Now, the Utah Jazz are a relatively young team. Postseason-wise, they’re all basically newcomers save for Devin Harris and Josh Howard, both ghosts of Dallas Mavericks’ past. As the regular season dwindled into a three-team race for one spot between the Jazz, Suns and Rockets, I vouched for the Jazz as the team with quite possibly the best potential to, at the least, give us a fun, watchable first round series with the San Antonio Spurs.
Well, maybe I was mistaken. Last night’s 114-83 decimation laid down by the Spurs was over so quickly, neatly and unquestionably that it’s hard to remember why the Jazz seemed a worthy opponent at all. But, then again, I do not think I want to blame Utah; they’re here in the playoffs, which is something to build upon in a season where nothing close to the postseason would probably have been just as acceptable to the fan base in the long run. Plus, tearing down Utah and the things they’re doing poorly or not at all shouldn’t be the focus here. Rather, it should be on the Spurs — with newly appointed Coach of the Year Gregg Popovich being properly recognized for fine-tuning this beast — who are celebrated today, certainly not for giving us an engaging series, but for crushing anyone in their path with such an uninterrupted avalanche of searing basketball that has seemingly been going on from the post-All Star portion of the schedule right up to present time.
Name a Spur and they’re probably playing at what is close to their respective peak. This is a team so locked-in that the true fun is going to begin when someone finally derails them for a night, finally gives us some reason to question what we’re seeing in San Antonio. Until that time, the Jazz might just get swept. With every game, though, that fate is appearing more and more honorable than it normally would, because this Spurs team is freakishly on-point to start the postseason. That this is not much of a surprise at all, due to the familiarity of their streak of dominance this season, makes it all the more frightening.
So hang in there, Jazz. The end may be near for you, but it’s hard to find much criticism for that. As for the Spurs, the wait remains for the next time we can even sniff that an end could be upcoming.
Griffin Gotta contributes to The Hoop Doctors and is a co-managing editor of Straight Outta Vancouver. The story arcs and infinite weirdness of the NBA are addictions he deals with every day. Email him at griffingotta at gmail dot com.
