ducks
05-21-2007, 07:19 AM
Mike Finger: Boozer's load proves heavier than he anticipated
Mike Finger: Boozer's load proves heavier than he anticipated
Web Posted: 05/20/2007 10:39 PM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
Jerry Sloan tried to caution everyone about this. But as his Utah Jazz rolled through the playoffs and Carlos Boozer bullied his way to the brink of superstar territory, there was no stopping the hyperbole.
First came the inevitable comparisons of Boozer to Karl Malone, the standard by which all brawny Utah power forwards are judged. Then, with the Spurs looming in the Western Conference finals, Boozer found himself in the same big-man conversation as Tim Duncan. And when someone made an even bigger leap and asked him how he'd handle an NBA Finals trip to Cleveland, the city he once spurned?
Boozer didn't flinch.
"Have you seen my shoulders?" he said. "I can shoulder anything."
Anything, maybe, except for the burden on him now.
The Jazz aren't finished yet, but if the Spurs' 108-100 Game 1 victory Sunday proved anything, it's that Sloan was right when he said comparing his young workhorse to Malone or Duncan was "unfair."
As wide as Boozer's shoulders may be, they aren't strong enough to push the Spurs around the way they did against the Rockets in the first round or the Warriors in the conference semifinals. Sunday morning, there might have been a feeling that the power forward matchup in the Spurs-Jazz series would turn out to be reasonably close.
That theory was obliterated by the end of the first half, during which Boozer was twice whistled for traveling, clanged five of his six shots — including two that missed so badly they looked like they'd been hip-checked out of the air by Robert Horry — and looked overmatched against a man who wasn't named a three-time NBA Finals MVP for nothing.
Utah has its reasons to be encouraged because Boozer — electing to settle for high-post jumpers in the second half — still finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds, and also because he bounced back from a horrible game in Game 1 against Houston to dominate the Rockets the rest of the series.
If the Jazz have any hope of competing in this series, they'll need Boozer to come up with a similar resurgence.
"That's what you learn to do," Sloan said. "If you want to be recognized in this league and be there every day, that's what it's all about. You have a bad game, you jump right back into it and go at it again. Nobody cares. You have to do it yourself."
On Sunday, the only Utah player doing it himself was Deron Williams, the dazzling second-year point guard who racked up 34 points, nine assists and seven rebounds and might have single-handedly prevented David Stern from stepping in and deciding to let Phoenix and Golden State play the rest of the series.
Chances are, Williams won't put up those kind of numbers again, especially because 16 of his points and five of his assists came while the Spurs were mailing in the fourth quarter. So unless Rafael Araujo somehow becomes an unlikely savior, or Derek Fisher suddenly starts shooting as well in the AT&T Center in the first 47:59.6 of games as he does in the final 0.4 seconds, the Jazz will require more from Boozer.
Boozer said his first-half problems can be rectified, and Sloan expects nothing less. Although he's tried to protect Boozer and Williams from unrealistic expectations leading up to the series, Sunday evening he criticized his players for shaking their heads at each other and looking intimidated and barked, "I don't want to hear any more about being young."
Some of those words were no doubt directed at Boozer. Now everyone will find out whether he can shoulder them.
[email protected]
Mike Finger: Boozer's load proves heavier than he anticipated
Web Posted: 05/20/2007 10:39 PM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
Jerry Sloan tried to caution everyone about this. But as his Utah Jazz rolled through the playoffs and Carlos Boozer bullied his way to the brink of superstar territory, there was no stopping the hyperbole.
First came the inevitable comparisons of Boozer to Karl Malone, the standard by which all brawny Utah power forwards are judged. Then, with the Spurs looming in the Western Conference finals, Boozer found himself in the same big-man conversation as Tim Duncan. And when someone made an even bigger leap and asked him how he'd handle an NBA Finals trip to Cleveland, the city he once spurned?
Boozer didn't flinch.
"Have you seen my shoulders?" he said. "I can shoulder anything."
Anything, maybe, except for the burden on him now.
The Jazz aren't finished yet, but if the Spurs' 108-100 Game 1 victory Sunday proved anything, it's that Sloan was right when he said comparing his young workhorse to Malone or Duncan was "unfair."
As wide as Boozer's shoulders may be, they aren't strong enough to push the Spurs around the way they did against the Rockets in the first round or the Warriors in the conference semifinals. Sunday morning, there might have been a feeling that the power forward matchup in the Spurs-Jazz series would turn out to be reasonably close.
That theory was obliterated by the end of the first half, during which Boozer was twice whistled for traveling, clanged five of his six shots — including two that missed so badly they looked like they'd been hip-checked out of the air by Robert Horry — and looked overmatched against a man who wasn't named a three-time NBA Finals MVP for nothing.
Utah has its reasons to be encouraged because Boozer — electing to settle for high-post jumpers in the second half — still finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds, and also because he bounced back from a horrible game in Game 1 against Houston to dominate the Rockets the rest of the series.
If the Jazz have any hope of competing in this series, they'll need Boozer to come up with a similar resurgence.
"That's what you learn to do," Sloan said. "If you want to be recognized in this league and be there every day, that's what it's all about. You have a bad game, you jump right back into it and go at it again. Nobody cares. You have to do it yourself."
On Sunday, the only Utah player doing it himself was Deron Williams, the dazzling second-year point guard who racked up 34 points, nine assists and seven rebounds and might have single-handedly prevented David Stern from stepping in and deciding to let Phoenix and Golden State play the rest of the series.
Chances are, Williams won't put up those kind of numbers again, especially because 16 of his points and five of his assists came while the Spurs were mailing in the fourth quarter. So unless Rafael Araujo somehow becomes an unlikely savior, or Derek Fisher suddenly starts shooting as well in the AT&T Center in the first 47:59.6 of games as he does in the final 0.4 seconds, the Jazz will require more from Boozer.
Boozer said his first-half problems can be rectified, and Sloan expects nothing less. Although he's tried to protect Boozer and Williams from unrealistic expectations leading up to the series, Sunday evening he criticized his players for shaking their heads at each other and looking intimidated and barked, "I don't want to hear any more about being young."
Some of those words were no doubt directed at Boozer. Now everyone will find out whether he can shoulder them.
[email protected]