Boozer becoming a star

[dukemsu]

If Utah and SA hook up, I actually think Duncan's in for a tough time. Carlos is the physical sort of player who can get into Tim's chest and frustrate him. Duncan does not like physical play, and can be goaded into worrying more about the officials than the guy he's playing.

That said, Duncan looks a lot better than he did at this time last year. Conversely, if Carlos goes up against Stoudamire, I think Amare would give him fits over a 7 game series because he matches or exceeds Carlos' strength.

dukemsu

[Sir Stealth]

Watching Boozer consistently get clutch offensive rebounds in traffic just makes me think of him getting tackled at the buzzer in 2002. I'll probably never get over that one...

[RepoMan]

Word. Everytime I seem him snag an o-rebound and score on a putback, I punch myself.

[thebur]

Word. Everytime I seem him snag an o-rebound and score on a putback, I punch myself.

Don't let my last thoughts of the day be about that Indiana game! My wife couldn't believe how pissed I was, and as we were getting gas in Takoma Park it began to snow. That prompted this loud exchange between me, God, and a Foot Locker employee in his referee shirt at the pump next to me:

GOD begins conversation with snow in late march.

ME (to God and world): you see that, that's it, hell is freezing over. you have finally done it.

I then see Foot Locker Employee-

ME: Hey your boys in stripes really blew it for my Devils tonight. Carlos got FOULED at the buzzer.

SLIGHTLY SCARED FOOT LOCKER EMPLOYEE: Sorry dude.

[DavidBenAkiva]

More love for Boozer:

ESPN's poll on the main page is "Who is the best player left in the NBA playoffs?" And the poosible selections? Carlos Boozer, Baron Davis, Tim Duncan, Lebron James, Steve Nash.

That's just such a compliment to be mentioned alongside two former MVP's. Boozer, of course, was last nationwide, but the state of Utah had him first!

[JasonEvans]

More love for Boozer:

ESPN's poll on the main page is "Who is the best player left in the NBA playoffs?" And the poosible selections? Carlos Boozer, Baron Davis, Tim Duncan, Lebron James, Steve Nash.

That's just such a compliment to be mentioned alongside two former MVP's. Boozer, of course, was last nationwide, but the state of Utah had him first!

You know, it was about a year ago that the Jazz management were wondering if they had made a bad move signing 'Los and were supposedly thinking of trading him.

Now he is likely one of the 10-or-so best players in the NBA. They seem to be happy with him now, eh?

-Jason "the playoffs are Carlos' coming out party!" Evans

[phaedrus]

More love for Boozer:

ESPN's poll on the main page is "Who is the best player left in the NBA playoffs?" And the poosible selections? Carlos Boozer, Baron Davis, Tim Duncan, Lebron James, Steve Nash.

That's just such a compliment to be mentioned alongside two former MVP's. Boozer, of course, was last nationwide, but the state of Utah had him first!

wonder where ohio put him?

[Kewlswim]

Hi,

I would love for Carlos to have great games and the Jazz lose. Sorry, I am a long suffering Warriors fan. I am enjoying this ride. For once, it seems, I am not rooting for the favorite and if my team loses big time sadness won't come into play. Now it is like, GO WARRIORS, and if they lose, well, they were not supposed to be there anyway.

GO DUKE!

[rthomas]

Games like the one last night might bring me back to the NBA. Damn, that was an excellent game. And the drama of Derek Fisher coming into the stadium in the second half and hitting a big three in OT. Wow!

Once again, Boozer was great, had 30 points and 13 rebounds.

[dukelifer]

Games like the one last night might bring me back to the NBA. Damn, that was an excellent game. And the drama of Derek Fisher coming into the stadium in the second half and hitting a big three in OT. Wow!

Once again, Boozer was great, had 30 points and 13 rebounds.

I agree. NBA ball is about as boring as it gets in the regular season but it is a different game in the playoffs- very exciting when you get two evenly matched teams. Makes you wonder if they should simply play a whole season of playoff games or an Olympic type tourney and see who survives. Players only get paid for how long they play. That would put a different spin on the game.

[bird]

I don't watch the NBA, but I checked into the game and got hooked. The combination of the energized crowd, the obvious desire of the players, and the players making key plays (with a minimum of bone headed moves) made for compelling stuff.

[dukeENG2003]

makes me wonder if the regular season is just too long.

When these guys care about it, and play their hardest though, its clear that they are the best basketball players in the world. Talk about the US's recent failures in international ball all you want, but they are. I really would like to see what would happen if we simply sent the Detroit Pistons (minus Carlos Delfino obv) to the olympics.

