk button on the main page under the logo.  Then leave a comment in this post letting me know you signed up and what you think on the new site.

Email me  with any questions.

Thanks again for reading and welcome to the new site.  I'll have the game thread for tonight's game up later.