KVNU’s Full Court Press

Tonight marks the one year anniversary of that miraculous night in Utah Jazz lore. The Jazz were in a tight battle with the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference semi-finals and were without one of their key guys, Derek Fisher, who was in New York getting treatment for his daughter and her cancer.

Fisher reached the arena in the middle of the game, Jazz were down, Fisher got put right into the game without warming up, made critical plays, inlcuding a huge three pointer in the corner in overtime that brought the house down.

Fisher’s story was one make-believe movies are made of, only his story was real.

Now Fisher is a Laker…and Jazz fans hate the Lakers. He’s a Laker because he needed to live in a city where he could get quality cancer treatment for his daughter.

On November 30th Jazz fans booed Fisher which, in my opinion, was one of the lowest points in Jazz history.

In an article today in the Washington Post, Michael Wilbon interviews Fisher about last year and how tonight’s game might affect him.

One can only wonder what the reaction will be Friday night in Salt Lake City when Fisher takes the court for the Lakers in Game 3 of their playoff series against the Jazz. “I think it’ll be as crazy and hostile an environment as I have ever played in . . . ever in my career,” Fisher said. “And I don’t know how much of it will be personal. . . . I think me coming back will have some impact on how they handle themselves. It’ll be interesting to see. I was just told that Friday’s Game 3 will be one year to the date of the game that I came back to play in last year. Talk about not being able to plan everything in life. . . . There’s no way that’s an accident. I’m sure there will be a lot of emotion in the building that night.”

Watch the interview here:

Yeah, it’s okay to boo Kobe (actually encouraged), but let’s not boo Fisher and have a repeat of November 30th. He’s as classy a guy as there is in the NBA and let’s not forget how much we all revered him for what he did for the Jazz just one year ago.
-Eric

LOGAN, Utah ­ Utah State head men’s basketball coach Stew Morrill announced Friday that Stavon Williams (Minneapolis, Minn.) has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete for the Aggies beginning in the 2008-2009 season. The 6-4, 190-pound guard just completed his sophomore season at San Jacinto Junior College in Houston, Texas and will have two years of remaining eligibility with USU.

“Stavon is a talented and skilled offensive player who was a proven scorer in a very good junior college league,” said Morrill. “His ability to shoot the ball will definitely stretch the defense and should help our perimeter capabilities. We are delighted that Stavon has decided to join our program.”

As a sophomore at San Jacinto College, Williams earned all-region honors as he helped the Ravens to a 23-8 record and a third-place conference finish. During the year he averaged 15.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game and shot 49.4 percent from the field (175-354), 43.5 percent from three-point range (87-200) and 72.2 percent from the free throw line (57-79).

As a freshman at San Jacinto College, Williams averaged 10.3 points and 2.6 rebounds and shot 44.9 percent from the field, 39.3 percent from three-point range and 79.5 percent from the free throw line.

Williams prepped at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis, Minn., where he earned all-state honors as a senior averaging approximately 23.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. As a prep senior he was named an honorable mention McDonald’s All-American and played in four All-Star games, earning most valuable player honors once. During his high school career, he was named all-conference three times and was the MVP of his conference as both a junior and senior.

-USU-

Hurricane John Newbold alerted me to this blog post from Washington Redskins Tight End, and former Aggie, Chris Cooley.

READER BEWARE…it’s about NFL Drug Testing, urine tests and male body parts…but funny as hell.

-Eric

Last night the Jazz were no match for the referees and the Lakers took advantage and won. I know Jerry Sloan got a technical foul for going after the referees, but I wish, just once that in a post game news conference he would just go off on the officials and get fined by the league. That might actually get the officials to actually help the Jazz out. Oh yeah I forgot that won’t happen because Sloan is a class act and won’t make excuses like the two clowns Rick Adelman or Phil Jackson.

I’m not one who likes to point to the officials and say that is the reason a team lost, but last night that is why the Jazz lost the game. There is no other reason and I’m not the only one that had that thought. T.J. Simers of the L.A. Times wrote the following column today titled,

Referees will do anything to make David Stern smile

With the NBA commissioner in town and probably hoping for a Lakers-Celtics NBA Finals, the referees get whistle-happy against Utah.

NBA Commissioner David Stern stopped by the press room before the game and said he had just met with the referees, I presume to remind them how excited he is about the upcoming Boston-L.A. Finals. For some reason when this game started, the refs called four fouls on Utah, none on the Lakers, and then tagged Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan with a technical foul.
No need to make it so obvious, guys.
If Stern is worried about a Lakers-Celtics matchup, he ought to be spending most of his time with Boston.
He came here, of course, to hand Bryant the MauricePodoloffTrophy, and as you know, everyone in the NBA would like to win the Podoloff.
Stern, always the NBA salesman, said something ridiculous, like there were many MVP-worthy performances this season, but since there can only be one, oh well, let’s give it to Bryant.
The Staples Center crowd, waving MVP placards, wearing “Our MVP” T-shirts and energized by all the freebies, cheered as Bryant told them the Lakers were going to play into June.
It was too loud to hear anything, much less Stern probably say, “thank heavens.”
Bryant’s promise to the crowd to play into June has the ring of a guarantee, knocking off Utah and whatever team emerges next before traveling to Boston to start the NBA Finals.
Anyone care to disagree?
AS FOR the MVP, it seemed ridiculous Wednesday to walk by a TV set and see the folks on ESPN still arguing whether this was the right year to give Bryant the MVP trophy.
He won it decisively, and it’s still a wonder he hasn’t won one before this. Everything that has taken place off the court has been well-documented, but now Bryant has been given a fresh start and chance to win it all.
As for the MVP ceremony distraction, a question tossed at Phil Jackson before the game, it lasted all of seven seconds before Derek Fishertossed in a basket. These playful Lakers are very businesslike.

