Diary of a Jazz Fan

It's been an interesting year to be a basketball fan in Salt Lake. Both the Utes and Jazz have shown us moments of brillance - the problem is that a moment in just that, temporary. As it stands right now both teams are barely over .500 with losses to teams that are clearly inferior. It's enough to make you pull out your hair and scream at the tv. Still, there are other times when the team gets it together, everything seems to click and they knock off a superior team. Take this week for instance.

The Jazz seem to be turning the corner. A few wins in a row that led to a national cable game against the Cavs. Cleveland is good, or should I say LeBron is good. He's a guy who can do whatever he wants to on a basketball court. Against the Jazz he looked fairly average - for the first three quarters. The 4th period was a totally different story. The Jazz were ahead by ten points with a few minutes left in the game when LeBron took over. He did everything and the Jazz lead disappeared and the Cavs were up by 6 with less than a minute left in the game.

Everything was looking bleak. Deron Williams was hurt, Boozer fouled out. Our team consisted of bench players. Still, the Jazz chipped away. The Cavs missed some free throws. Suddenly it was a 2 point game with 5 seconds left. With such a rag tag bunch of players out there for the Jazz who would shoot? CJ - please no, Korver - nope, Memo - not this time. The last shot of the game was off the hand of Sundiata Gaines - the guy just signed to a 10 day contract. As the game clock went off, the ball flew through the air and SWISH! Jazz win - back from a 6 point deficit in the last 30 seconds. It was the shot of the year. Now let's just see what happens tonight. Like Springsteen sang years ago, "One step forward, two steps back..." Time will tell, but my prediction with this team is a 46-36 record and a 7th place finish in the West.