Heartbreak!

Oh, I HATE the Lakers!

Last night's game six loss at home to end the season was one of the worst losses I think I've ever seen from the Jazz. Even though they made it close in the end, the first half was so absolutely pathetic, you just knew they couldn't pull out a second half comeback. I will say watching Memo, AK, and Dwill hitting a combined 5 three pointers in the final 2 minutes was pretty exciting, but I'm just sick to my stomach even thinking about it a day later.

This was a championship opportunity lost. Game 5 was the real killer when they didn't pull one out in LA, but they seriously had the makeup of going all the way if they could get over the hump of Jazz versus Lakers Plus Refs/David Stern. I can't get over how the traitor Derek Fisher had 20+ steals on the series and from what I saw was called for exactly 1 (read: one!) reach-in foul. I can't get over the fact that Kobe shot over 90 foul shots in the series. 90 foul shots for one player! If he's got fouled enough for 90 foul shots, the dude shouldn't even be able to walk he would be hammered so bad; sadly, a stray breath in Kobe's direction equals a foul. I'm expecting David Stern himself to be at Team USA Olympic practice this summer, tallying up whoever fouls Kobe during practice and awarding him fould shots to start the game when he faces those teams next season. What a joke.

Another huge factor was the scheduling. I know we won game 4 last Sunday in our first home Sunday game in forever, but the scheduling was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pro-Lakers it made me sick. The days between games, the start times of the games, all pointed to the Lakers favor. What joke.

Another Laker-favorite was the non-suspension of Ronny Turiaf after he took down Ronnie Price with the flagrant foul. People kept reviewing the play saying it wasn't malicious. Um, pretty sure when you lead with your forearm, then swipe at the head it's intentional. What everyone seems to forget is that the foul was called WAY eariler and Ronnie was just finishing out the play like lots of players do, only to get taken down. Suspensions have been dolled out for much less. Now, Ronny Turaf definitely wasn't the difference maker-I'm just pointing out yet another pro-Laker move by the league. What a joke.

Lots of people want to blame Boozer for a terrible playoffs. He definitely didn't play up to par, but it seemed like something was wrong. (You are saying, "no crap something was wrong, moron, that's why he sucked!") well, what I mean is he was either hurt or something else we didn't know about. Just my gut feeling. Maybe he just sucked. I try to keep in mind that Boozer was the first ever big-time free agent to sign with Utah so I try to give him a pass as much as I can bear; maybe I'm just witnessing the second coming of Karl Malone (Mr. Anti-Clutch). What can I say? I love Malone so I'll accept Boozer's disappearing act for this season. Hopefully he improves.

Last but not least, some matchups just don't work well for us. Basketball is a game of being the better team with better coaching and better players, but matchups also play a large role in victories. The Jazz have never matched up well with LA or San Antontio, but we own the Warriors, Phoenix, New Orleans, Detroit, etc. I can't put my finger right on why we don't match up well with those two teams, but we don't. If we could've avoided them until the Conference Finals maybe it would be a different story, but I'm left here to mope our loss.

Just one, Jazz, just give me one. If I have to live off it like I live off "1984!" the rest of my life, so be it!