Utah shot the ball well early, but once the referees got into the game, it began to tip toward the Lakers. No doubt Tim Donaghy would have bet as much.
Stern’s crew took Utah’s best player, CarlosBoozer, out of the game with a pair of first-quarter fouls, and then added another 19 seconds after he returned to start the second quarter. Boozer finished the half with no points, the refs doing the best job of defense on Boozer in the NBA this season.
Bryant also picked up two fouls, but his second came with the Lakers up by 15 with less than 30 seconds left in the first quarter and Bryant probably headed to the bench anyway for a rest.
Final first-half stats, the Lakers making 15 of 19 free throws, the Jazz going four for six from the line and Stern being treated to a 14-point Lakers advantage.
The Lakers had 27 free-throw attempts, Utah eight after three quarters, and the Jazz still managed to keep it close. But that’s the NBA for you, every game seemingly arranged so it will somehow remain close going into the final two minutes — like that really happens.
The Lakers won, Bryant got his Podoloff, and all in all, a good night for Stern and the NBA.

I unfortunately picked the Lakers in 7 games, but I’m not sure at this point if that will happen. I do however think that things will change in game 3. I will say right now the Jazz will win and I think Lamar Odom, Phil Jackson, and possibly Kobe Bryant will all get technical fouls. I’m not giving up on the Jazz even though the Lakers are good, but they aren’t great, like some people are brainwashed to think, unless they have 8 players on the court like they did last night.

-HURRICANE JOHN

This is a USA Today article that was pointed out to me by a good friend.   (I will leave his name out of it because I didn’t ask him if I could use his name)

Some WAC schools get penalized.  Mostly New Mexico St. and it happens to be listed on a lot of their sports.   Also here is another list the NCAA put out that lists the schools and the penalized sports.

Well we will see if this makes a differance.  I don’t think it matters.  Schools with money will continue to find ways around it and teams that don’t it will probably hurt.  Also there is no rewards to schools that are doing the right thing except a pat on the back and that is why the NCAA is screwed up.

-HURRICANE JOHN

Lakers strike first on the court and their fans off the court.  Here is a you tube video from a Lakers fan titled Where Amazing Happens: Utah Jazz vs. Los Angeles Lakers.

-HURRICANE JOHN

WOWIE!!!   The Jazz absolutely crushed the Houston Rockets tonight in ES arena.   I was amazed at how the team came out and played to start the game tonight.  Finally our inside guys decided they weren’t afraid to take it to the rack and get the Rockets in foul trouble.   The Jazz won 113-91 despite McGrady scorching the Jazz for 40 points.  He only had 12 in the second half.  
The things that have been discussed on the Full Court Press all series long came true tonight.   We have been saying the Jazz needed to get this game up tempo.  They finally did that.   Eric and I stressed the fact the Jazz needed to get off to a good start.  The Jazz did by scoring 32 points in the first qtr.   Also the Boozer and Okur forced the issue inside.  Also I felt like Paul Millsap came off the bench and some huge blocks on McGrady and grabbed some big boards.  He also was aggressive on offense taking it to the rack and not settling for jump shots.   One other key stat was that the Jazz shot 84% from the free throw line despite shooting 11 less free throws.  

Not to get to cocky, but I will boast a little bit.   While everyone seemed to say that Rafer Alston was so important to the Rockets success in this series I have said consistently that the big factor was the Jazz weren’t able to contain Carl Landry.   Well Landry was an absolute NON factor in game 6.  Landry finished with 0 points and 2 rebounds.   Enough said.  

Now bring on the second round and the most hated team in the NBA, in the minds’ of Utah Jazz fans, the LA Lakers.   Charles Barkley thinks these are the two best teams in the West.   The Lakers have had almost a whole week off and are going to be the favorites in this series.  They basically had a bye in the first round since they swept the Denver School of the Blind and Confused.   The Jazz had to fight hard to beat the Rockets.   Game 1 is Sunday at 1:30 PM on 610 KVNU.   My inital thoughts on this series is that the Lakers will win the series in 7 games, but I do think that if the Jazz are going to steal a game on the road their best chance might be game 1 because of the time off the Lakers have had.  I can see them having a little rust in their game.  We  will see what happens.  Time for the Second round and in the words of Bolerjack It’s time to Buckle Up!!

GO JAZZ!!!!

-HURRICANE JOHN