AK on the way out?

Is Andrei Kirilenko destined to leave the Jazz sooner rather than later?

If the Jazz can get good value for AK, now might be the time for the Jazz to make a deal.

Now, what about a blockbuster? The Jazz have three guys that are prime trade bait (players not essential to the long-term success with high trade value): Kirilenko, Okur and Giricek.

Everybody knows the Jazz need a boost at shooting guard. Jamal Crawford could be a great addition if the Jazz think they could light a fire under him on the defensive end of the floor.

What about a blockbuster deal? AK and Okur for, for, what? Find a shooting guard and a defensive center and you have the basis for a deal.

Out with a whimper

The Jazz left the playoffs not with a bang, but a whimper.

When the game was still close, which is to say the first five minutes of play, the Spurs were unconscious and the Jazz couldn't make a shot to save their playoff lives. With the Spurs holding an early 5-4 lead the next three Jazz possessions were: Okur missed 3-pointer, Okur missed 3-pointer, Okur missed jumper. Okur then made a running shot through the lane, but missed on the next rip down the floor.

Summary: Okur shot on five straight possessions, missed two three-balls (badly) got two points out of the effort and the Jazz went from a 1-point defecit to an 8-point hole by the time they pulled the ball out of the net after Tim Duncan's next basket, with 6:38 to go.

The game was over.

Right now, it's a bitter pill. I watched very little of the postgame, I got tired of watching the players shake hands and hoping San Antonio suffers several serious injuries en route to a humiliating loss to the Pistons. (I gotta think the Pistons will find a way to get past the Cavs.)

I guess the next step is to try to improve the team, though time and experience will take care of that to a great extent. One of the real bright spots is that this team has come together and had real playoff success in the early years of the stars. Nobody will be talking about the "window of opportunity closing" for several seasons the way they did for several seasons of the Malone/Stockton era.

The West will be difficult, but there are no Showtime Lakers to overcome. The trophy is winnable.

Jazz notes

Some basketball observations from Game 4:

• The Jazz turned the ball over needlessly too many times. There were too many bad passes, fall downs and mental errors. They need to cut those episodes out of their game completely Wednesday night in Alamo-town if they want a chance to win.
• Deron Williams is great at getting to his spot on the floor for a shot he feels confident in taking. Williams' spot is a half-step behind the foul line anywhere inside the foul circle. He drained that shot time after time Monday night.
  
• The Jazz double-teamed Tim Duncan successfully time after time Monday night by sending a double-team to Duncan as soon as he put the ball on the floor to make his move. Fisher, Williams and Harpring all succeeded in making steals or causing turnovers on Duncan.
• Mehmet Okur needs to hit some shots. They don't need to be threes, but he does need to do something to get the Spurs to guard him on the outside and open the middle for low-post plays by Boozer and (occasionally) Kirilenko and Harpring.
• Manu Ginobili is a flopper.
• Jeff Van Gundy is an idiot. For him to call Steve Javie the best referee in the league in the first quarter of the game, only to have Javie turn in one of the all-time worst officiated games in the history of the NBA playoffs is self-explanatory.
  

The report we'll never see

The Spurs' win in fourth game of the Western Conference Finals was tainted.

I'll say it: The referees brutally hosed he Jazz. They were atrocious. All night.

Normally it's bad form to blame the zebras for a crucial loss. It sounds like whining and excuse-making. It never sounds good.

But the Game 4 officiating was too much to let pass.

Since the NBA grades referees in every game, I would challenge the league to publish its report for this game. It would have to be ugly. It would have to show repeated blown calls and no-calls.

Was the job turned in by DeRosa, Mauer and Javie bad enough to rank with Dick Bavetta's swallowed whistle on a 24-second violation in the 1998 Finals? Probably not. But only because the stakes Monday were much lower than they were when Bavetta hosed the Jazz. The trophy was on the line then, these are "only" the conference finals.

Hopefully the Jazz will be able to overcome the Game 4 debacle, end their long losing streak in the Alamo-town, and come back to Salt Lake City for Game 6. But if Monday's Game 4was the last Jazz home game of the season, the referees will be far more responsible than usual.

What a f***in' idiot

I know ESPN pays analysts to give strong opinions, but does ESPN pay them to be more than obnoxious blowhards?

If it does, it's not getting it's money's worth from Stephen A. Smith.

Called "Stephen A" often, it occurs to me that "A" stands for "Asshole." Make that, "ASSHOLE."

