There's always a danger in reading too much into one pro basketball game. Then again, sometimes one game can be so telling that it's tough not to read something into it.Warriors 118, Jazz 108.
Let's start reading ...
One of the conclusions you can draw from Saturday night's game -- and the six previous Jazz games -- is that Utah is in trouble.
There's no way around it. Utah is playing its worst basketball of the season right now.
You know how everyone likes to say that the Jazz are the kind of team you don't want to play in the first round?
Why not? The Lakers should be licking their chops right now.
Point guard Deron Williams is being asked to carry too much of the load, and Carlos Boozer, who has had some particularly troubling games lately, doesn't appear to be the same player after missing 40-plus games because of a quad tendon injury.
Mehmet Okur has been doing what he can, but he doesn't function as well unless Williams and Boozer are functioning well. And if anyone out there spots the old Andrei Kirilenko, go ahead and ring up coach Jerry Sloan.
At this point, it's unrealistic to think Utah can get things together quickly enough to either climb out of the eighth spot and knock off a Denver, San Antonio or Houston or pull a first-round upset of the Lakers. How can that happen?
Saturday's loss to the Warriors at EnergySolutions Arena wasn't just a late-season loss to the Warriors at EnergySolutions Arena. It was a late-season loss to a Warriors team at EnergySolutions Arena without Stephen Jackson, Monta Ellis, Jamal Crawford and Corey Maggette.
It was C.J. Watson, a D-League call-up in 2007-08, and first-year players such as Rob Kurz, Anthony Morrow and Anthony Randolph who brought home the win for Golden State.
The Jazz has lost six of its past seven games, including two of the unacceptable variety: at home to the Timberwolves and Warriors. Utah also has been spanked badly on the road recently by Portland and Dallas.
Sloan is obviously concerned. He had Matt Harpring, the veteran bumper-car, start the third quarter against the Warriors after Utah had fallen behind by 13 at the half. Harpring couldn't make anything happen, either.
"It's as close to rock bottom as you can get, especially at home," Harpring said afterward.
Not likely. For the Jazz, rock bottom should come after Round 1.
