Comments about ‘Hey, it's playoff time; of course it gets physical’

This is why Matt Harpring is the most important guy off the Utah bench. He's not afraid of anyone.

Every great team needs a guy that can get physical- be an enforcer. Karl Malone knew that. He'd hit you every chance he got. Charles Oakley made a career out of it. Rodman is far better known for his nastiness than any offensive prowess.

For this reason, I think Utah has a great shot at beating the Lakers. I doubt the Jazz can stop Kobe the way they have stopped McGrady, but if they can knock him down a few times, wear him down, Gasol and Odom can't carry the load.

No one has had more of an impact off of the bench than Harpring. In fact, I get butterflies in my stomach every time he comes in, because you can see McGrady cringing in his body language. He'll either get a turnover or punish McGrady for blowing by him. I love the way he plays.

I loved it when Harpring was meeting TMac at halfcourt and just made it hard to even get to his spots, let alone score. I re-wound it three times and made all of my boys watch it.
And the other thing is it seems the Jazz have decided not to whine about every missed call, they understand it's going to get physical and instead of worrying about it in game 4 they just got back on D and played tough.

This has been a great series to watch! The Jazz are definatley at a higher level than the Rockets. Their defense and tough play are great, and it laugh everytime I hear a T-Mac press conference because you know he's going to say something funny. It's his fault I didn't get the hot dog that I ordered. And its his fault that he's tired. What a wimp.

Then go check out the Houston Chronicle reader forum on the Jazz's physical play. There's more w(h)ine on those pages than in all of California's vineyards! It's refreshing to see that Utah fans aren't the only ones who think the refs are out to get "their" team.

Too bad Adelman's showing such a lack of class, but when you see the head coach perform that way, it's no surprise that the players and fans can't own up to their team's poor performance either.

Jazz in 5!!

Grind it out or Run and gun, you name it, the Jazz can do it! The is our New Age Jazz.

Go Jazz!!!

Baffled and confused.

Why does Rock infer that playoff basketball has to be synonymous with foul ridden basketball?

This seems to be one of, if not the biggest, weaknesses of the NBA. I don't know anyone that loves the game of basketball that enjoys watching a team 'grind out a win.'

I understand that emotions are at a higher level, but why do flagrant fouls become 'good hard playoff fouls' ? Why do flops become fouls? How can a coach get away with mugging the other teams' players? (see Lebron & Shaq)

It seems to me that the greatest playoff series were ones that weren't constantly interrupted by the officials.

Fire/Retire Sloan

I know Sloan isn't looking ahead but we fans can. I think the Jazz will play it close with the Lakers. I worry about the Lakers' interior passing. Houston has no interior players to pass to, while L.A. has Gasol and Odom to finish around the basket. They also have Kobe who can drive into the paint and dish out to the outside sharp shooters.

I think this series will be faster paced, obviously than the Houston series, with less intense defense.

Maybe the Jazz can steal one in L.A. and at least make it a series. I anticipate that Lakers will use Utah's booing Derek Fisher as motivation.

There's also the subplot of Jerry facing Phil again in the playoffs for the first time since '98.

Would there be anything sweeter than sending the Lakers to an early "fish"ing trip??? LOL

Sloan Hater: I like physical passionate basketball. Grinding out wins is a reflection of both teams playing physical passionate basketball.

Suck it up testy man-ball is good b-ball! Utah's coach Sloan, the players and the crowd- all are making a strong statement in the league! Sloan is right to be physical, work stinkin' hard and not let it all go to your head.


NBA, where egos fly!

Players like Harpring are the reason I watch the NBA still. If it weren't for those hard-nosed, defensive-mined players, the NBA would be full of thugs and pretty boys. I love games that are decided by defense. If you watch the NBA these days, the teams that don't make the playoffs are the teams that have zero defensive talent.

I wish the referees would be a little more impartial when calling games. Instead, they tend to protect certain high profile players by letting them get away with more and calling more fouls against those defending them. If it's a foul when Ronnie Price does it, it should be a foul when Kobe does it. It's a shame that isn't always the case.

