Friday, April 25, 2008

   It's a mad dash trying to get a story in the paper off these 8:30 p.m. playoff starts while also sitting patiently through press coferences that start with Rick Adelman and Jerry Sloan and then move on to Tracy McGrady and Deron Williams.

    I thought Sloan said something interesting in addressing the natural complacency a team would have coming home with a 2-0 lead in a series.

    "I've always thought," Sloan said, "that in order to try to stay focused after the good, you've got to think that you're playing after a loss. That's pretty hard to do, to punish yourself and say we lost even though you won, in order to prepare yourself for the next game."

    The Jazz got outworked in Thursday's loss to the Rockets. They played behind pretty much the entire first half. They were outscored 40-26 in the paint and outrebounded 43-39, including seven offensive rebounds for Carl Landry.

    "They showed how much they wanted to win the ball game," Sloan said. "They scored 40 points in the paint and I thought they brought it right to us all night long."

    The Jazz also went 20 of 33 from the foul line. Carlos Boozer's two misses with 5:09 left might as well have been an invitation to the Rockets that they could win the game in the fourth quarter if they found a way.

    At the same time, I think the Jazz expect they will be able to regroup at home and push the series to 3-1 heading back to Houston for Game 5 on Tuesday night.

    "We had a slip up at home," Williams said, "and we're a great home team and I expect us to come out a little bit better next game and try to execute our game plan a little bit better."

    Rafer Alston banked in a three-pointer early and was the Rockets' best player before Tracy McGrady came around in the fourth quarter. Alston scored 20 points and Houston caused problems for the Jazz playing Aaron Brooks and Bobby Jackson together off the bench.

    "You can see why they won 22 ball games in a row," Sloan said, "and then to have Alston back with them. He adds a great dimension to their team and can make shots. You can't help as much on people inside when they have him out there on the floor."

    Williams also took the blame afterward for not finding a way to get Boozer the ball in the fourth quarter. Boozer took just one shot in the quarter.

    "That's on me," Williams said, "because we have to get it to a guy like that, especially down the stretch."

    I thought Williams was absolutely brilliant for stretches of Thursday's game. There was one sequence in the third quarter where he ignored an open Andrei Kirilenko outside and instead fired a daring pass to Ronnie Brewer cutting for a layup.

    The next possession, Williams went right to Kirilenko for a three-pointer. He then drove for a layup and forced the Rockets to call timeout trailing 58-55. But the Rockets successfully bottled up Williams with Landry and Alston much of the fourth quarter.

    Now I've got to make a hotel reservation for Monday and Tuesday in Houston. Thankfully, I didn't cancel my flight after the Jazz won Games 1 and 2. They very well could regret the blown opportunity to get a week of rest if the series goes six games.

    --Ross Siler