Utah Jazz Deal McGrady, Rockets Another First Round Elimination
May 7, 2007 by Angelo Fernandez
Filed under NBA Playoffs
This Utah Jazz – Houston Rockets series in the first round was one that I really didn’t care who won. Being a Filipino, I’ve said before that I don’t really have just one team I cheer for. I cheer for the teams I like. For me, I was ok with the two teams and whoever won was fine with me. Both teams have an interesting story. For the Rockets, winning the first round series would the first for the team. Yao Ming and T-Mac have never seen past that in their entire careers. That’s why the pressure was on T-Mac, who is always criticized for never winning a playoff series ever. For the Utah Jazz, it’s a comeback into post season success with a new group of guys under the same coach of the Stockton-Malone era.
Fortunately for the Jazz they won out, sending T-Mac and his Rockets home again with yet another first round defeat as the Jazz won game 7 103-99. It’s amazing to see what this Jazz team has done this season. They picked themselves up from a disappointing season last year and came back eager to win and that’s exactly hat they’ve done. With Deron Williams acting like the team’s new John Stockton running the plays and with Carlos Boozer acting like the team’s new Karl Malone putting up the points and rebounds, the team is going far especially with more help from Mehmet Okur and a now rejuvenated Andrei Kirilenko I think this team has what it takes to make an impact against the Golden State Warriors in the second round although it’s going to be a tough task. The Warriors have a dizzying kind of style that made even the Mavericks crumble. But if the Jazz can manage to stop Baron Davis, the Jazz many potent scoring options could give the Warriors a tough time. We’ll just have to see.
