Basketball history doesn't really equate the Utah Jazz with fastbreaking, high-scoring basketball. The pick and roll has long been their bread-and-butter along with hard-nosed defense on their own end. It was shocking, then, to see the halftime score of Game One with the Warriors at 66-63 in Golden State's favor. Jerry Sloan's bunch was trying to run and gun with the Warriors and it seemed like a bad decision.
They didn't stop running but they did turn up the defense, especially in the fourth quarter, and escaped with an 116-112 victory. Carlos Boozer broke a tie with a putback, after his 20th rebound, and Matt Harpring pulled down another tough board with seven seconds to play and made his free throws to ice the game. That rebounding edge, 54-36, is something that's going to be very difficult for the Warriors to overcome as this series goes on. Especially if they shoot as poorly as they did in the fourth quarter. They hit only 40% of their tries and the Jazz used their board edge to outscore them 32-20.
Along with the rebounding the other big difference between Utah and Dallas is going to be point guard play. Jason Terry and Devin Harris simply weren't good enough to play at the high pace the Warriors dictated but Deron Williams certainly can. Even if Baron Davis were fit as a fiddle he'd be dangerous but with a gimpy Davis having to pick his spots, Williams could be a decisive factor in this series. He had 31 points and eight assists and, outside of Davis' astounding 17-point second quarter, was the best point guard in the game. This series, like the other Western semifinal, has shown that it intends to be a highly pleasing affair for basketball fans, you'd do well to not miss much more of it, even if it means you're dragging ass come morning.
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