From Deseret News archives:

Neither Jazz nor Rockets expecting sweep

Published: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 12:04 a.m. MDT
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The Jazz were not nearly as demoralized after losing Monday's Game 2 in their first-round NBA playoff series with the Houston Rockets as one might suspect.

"I thought our guys played their hearts out to try to win a ball game," coach Jerry Sloan said.

"I feel confident we can get a win," veteran forward Matt Harpring added.

The question, as the Jazz head into Game 3 Thursday down 0-2 in the best-of-seven series, is how.

"We have to figure out a way," starting power forward Carlos Boozer said.

"If we can get one," starting point guard Deron Williams added, "then we can build on that."

Houston, meanwhile, isn't acting as if a 4-0 sweep is inevitable.

"This team is not going to let us relax," Rockets star Tracy McGrady said of the Jazz.

SIR CHARLES SPEAKS: TNT analyst and former NBA star Charles Barkley took Sloan's side in this week's Andrei Kirilenko crying episode.

"There's no crying in basketball," Barkley told viewers before Game 2.

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"When you're mad at the coach and you're mad at yourself, you go out there and kick some butt," he added. "He's got to play better. He's got a great coach in Coach Sloan, and they need him to play well. Nobody is holding him back. He has to play better."

BOOZER SPEAKS, LOUDLY: After the TNT crew — chiefly Barkley — rode Boozer hard following his 11-point Game 1 performance, Boozer responded with a 41-point, 12-rebound double-double.

"They call you out in the studio and they tell you, 'You have to step up,"' Boozer told TNT during halftime Monday. "Charles, I heard your words, and I'm stepping up for you baby. I'm stepping up for my team."

Responded TNT's Kenny Smith: "(Boozer) should be happy we called him out. We don't call out scrubs."

BACK OFF: Being back in the playoffs for the first time since 2003 reminded Sloan just how much he does not like being surrounded by a throng of reporters.

"I don't like anybody standing behind me," he said as a crowd circled him in Houston earlier this week. "If you want to talk to me, move in front of me."

A few reporters laughed, thinking the Jazz coach was joking.

He clearly was not.

"I'm serious about that," Sloan said. "I get nervous."

ANTHONY ON JAZZ: The key for Utah's ability to bounce back against the Rockets rests with Williams, ex-NBA player Greg Anthony suggested in a posting on ESPN.com.

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