Dodging Bullets...or in this case, Knicks

I've been watching the Jazz for a long time now. I think I officially became a fan after watching the Jazz take the Lakers to seven games during the '87-88 Playoffs, but even in the years prior to that series I remember the Jazz play Houston and Denver in hotly contested grudge matches during the era when it seemed inevitable that the Celtics and Lakers would show up in the Finals every year.

In all that time, I have noticed one disturbingly consistent trend with my team: they play to the level of their competition. Even after they had established themselves as perennial contenders, Stockton, Malone and Co. would still roll over a couple of times every year to some team that had no business competing with them. They'd always get up to play the Boston's and the LA's, but a cellar-dwellar or two would always sneak a couple of wins when they weren't looking. And even when they would beat the inferior teams, it wouldn't be a blowout. Often, they were a little too close for comfort.

Like last night. For the second game in a row, we let a 20+ point lead slide in the third quarter and had to rally to win a home game against an inferior opponent. With Phoenix, it was almost understandable. They had Shaq, Steve Nash, and a whole lot of desperation to stay in the playoff race. But the Knicks haven't had to worry about that in the last decade. They had no business making a game of last night's contest.

It kind of reminds me of the time I took a bowling class at the University of Utah. It was my first year in college, and I took the class mostly because I thought that taking a bowling class was the zenith of the higher education experience. I think I was right, too. Anyway, the instructor didn't spend a whole lot of time teaching us to bowl. Instead, every class was just spent playing games it pairs against other members of the class. I was one of the better bowlers in the class (meaning my average was in the low 100's instead of the 80's), but whenever I would play games against inferior classmates, I would always get lower scores, even if I still won. Maybe bowling just wasn't that important to me, but some motivating factor was missing that prevented me from slaughtering the team that was barely breaking 85.

There was one time this wasn't a problem for the Jazz. There was one period of time I remember when we played hard against the good teams and destroyed the pretenders. That was that window in the late 90's when we were going to the Finals.

Sadly, that's why even a bias-confessed lifetime Jazz fan like myself thinks that we're a second-round, borderline-conference finals squad at best right now. We can compete with anybody on every given night, but we're still not beating up on the pretenders the way we should. We're still letting teams like Charlotte and New York get under our compression shorts. I'm not sure what has to change to get over that hump, or if it can happen in time for this year's playoffs, but I think it does have to happen before we can really think about winning a title. We also need to get an interior defender and stop playing that stupid "everybody clap your hands" song during time-outs.

But that's another post...

Thanks for nothing, Mr. Popovich.

The Lesson: Control your own destiny. Don't rely on others to create your successes.

Case in point: If the Spurs beat New Orleans today, San Antonio would have cemented their grasp of the number two slot in the Western Conference playoffs, and the Hornets would have been pushed a full game behind the Jazz into the number seven slot. Granted, there is still a lot of action before the first round kicks off next month, but anything that helps keep the Jazz away from The Alamo or Hollywood in the first round is a good thing. All we needed was a little help from Tim Duncan.

You remember the Spurs, right Jazz fans? That team that hasn't given us a road victory in about a decade? Yeah, them. Well, they lost.

In the meantime, we gear up for a nasty close to the season, one that will be extraordinarily painful if we don't figure out how to start winning on the road quick. I don't know whether it feels better or worse to know that the last few road losses were close games (aside from the Orlando gaffe). All I know is we don't have any excuses anymore. Everyone's healthy and ready to go.

Here endeth the lesson. Go Jazz.

Welcome, Suckas...

Greetings, fellow web-surfer type people who like sports. Welcome to my brand-new blog spinoff, "The Wannabe Jock". In an attempt to organize my life, my writing, and my four loyal readers, I have decided to sub-divide my major writing topics and create official blogs for the biggest ones.

Previously, all my thoughts on the world around me were gathered into a single site, The Wounded Mosquito. That blog will remain the primary conduit of my general observations, but this will be the new official repository for all my sports blabbing. I feel confident this will generate a greater feeling of personal satisfaction in spite of our fledgling national economy. There's even a chance I might write more often, albeit in shorter, less-refined blips.

As always, feel free to post your own comments and observations in response; after all, what would a Web site be without a stream of profane, inane comments from semi-illiterate angst-filled net junkies?

Let the wannabe games begin.