[Uncle Drew]

A couple years back most of the media was blasting Boozer for jumping ship to Utah instead of staying with the Cavs. (Quite honestly I thought he was insane to leave a Lebron James led team) Then he got injurred and the Jazz were wondering if the so called Duke jinx had hit them by paying a player so much to be on the injurred reserve list. Seeing how Boozer played much of last year, all of this year and in the playoffs has been awesome. I'd have a hard time picking a bigger "beast" right now between Brand and Boozer. Now raise your hand if after the 2002 NBA draft you thought Boozer would end up being the best player out of J. Williams, Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Carlos. How many NBA teams are kicking themselves right now for letting him slip to the second round?

[ikiru36]

Hi,

I would love for Carlos to have great games and the Jazz lose. Sorry, I am a long suffering Warriors fan. I am enjoying this ride. For once, it seems, I am not rooting for the favorite and if my team loses big time sadness won't come into play. Now it is like, GO WARRIORS, and if they lose, well, they were not supposed to be there anyway.

GO DUKE!

This is exactly how I feel as well, though I was rooting a bit harder against the Jazz last night with the whole arena wearing that foul color! I'll be there tomorrow night in my "We Believe" shirt, but will continue to secretly be rooting for Carlos, so long as the Warriors are otherwise playing well.

It was fun in the last round rooting against the Mavs, but hating on Stackhouse in particular. This is my first time getting into pro hoops (I, for whatever reason, began attending Warriors games with about a month left in the season and lucked into a fun ride! I'm not a total poseur however, as I've loosely followed the Warriors, from afar, since my Bay Area HS days watching Manute Bol hoist 3's)

[of course, it doesn't hurt that with the money made (through the Warriors own site so somehow not scalping?) off selling tickets to the two playoff games I've been unable to attend, I've already almost halfway paid for season tickets all next year!]

Go Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go Devils!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GTHCGTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dukeENG2003]

Just so we don't slander our guys on our own board, Brand AND Maggette both went to the playoffs last year after posting a 47-35 regular season record, and earning home court against the Denver Nuggets, whom they defeated in 5 games. They lost to Phoenix in a nail biter of a Western Conference Semifinal that went to 7. It was probably one of the most fun playoff series before the finals last season, if you could stay up to the wee hours of the morning 3 nights a week!

GO CLIPS! Duke West! (Sort of)

Yeah, that was the best series of the playoffs last year IMO an absolute blast to watch.

[VaDukie]

It seems NBA media types are going out of their way to keep Blue Devils from getting the recognition they deserve. Boozer did not make an All-NBA team, coming in behind Chris Bosh.

Boozer
20.9 ppg
11.7 rpg
56% FG
PER rating 24.11

Bosh
22.6 ppg
10.7 rpg
50% FG
PER rating 22.72


While the stats are fairly even, consider that Booze put them up in the West (where the Jazz won 51 games), while Bosh (47) did it in the much less competitive East. Additionally, Boozer was one of only three players (Brand and Amare being the others) that averaged in the top 20 in points, rebounds, and FG%.

Unless the media from Toronto, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Cleveland all got disproportionate voting weight, I don't understand how this happened.

[phaedrus]

bosh should be on there. i think dwight howard and melo are the only ones that could have been left off instead of boozer, and judging by the votes, the voters felt the same way:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ap/index.html

boozer actually got more votes than dwight, but they had to put in a third center. the lack of real centers is really what hurt him, honestly. they should just have 3 forward spots - there are only like 4 real centers in the nba these days anyway. is duncan any less of a center than stoudemire? i think bosh plays a good amount of center as well.

edit: along the same lines, it's hard to argue for stoudemire or yao (who only played 48 games) over boozer as well.

[Classof06]

If I'm not mistaken, Boozer did miss a substantial portion of the season due to injury. That might explain it.

[JBDuke]

If I'm not mistaken, Boozer did miss a substantial portion of the season due to injury. That might explain it.

I don't know if you call it substantial or not, but Carlos missed all of eight games - less than 10% of the regular season.

[EarlJam]

Man, this quote is very simple and seemingly obvious in it's points, but to hear any NBAer, especially a former Duke guy talking "we" instead of "I" - well, it's just cool. Boozer, I love you.

"The great thing about that is if you got two guys on one person, simple basketball will tell you that somebody is open," Boozer said. "We do a good job of getting the ball to the guy who is open. It doesn't matter who scores, as long as we score."

-EarlJam - who believes if the right call was made in the Indiana game (foul on Boozer in the end) then Duke would have gone back-to-back again.