As long as the NBA and its officials allow the sort of rough, physical play that is now playoff basketball, the situation will only get worse. Great coaches, such as Jerry Sloan, adjust to the referees. So do great players. I've never liked the physical play in the NBA playoffs. Stockton would often get knocked completely off his feet coming around a screen, and there was seldom a call. Portland defended Malone primarily by fouling him. Sadly, the home team usually is allowed to play much more physically than the road team, which is a big reason that teams win more home games than road games. I would like to see intentionally fouling called with a shot and the ball. Then a Grade 1 flagrant fall could be two shots and the ball. A Grade 2 could be two shots, the ball and an automatic ejection. Also, cut the number of fouls down to five, and you wouldn't have so many intentional fouls. I don't like football in gym sneakers. I like to watch great athleticism, fantastic shooting, superb passing and wonderful team work. You don't need constant intentional fouling to enjoy the best parts of basketball.

Its simple, if you get beat, you foul to prevent easy baskets. There are no freebies in the playoffs and I love it. To not use the rules to our advantage would be idiotic.

Some foul rules stink. Watching the SAntonio 'Purrs intentional fouls on Shak was disgusting! What are they saying? They're not taleted enough to play real ball? That rule needs to change.

The term foul is subjective. One might call an elbow to the face a flagrant and demand a T when in reality, if done the right way, is perfectly legal. I like watching the Jazz play tough. When they get hit they give as good as they get. If you can't take the heat, stay off the court.

Still baffled and confused.

So all those who rose their hands and admitted to liking 'grind it out' basketball WOULD THEN ALSO agree that the Spurs/Pistons Finals of 2006 was the BEST Finals Ever??

Please.

Fire/Retire 'Grind it out' Sloan

Sloan Hater,

The reason playoff basketball is played with such intensity (which almost always translates into more physical play), is that the teams rachet up their play. They do not want to let the other team win a game. The teams that do not tighten up their games (i.e., Denver), usually get beaten soundly. Detroit also played fairly lax in their first three games, which is why the 76'ers gained a 2-1 lead in that series.

I believe the type of basketball you are referring to (such as the Lakers/Celtics battles of the 80's) are played by teams who have superb offenses, but only mediocre defenses. The Lakers of the 80's could out-execute anyone on the offensive end, and played just enough defense to win the game; if any team they were playing went into an offensive slump, the game became a blowout.

Most other teams that go deep into the playoffs play good to great defense to go along with mediocre to good offense; this translates into teams contesting every shot, trying to muscle the opposing players out of position, and fighting hard for every rebound; the other team fights harder to get position (and possesion), or they LOSE!

One more point: it's not that the players or coaches are playing dirtier or trying to hurt anyone (in most cases - see "Bad Boys" Pistons for some dirty play), but every player typically steps up their game and becomes more aggresive trying to win. They don't do this through the grind of the regular season because of the 82 games to play (although there are games that are exceptions), but in the playoffs, you don't have the luxury of taking it easy and making up a win somewhere down the road.

This aggresive play is compounded when you have one very good defensive team playing another team; the other team either plays even harder and more physical to try to match the defensive effort of the first team (which in turn makes the first team play even harder), or the second team is outplayed and loses.

If the refs call the game very tightly to limit the physical play, they end calling about 30 fouls a game, and the play suffers from the mostly ticky-tack fouls being called(usually favoring one team over another).

The one thing I would change, is the games need to be called more consistently.

Adelmine is a little girl he wants to send a video of the game to Stern cuz the jazz are playing "dirty" and getting to physical with T-Mac!! Thats a bunch of bull.....they need to quit whining!

How can you bash Slaon? We had the most wins out of any franschise in the 90's. We had bad luck like a whole list of players by running into the greatest of all time twice- but that doesn't take away the tradition Slaon, Stock, Malone and now D-Will and Booz continue. Utah loves their Jazz. We have the loudest arena bar none and that simply would not be the case if Jazz fans did not go to games expecting to win. Its hard to bask a coach that has a system that makes a laundry list of players better than they ever would have been elsewhere. I guess if he had Tim Duncan he would be a genius, but he had the guts to rebuild a team from nothing to the Western Finals last year. No one doubts that this team has the talent to win it all now and certainly in the near future. Leave Sloan alone and learn the game.