NBA: Give the Jazz respect... or else

In the process of analyzing the playoff fate of the Utah Jazz in recent years, an interesting theme emerges. Whenever a team fully respected the (cliche alert! cliche alert!) "aging Jazz," that team knocked Utah out of the playoffs. When a team didn't respect the Jazzmen, they disrespected themselves right out of the playoffs.

Ah, yes. In today's NBA culture--one in which the Jazz (with the exception of nasty Olden Polynice) are countercultural--giving the respect, the props, the due accolades, counts for a lot.

The Jazz might not ever talk about respect before the cameras, but deep down, these (oft-repeated term alert!) resourceful, experienced veterans reach into the well and find a higher level of performance.

Let's simply scan the past few years. In 1998's Western Conference Finals, the pre-championship Del Harris Lakers bitterly complained about the Jazz all through the series. Taken out of their game and their rhythm, a younger, less mature Laker team got dismissed with a broom, swept out of the Forum by the Jazz. In the NBA Finals, a guy named Jordan--the ultimate pro who never took anything for granted--carried the Chicago Bulls past the Jazz.

In 1999, Sacramento and Chris Webber--needing to prove a point about their playoff toughness in their first-round series against the Jazz--set some exceptionally hard picks and committed some exceptionally hard fouls on John Stockton. The Kings were seconds away from a series win, but Stockton won game 4 in Sacramento with a long jumper, and the Jazz came from behind to win the decisive fifth game in overtime.

In the following series, a Portland team that suffered a fourth quarter meltdown in game 1 immediately changed its tune. Rattled by the officials and the Jazz in the opener, the Blazers, before the press and on the court, carried themselves differently for the rest of the series. They bagged the complaining, and played exceptionally focused team defense. The result was a six-game series win.

Last year, a young and jawing Seattle team strode into the Delta Center (and the first round) full of energy and cocky exuberance. Two games later, the Sonics had been blown out of the water and were looking for answers. The Sonics regrouped at home to send the series five games, but winning three in a row--the last one in Salt Lake City--proved to be too daunting a task for the Sonics.

In the second round of the 2000 playoffs, Portland--now used to the act of playing the Jazz in the playoffs and respecting everything Utah did--simply "niced" the Jazz to death by smiling off the court at the Jazz' maneuvers... and then defending to perfection on the court. Utah's offensive sets never found any semblance of rhythm in each of the past two series against a lunch-pail version of the Blazers. (Oh, how Mike Dunleavy wishes this Portland team could re-emerge right now.)

And so, with the past serving as prelude, the 2001 Playoffs have offered the clearest example yet of a team not respecting the Jazz. Steve Nash has flatly said his Dallas Mavericks are the better team. Mavs head coach Don Nelson says that the Jazz flop all the time. Mavs owner and ringside agitator Mark Cuban says the Jazz are masters of manipulating the refs. Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki simply called Salt Lake a "bad city," not exactly what you want to say to take the edge off the Delta Center crowd.

All in all, the (where have we heard these adjectives before?) youthful, exuberant and cocky Mavericks have been working their mouths a lot. This served as the backdrop for game 2 of the Mavs-Jazz series Tuesday night in Salt Lake.

And what, pray tell, was the result?

Despite a fourth quarter where Utah's Donyell Marshall missed a number of chippies and the Mavs, aided by bad flops (or were they curious losses of balance?), hit several open threes, the Jazz thoroughly outplayed the Mavericks and decidedly out-defended Dallas, the ultimate measure of playoff focus and effort.

While Stockton played as well as he's ever played, making crisp and exquisite entry passes seem so routine, the Mavs--Nowitzki in particular--encountered a Utah defense that did an excellent job of closing down on shooters and relegating the Mavs to stagnant one-on-one basketball. Because of this, only Michael Finley--Dallas' best one-on-one player--had a big night for the Mavs. Everyone else had their share of struggles, and Nash, though solid with 20 points, didn't hit as many threes as the Mavs needed him to.

When Dallas cut a 20-point third quarter deficit to three (90-87) with just under six minutes left in the game, Nash missed an open trey from the left wing. Six Stockton/Malone points later (four from the foul line after surgical moves to the basket), that miss by Nash became Dallas' last, best--and missed--chance to win the game.

As in last year's series against Seattle, the Jazz might very well find themselves in a game five dogfight back in Salt Lake. Dallas will have a tremendous amount of energy and confidence when the series shifts to Reunion Arena on Saturday afternoon. However, the Mavericks will have to act--on and off the court--like they truly respect the Jazz. Otherwise, the three-day break between games (Wednesday through Friday of this week are off days before game 3) will only cause the Mavericks' emotional wounds to fester, and unnerve Dallas in the franchise's first home playoff game in quite some time.

The lesson is staring the NBA's most emergent team square in the eye: don't talk about the Jazz' style of play; counter it on the court with a smile and competitive grit. After all, that's what the Jazz and Stockton--the man who never provides bulletin board quotes--have done to opponents for so long.