The Jazz Make It A Series

Tonight in Denver, in a wildly entertaining and super choppy game, the road Jazz shook off the injuries and talent gap to pull off an improbable win, with point guard Deron Williams owning the floor with 31 points and 14 dimes (and 16 of 18 from the line), and Carlos Boozer providing critical support with 20 and 14. The really amazing part of the game was just how the Jazz were better in crunch time, with Carmelo Anthony fouling out in the final minute with a 32/5/4 line, Kyle Korver making critical free throws wih six seconds left, and Chauncey Billups missed two tying three point attempts.

Despite the valiant effort, I don't see the Jazz really capitalizing to pull off the series, even though they now hold the home court advantage and have some of the meanest fans in the Association. The Nugs won't always shoot 4 for 18 from the three point arc, Anthony isn't likely to shoot 9 for 25 and foul out of a game -- really, the worst part of this game were the refs, who seemingly could not resist making a charge call in the last five minutes -- and every Nugget starter finished the game with five fouls, which is the kind of thing you don't see in a triple overtime game, let alone regulation.

Utah is a two man team right now, and once the Nugs get the bright idea of taking one of those two players away, the game will fall to one of the not ready for prime time players (Korver, rookie Wesley Matthews, sixth man Paul Millsap) to make a shot. And while some will fault interim coach Adrian Dantley for failing to get his Nugs to adjust, it's not as if they always adjust for their regular coach, either.

At the end of the day here, it's going to come down to which team has the best player, Williams or Anthony, and if Utah coach Jerry Sloan can continue to get good enough work from deep bench players, so that Boozer and Millsap aren't on total fumes in the clutch. I'm not seeing it, but that's not to say it won't happen, and in any event, this series is going to go long and good. Especially if the refs can let the game go without a stop every five seconds.