Shoot-out on the shores of the Great Salt Lake

Stayed up well past my bedtime last night to watch the first game of the Warriors/Jazz series, and even though I didn't see the outcome I was hoping for, I sure don't have any disappointments about the game itself. It's fun to watch these guys run the floor so hard, and I'm especially impressed by the way that Utah came out of the blocks early to demonstrate to the Warriors that they could run right with them. And thrilled to watch the Warriors run it right back at them and eventually grab the lead, only to have the home team rally in the final quarter, and hold on to victory by a handful of free throws. This time.

The Jazz basically won this game on the boards. Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer are not exactly Stockton and Malone (not that we saw that much of Utah's half-court offense anyway), but the Warriors don't really have anyone who can match up effectively underneath with the Alaskan Blue Devil, and Boozer took advantage of that by ripping down 20 rebounds (half of them on the offensive end) to go with his 17 points. And Deron Williams matched up with Baron Davis practically bucket for bucket and foul for foul: 41 minutes, 31 points, 8 assists, 6 turnovers, but also 5 rebounds and 2 steals, as compared to Baron's line of 24 points and 7 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 turnovers, a steal and 2 blocked shots in 38 minutes.

But the match-up I really enjoyed watching most was Kirilenko against Biedrins (or as I like to think of it, Andrei verses Andris). It's a 21-year-old Latvian (Biedrins) matched up against a 26-year-old Russian (Kirilenko) and there sure doesn't seem to be any love lost between them! Kirilenko is probably the better player (or at least he was last night: 13 points, 7 rebounds and 7 blocked shots), but the Warriors count on Biedrins to run the floor alongside all their other thoroughbreds, and at 6' 11" he's about as big as Golden State gets.

It's going to be interesting to see what kind of adjustments these two fine coaches make for Game Two. If the Jazz prove that they can run with the Warriors, and continue to dominate them on the boards, they are going to be able to take care of business in relatively short order. But if the Warriors can find a way to keep Boozer and Company off the glass, and keep taking the ball hard to the hole instead of just living or dying beyond the arc, they should give Utah all they can handle. And then there is Utah's trademark half-court offense. Will the Jazz go back to that in Game Two, and try to force the Warriors to play at their tempo? We're just one game in, and the home team has won on their own floor. This series is just getting started!

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One of the nice things about these late, West Coast starts is that they give me plenty of opportunity to get home in time for tip-off after first playing a couple of hours in my own regular Monday night pick-up game. Only scored one basket last night, but it was a beauty -- off the dribble, beating my oponent by going left from the left wing in transition, before the rest of the defense was really back. Blew by him just like I was Baron Davis, and got right to the rim almost as if I still had that lighting quick first step of old...or should I say, of younger days.... Once a year. Just to prove to myself (and anybody else who happens to be watching) that I've still got what it takes to elevate and go hard to the hole.

Mostly though it was trying to defend and banging on the boards with the big guys. It's hard to believe that I'm down now to just a handful of more games with these guys that I've been playing with now for four years. I'm going to miss them. Big Time.