Utah Jazz: Harpring says he just plays hard — not dirty

HOUSTON — A year ago, when Houston and Utah danced during the postseason, Rockets star Tracy McGrady called him "a nasty player" on the defensive end of the floor.

This year, Shane Battier of the Rockets compared him to a football player.

At least a couple NBA general managers, according to a survey conducted earlier this season, consider him the "toughest" player in the NBA.

For Matt Harpring, however, there is a line that should not be crossed.

And with the Houston Rockets complaining throughout their 2008 first-round playoff series with the Jazz about Utah's overly physical play — with Harpring being an obvious, even if unstated, focus of their complaints — the veteran backup small forward felt compelled to play a different sort of defense Tuesday.

Prompted by a question from a reporter, Harpring suggested "dirty" is one thing he definitely is not.

"No," he said after the Jazz's morning shootaround in advance of Game 5. "I don't do anything malicious.

"You won't see me go out and try to trip someone. If a guy beats me, I won't hit him over the head and try to hurt him," Harpring added. "You know, I don't do anything stupid like that. I just play hard, get up in you, and just irritate you. I mean, there is nothing wrong with that."

The attitude Harpring plays with instead is defined by the mindset with which he went into Tuesday's game.

"I'm gonna play the same way I play if they talk about me or they don't talk about me," Harpring said.

"I'm not gonna make it easy on T-Mac," he added with reference to McGrady, someone clearly frustrated during the series by aggressive defense from a combination of Harpring, Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver and Andrei Kirilenko. "I know he wants it easy, but this is the playoffs, and I'm gonna do my best to irritate him, and frustrate him, to get in front of him. I'm just gonna play tough defense like I know how to play."

That such defense indeed has a football flair to it, though, is no coincidence.

Harpring's grandfather, Norb, played the game for Army. His father, Jack, played at Michigan. Uncle Chip, Notre Dame. Brothers John and Brian, Akron and Northwestern, respectively.

Harpring himself was a highly recruited quarterback at Marist High in the Atlanta area, but he instead went to Georgia Tech to play basketball.

And now the 32-year-old is delivering more punishment than he absorbs.

Not that Harpring, truth be told, thinks it's been all that much this postseason — from him, or anyone else with the Jazz, for that matter.

"It's not the most-physical series that I've ever been in, by any means," he said Tuesday. "I even think last year was a little more physical."

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com