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Warriors Second Round Preview

What is there to say about the First Round series 4-2 victory over the Mavs that hasn't already been said? I guess, if you talk to me in person about the Warriors, and see my face, that might tell you a little bit more. I don't think I've danced alone in my aparatment as much as I did last week.

With an amazing first round now complete, the Warriors turn their attention to the Utah Jazz in the second round. These two teams play very different styles of basketball, and were pretty evenly matched during the regular season. The Warriors and Jazz split the season series, with both teams winning their home games, and each winning a close one and a blow out.

The Jazz are a more traditional team built on the stubborn genius of Jerry Sloan. They run a number of back cuts and post plays, mainly to Carlos Boozer. The Jazz are a very physical team, and exploit that to get to the free-throw line, where they are efficient, and will definitely utilize this strategy against the Warriors.

The main players of the Jazz are all solid players, with 3 all-stars, and one potential all-star in Deron Williams. Williams is a very solid point guard, who can be especially dangerous when his outside shot is falling. Matt Harpring traditionally has abused the Warriors by being the aggressive, sometimes dirty, player that he is, and his hustle will bother the Dubs. Mehmet Okur is able to stretch the defense, with his inside-outside game, but the Warriors typically don't have a problem with that. See, e.g., Dirk Nowitizki.

I think the X-factor for the Jazz is Andrei Kirilenko, aka AK-47, who emerged in Game 6 of the Rockets series and showed why he was once considered an all-star, with his ability to defend anyone, knock down outside shots, and go strong to the hole. The rest of the Jazz make up a solid core, with Derek Fisher being a good outside shooter, Paul Milsap a strong rebounder, especially on the offensive end, Gordon Girecek being a streaky offensive player, and Ronnie Brewer being just a hard player. The Jazz are a great offensive rebounding team, and are going to get a lot of second chances that may make it difficult on the Warriors.

I think the Warriors will have to run run run to beat the Jazz. The Warriors were able to do that against the Jazz at home in their last meeting of the season, when the Dubs put up 126 on them, and the game was over relatively quickly. Baron is going to have be able to handle Williams on the defensive end, as both wins came with Williams being relatively quiet. The Warriors are probably going to have to throw multiple looks at Loozer to slow him down as well, and probably will have to double him more often than they should have to. This means that the help defense is going to have to be tight as pretty much everyone else on the Jazz can hit the outside shot.

As with the first round, the Warriors are going to need the main contributors, Baron, J-Rich, and Stephen"Whoo!" Jackson to come up big, and Matt Barnes and Mickael Pietrus to step up big off the bench on both ends of the floor. However, I think in order for the Warriors to be successful in the second round, Al Harrington is going to have to be more assertive, and Monta! is going to have to be smarter with his decision-making. The Warriors are going to have to value every possesion, and hopefully make their shots. If they miss their shots, I can live with that, but turning the ball over in this series will absolutely kill us. I know Nellie will have us ready though, and have a solid game plan to beat the Jazz.

The series starts tomorrow night in Salt Lake at 7:30 Pacific on TNT. I know I'll be tuning in. For continuous coverage, check out Golden State of Mind. Beat the Jazz! Let's make Stockton and Malone roll over in their graves.

Full post as published by The Present Tense on May 06, 2007 (boomark / email).