Utah Jazz: Boozer receives helpful advice from TV analyst

Who ever said TV types don't have something beneficial to offer?

Certainly not Jazz power forward Carlos Boozer, who was on the receiving end of some friendly — and rather helpful — advice from one in particular prior to his breakout performance in Friday's Game 3 of Utah's NBA Western Conference semifinal series victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Asked Saturday if he had spoken with anyone about how to get going, Boozer suggested he had.

"Friends," he said, declining to name names.

Then he fessed up that one was ABC/ESPN NBA analyst — and longtime NBA head coach — Hubie Brown, who worked Friday's game and will do the same for today's Game 4 of the series.

Brown's advice, and that of his other "friends," according to Boozer: "Just go out there and play, and have fun, and just try to enjoy the game."

The Jazz All-Star did just that and wound up scoring 27 points with 20 rebounds in the Jazz's 104-99 win — just his second 20-point performance in nine postseason games this year.

"When you don't play well, it's not fun sometimes," Boozer told reporters Saturday. "It's like going to work and having a bad day. You guys have had that, right?

"But (Friday) night," he added, "I had a blast."

There was more to it, though, than simply playing loose.

Boozer found himself in the right frame of mind long before taking the floor against coach Phil Jackson and his Lakers.

L.A.'s very own Zen Master, it seems, got beat by what he knows well.

"I was in a good place before the game," Boozer said, "and it just carried throughout."

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com