"I think that the Lakers took a lot of stuff away," forward Matt Harping said. "They were doubling him and making it hard on him. I think this is a great opportunity for him to learn and get better. He's still young. He's an All-Star this year. I think he's going to get better."

Actually, Boozer's shooting woes started with the first games in April. He'd had a wonderful March, scoring 20-plus in 10 of the 16 games, including 41 at New Jersey on March 16. But in the 19 games once April started to the end of the season, Boozer had 20 or more only four times. He had 20 to open Game 1 of Utah's playoffs at Houston, making 10 of 20 shots. He had 27 in Game 3 against the Lakers on May 9, making 12 of 21 shots, feeling that night like his slump was busted.

"That seemed like a decade ago, didn't it?" Boozer said Saturday.

"I don't even know what to tell you about it," he continued.

"Shots didn't go in, got a couple calls called against me, didn't finish a couple plays that I've been finishing all my life, but that's part of basketball."

It seemed so strange that Boozer's offensive game deserted him at just the wrong time. During the team's miserable December when the road losses piled up, Boozer scored 19 or more points in 14 of the 15 games and had a 39-point outing at Atlanta. In November, he had 13 games of 19 or more out of the 15 played.

And those were months when he was missing his family back home in Miami until young son Carmani got the OK to live in Utah, where altitude could interfere with his progress in sickle cell disease.

The family returned to Miami during the playoffs because Carmani was having trouble dealing with Utah's temperature changes, getting sick at times. He has what Boozer calls a "D-Day" coming up, more tests to determine his progress, and the family wanted him feeling well.

Boozer said he doesn't know if he was affected by missing the family.

"My family being away? Oh, who doesn't think about their family?" he said.

But he didn't use it as an excuse by any means.

"I felt like I was getting the same opportunities I had, I just wasn't finishing shots. We are human," he said.

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E-mail: lham@desnews.com