Utah Jazz: Boozer says the 's' word

Jazz star tries to shake off playoff slump

Published: Friday, May 9, 2008 12:20 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
Some players avoid saying this particular word — kind of like how they'd shy away from dropping a four-letter bomb in front of their mom or preacher.

But Carlos Boozer used the dreaded noun to describe what he's going through in these playoffs. Even at the risk of having to add a quarter to the "Naughty Word Jar," Boozer admitted Thursday that he is indeed experiencing a mind-boggling (close your ears!) "slump."

He's bothered by it, badly wants to work out of it, says his team is suffering and struggling in part because of it, and knows it couldn't have come at a worse time.

"I am in a shooting slump," he said. "I am frustrated."

The Jazz's slumping power forward couldn't even go to sleep after Wednesday night's 120-110 Game 2 loss — which put Utah in an 0-2 hole against the Los Angeles Lakers in this Western Conference semifinal series — until about 6 a.m. Thursday. Even then, it was a short snooze. He had to be at a shootaround and film session only a few hours later to get ready for tonight's Game 3 (7 p.m. tipoff) at EnergySolutions Arena.

After flying back to Utah from L.A. following the game, Boozer tossed, watched the game, turned, counted referees' whistles and fouls, tossed while thinking about missed jump shots and turned some more while worrying about letting his teammates down.

Story continues below

He's been playing his nightmare of late "back and forth in my head" to try to figure things out.

Against the Lakers, Boozer has hardly looked like the best power forward on the Jazz, let alone the clutch player who earned a spot on the All-NBA third team with his dominating inside presence and mid-range game.

Matched against the quick and lengthy likes of 6-10 Lamar Odom and 7-foot Pau Gasol, the 6-foot-9 Boozer has put up consecutive sub-par performances — and that was coming off a first-round series in which he didn't exactly light it up. Against the Lakers, Boozer has only averaged 12.5 points thanks to a miserable 37.5-percent shooting clip. In eight playoff games, he is scoring just 15.1 points on 41.7 percent shooting.

That production is way down from his regular-season contributions of 21.1 points per game on 54.7 percent field-goal accuracy.

For a player at Boozer's talent level, yep, that puts him in bona fide slump territory, especially when considering he had seven turnovers in Game 1 and zero points in the first half of Game 2.

"For me, I'm a 20-10 guy all night long, and not to be getting those numbers bothers me," he said Thursday morning at the Zions Bank Basketball Center.

Even more bothersome than not getting his usual double-double — he's only grabbing 9.5 rebounds a game against L.A. as well — is the fact his team has fallen twice to the Lakers while his shots have fallen anywhere between Santa Monica Boulevard and Manhattan Beach but not often in the basket.

Recent comments

Everyone has a very good reason to dump on boozer.

He supposed one...

Anonymous | May 10, 2008 at 2:19 a.m.

@ Step up & MOTO X
Williams has struggled in this series I'll give...

STEVE-O | May 9, 2008 at 5:41 p.m.

It surprizes me that you would even say that you cant believe that...

RE Fair Weather Boozer Fans | May 9, 2008 at 5:34 p.m.

Image
Stuart Johnson, Deseret News

Carlos Boozer, who has struggled in Utah's second-round playoff series, answers questions from the media Thursday morning prior to the start of Jazz practice.

previousnext

Latest comments

Blazers get the unbalanced trade they seek while not signing Millsap away...

Ricky Bobby - THE JAZZ DO NOT WANT TO TAKE BACK EQUAL SALARIES. They want to...

Owls need holes for nest

Despite the fact that logging has all but stopped in the pacific northwest...

My understanding of what FAIR is trying to do, is to provide well thought out...

Jazz will resign Milsap. If they don't it will be ahuge mistake. First off,...

Stadium of Fire flag burning was fake

I was waiting for it to be burned on the big metal structure right by the...

Hey Ute fan... the Utes had a good season. And keep throwing that BCS bowl...

Tyrus Thomas is in the last year of his contract too so what is the point for...

CougarKeith, people don't know how to properly retire the flag, what they did...

It is just talk but since it was brought up: IF we can get Prizbilla &...

Advertisements