Smith is an epitome of the weaknesses of the national sports media. No performance except the most recent performance has relevance in the eyes of the "Steven A's" of the world. Saturday night and all day Sunday the Utah Jazz were a gritty bunch of scrappers, a team with admirable depth that is an impressive compliment to two young stars, Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams. But after Monday night's loss in Game 4 of the Western Finals, the Jazz were a two-man show, Boozer and Williams having been abandoned by the supporting cast.

Only the last performance . . . .

Granted the Jazz had a really rough patch Monday night. And, granted, the Spurs are likely to end the series with a win in San Antonio Wednesday. But if the Stephen A's of the national media would mix in a little less self-serving bombast and predictability the value of their opinions would more closely approximate the hill of cash ESPN insists on paying them.

One of those nights in the NBA

Jazz fans will probably be very despondent about the last second loss to the Nets when Vinsanity drained a 35-foot three-ball, but these things happen.

Monday night also saw Phoenix's 17-game win streak come to an end in Minnesota to a Timberwolves team that is far from the Suns' equal. It also saw Denver blow a home-court game to the Bobcats.

So while the Jazz and their fans will be disappointed, the Nuggets and their fans will be justifiably embarrassed.

A.I. doesn't do THAT much for the Nuggets

If the Nuggets need to get to The Finals for Iverson to be considered a success, the deal is doomed. They are not that good.

If the Nuggets being a more interesting team that spends more time in the limelight is what will make the deal a winner, it's a shoo-in.

The Nuggets are more interesting to watch, and the divisional race with the Jazz should be a dogfight the entire season.

But the West is top heavy. San Antonio, Dallas and Phoenix are the best of the conference, and would be no matter what the other teams do (only the addition of a 28-year old Michael Jordan would change this reality).

So go ahead, judge the A.I. trade to your personal criteria and think what you want.

Ugh, another San Antonio stinker

The Jazz, at some point, will have to figure out how to go to San Antonio and compete.

I have to admit, I didn't watch the game with the most intense interest. It started when we got to the anointed restaurant and the game was not available. (I later found out that Comcast, the local cable company, had technical difficulties.) By the time I got back to the car after dinner it was halftime and the Jazz were down 15. The announcer said something about Tony Parker having his way with the Jazz' backcourt.

It only got worse in the second half.

• It seemed the Spurs were able to rebound on the offensive end at will. One of the first trips down the floor in the third quarter San Antonio got four offensive rebounds.
  
• Tony Parker WAS allowed to run free. The Jazz allowed him to turn a 3-on-3 break into an uncontested layup in the early fourth quarter on a play that pretty much summed up the effort.
  
• Garbage time stats made the game look closer on the stat sheet than it was on the court. San Antonio ended the game shooting .500; After three quarters the Spurs were at 57 percent from the floor.
• If the Jazz can't mob the boards for a rebounding advantage they are in trouble, and Thursday night they got outboarded by 8.

Hopefully Saturday night at the DC against Portland will bring a better effort from the home squad.

A.I.

Wandering the "internets" this afternoon I came upon a blog about the significance of Allen Iverson leaving the Sixers and heading for the Rockies. It's an interesting mixture of love, dismay and reminiscence.

When one of my cousins lived in Philly we would chat about Iverson in many ways, often using him as a poster child for whatever argument either of us was trying to make. Once the comparison came up about the relative worth of Iverson vis-a-vis the floor nurses in a hospital ward. Iverson got paid far more money than the angels of mercy, but they contributed to the saving of far more lives than he did. This conundrum of relative value and social equity goes on, even though Iverson left Philly and my cousin succumbed to complications of diabetes.

From a basketball standpoint I think A.I. will make life more interesting in the Northwest Division. The Nuggets and the Jazz may go to the wire for the division title but the teams' personalities could not be more different. The Jazz are a team, and must play as a team. The Nuggets are now primarily Iverson and Carmelo, huge stars, either capable of putting up huge numbers, but both are primarily individuals.

A drama worth watching.

Valley of the Suns

Friday night's game in Phoenix between the Suns and the Jazz was confirmation of many of the things I've thought about these two teams. Some of them I've even put in writing.

• The Jazz are a much better team this season on the offensive end. They now seem to have the firepower to eradicate a 15-point deficit to get back into a game.
• The Suns are a live-and-let-live outfit that will let the other team get back into a game, if the other team is willing. The Suns gave up a 15-point third quarter lead and got out-boarded on the evening 48-32.
  
• The Jazz do not defend well from inside. Kurt Thomas was 5 of 6 from the floor.
• Andrei Kirilenko can be an all-pro if he produces points. His 17 points and 14 boards were key to the Jazz' 108-104 win.

2-0 is a great start for the Jazz. 3-0 when the lights go off Saturday night is a real possibility.