FOULEDOUT!

Deron Williams had 22 points and 5 assists while Mehmut Okur posted a double-double with 16 points and 16 rebounds as the Utah Jazz beat the Houston Rockets 90-84 to take the 2-0 advantage in the first round of the playoffs series.

Tracy McGrady’s solid all around effort of 23 points, 12 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks was not enough to lift the Rockets for a win. Bobby Jackson, who is subbing for the injured Rafer Alston, scored 18 points and rookie Luis Scola added 14. Already missing Alston and Yao Ming, the Rockets bench did not exactly put up good numbers in the game. The Rockets bench only managed to contribute 15 points.

Carlos Boozer managed to chip in 13 points and 7 rebounds and Ronnie Brewer added 10 markers for the visiting Jazz.

The Rockets are down a 0-2 hole in the first round of the playoffs and they’ll be having more troubles when the series heads to Utah on the 24^th. The Jazz went 37-4 at the EnergySolutions Arena during the regular season.

I’m not counting out the Rockets in the playoffs, but looks to me that T-Mac’s first round jinx is still in effect.

-fouledout

Andrei Kirilenko’s all around game powered the Utah Jazz and ended Portland Trailblazers’ magnificent 13 game winning streak.  Kirilenko had 14 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists as the Jazz handed the Blazers their first defeat in 14 games.  Carlos Boozer had 19 points and 9 rebounds while Deron Williams added 18 points and 8 assists.  Jazz newcomer Kyle Korver was a hit in his first game for the Utah squad.  Korver scored 11 points off the bench and received a standing ovation when he first entered the game in the second period.
Lamarcus Aldridge posted game-high 36 points for the Blazers but had little help from their starting five.  Brandon Roy was the only other starter who scored in double digits with 17 points.  Reserves James Jones and Travis Outlaw had 15 and 11 points respectively.  Blazers head coach Nate McMillan attended a family funeral and was not with the team when their winning streak ended. 

 
-fouledout

The Western Conference is often dubbed as the powerhouse conference because of the strong teams in there particularly the Texas teams: Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs.  With about a quarter of the season gone, most of the Western teams have managed to stay above the .500 mark while most of their Eastern counterparts are struggling just even touch the .500 mark.  Nobody can deny that the West teams are really stronger than the East teams, but don’t be fooled by this.  Even with the “powerhouse” image of the West, there are still few Western teams that are really disappointing this year. 

Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks are two of the biggest disappointing teams in the West.  Both teams have been underachieving considering the potency of their roster.  The Rockets acquired Rick Adelman to replace Jeff Van Gundy at the helm but it seems they’re still struggling as a team.  Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady are doing just fine, but I think the supporting cast should step up a little bit more if they want to create some noise in the competitive West. 

The Mavericks on the other hand are doing a poor job in replicating their impressive 67 wins last season.  Dirk Nowitzki’s performance has decreased compared last year and this is not a good sign for the Mavs.  Although Josh Howard is continuing to improve, the rest of the Mavs needs to pick up their games if they are aiming to make another title run.

The Utah Jazz as a team is also quite disappointing at this point in the season.  Sure Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer are playing fantastic basketball individually speaking, but their team record is just right above the .500 mark with 14 wins and 12 losses.  The Jazz have dropped seven of their last eight games and that’s a tough situation for a team that was expected to come out strong this year.

-fouledout