Boozer wants to play at crunch time
If you failed to notice, Jazz forward Carlos Boozer did not play in the final minutes of close games this week against Houston and Phoenix.
It will be interesting to see what happens tonight, when the Jazz and Suns play a rematch at EnergySolutions Arena.
Boozer played the first 6:14 of the final quarter in the Jazz's 99-86 win over the Rockets on Tuesday. He played only 4:20 of Utah's 118-114 loss at Phoenix on Wednesday.
Clearly, coach Jerry Sloan felt like his best chance in both games was playing a frontcourt of Memo Okur, Paul Millsap and Andrei Kirilenko, which left Boozer in the unfamiliar position of watching at crunch time.
"I don't like that," he said. "I like to be out there helping out my teammates, whatever that means. Rebounding. Defense. Scoring. Whatever the case may be. At the same time, he's the coach and he's going to do what he needs to do. But I'd like be out there trying to help."
After a pause, Boozer added, "Warriors want to be in the battle and I'm a warrior. I want to be out there trying to help us win."
It's clear from watching him play that Boozer still isn't fully recovered from the knee surgery that cost him 44 games this season. But he insists that his health isn't a factor in what looks to be a lingering lack of explosiveness around the basket.
"I'm still not 100 percent," Boozer said, "but I'm trying to push through it. At the same time, I feel pretty good and, the more I play, the more comfortable I'm getting. I just need to be out there."
I asked vice president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor about the situation.
"You know what?" he said. "I think he was out for almost 50 games. I think his knee is fine. ... It just looks like we've got to get him a little more conditioning, in game situations. And it's tough to do in a back-to-back. We're asking him to come back after being down for 50 games and get right back in shape. It takes a little while."
Sloan agreed, to a point: "As many games as he's missed, he's not where we'd like him to be. That's why we mentioned that when he came back -- it takes time. You still keep trying to win the ballgame the best you can and try to play him as much as you can in those situations and, hopefully, he'll get better. ...
"We talked about it when D-Will came back. He missed [13] games to start off the season. But it was a good long while we got him back -- 100 percent and ready to play. So that's part of it. Again, you can't do much about it. Just keep trying to work at it."
Boozer, by the way, talked to the media after Saturday morning's shootaround. But the Jazz public relations people told reporters he would only answer questions about basketball.
Those wishes were respected by the handful of reporters on hand, so Boozer did not comment about his pending divorce. That story broke Friday.
-- Steve Luhm
It will be interesting to see what happens tonight, when the Jazz and Suns play a rematch at EnergySolutions Arena.
Boozer played the first 6:14 of the final quarter in the Jazz's 99-86 win over the Rockets on Tuesday. He played only 4:20 of Utah's 118-114 loss at Phoenix on Wednesday.
Clearly, coach Jerry Sloan felt like his best chance in both games was playing a frontcourt of Memo Okur, Paul Millsap and Andrei Kirilenko, which left Boozer in the unfamiliar position of watching at crunch time.
"I don't like that," he said. "I like to be out there helping out my teammates, whatever that means. Rebounding. Defense. Scoring. Whatever the case may be. At the same time, he's the coach and he's going to do what he needs to do. But I'd like be out there trying to help."
After a pause, Boozer added, "Warriors want to be in the battle and I'm a warrior. I want to be out there trying to help us win."
It's clear from watching him play that Boozer still isn't fully recovered from the knee surgery that cost him 44 games this season. But he insists that his health isn't a factor in what looks to be a lingering lack of explosiveness around the basket.
"I'm still not 100 percent," Boozer said, "but I'm trying to push through it. At the same time, I feel pretty good and, the more I play, the more comfortable I'm getting. I just need to be out there."
I asked vice president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor about the situation.
"You know what?" he said. "I think he was out for almost 50 games. I think his knee is fine. ... It just looks like we've got to get him a little more conditioning, in game situations. And it's tough to do in a back-to-back. We're asking him to come back after being down for 50 games and get right back in shape. It takes a little while."
Sloan agreed, to a point: "As many games as he's missed, he's not where we'd like him to be. That's why we mentioned that when he came back -- it takes time. You still keep trying to win the ballgame the best you can and try to play him as much as you can in those situations and, hopefully, he'll get better. ...
"We talked about it when D-Will came back. He missed [13] games to start off the season. But it was a good long while we got him back -- 100 percent and ready to play. So that's part of it. Again, you can't do much about it. Just keep trying to work at it."
Boozer, by the way, talked to the media after Saturday morning's shootaround. But the Jazz public relations people told reporters he would only answer questions about basketball.
Those wishes were respected by the handful of reporters on hand, so Boozer did not comment about his pending divorce. That story broke Friday.
-- Steve Luhm
11:18 AM
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2 Comments:
Boozer's a clown. And about the farthest thing from a warrior that I can imagine.
If the little plus/minus score tracker timeline didn't shoot up every time he checks out, he might have a point. As it is, he sucks and should learn to deal with it until he packs his bags.
Boozer is a good player who can score and plays suspect defense. He can help us if he is healthy.
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