What they're saying and writing elsewhere in advance of tonight's start of the Jazz-Rockets NBA playoff series:

"Deron (Williams is) good at everything, so you try and minimize the damage. (The Jazz are) most effective when he's passing the ball to cutters, and passing the ball to spot-up shooters like (Mehmet) Okur, so what you want to do is get Deron going for his own offense. He's still effective, but that's usually the least bad of the options." — Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, talking to the Houston Press weekly

"Carlos Boozer is already a superstar, except no one knows it." — ESPN.com's J.A. Adande

"The combination of Williams and Boozer is one of the best in the game, plus Andrei Kirilenko is back playing at a high level, with Ronnie Brewer vastly improved and Mehmet Okur a dangerous shooter. ... It's hard to figure why the Jazz have been 17-24 on the road, nonetheless, they are the better team." — FoxSports.com's Mike Kahn

"The Jazz can ... get past the Rockets, but after that? If they can't put their road woes in the rearview mirror, they'll be spending the rest of the summer at home." — Yahoo! Sports' Johnny Ludden

"The matchup could not be worse, as the Rockets will likely be reminded from now until they win a playoff game. This is, in an odd, typical Rockets way, perhaps a good thing. The Rockets seem to relish being doubted." — The Houston Chronicle's Jonathan Feigen