Boozer and Williams call out unnamed teammate.

[jn]

Both guys publicly went off that at least one of there teammates quit during the Spurs series and both said the guy was more concerned with "planning a vacation."   

Not a good sign for a team that has a solid future if they maintain some chemistry and team play.  I'm really curious as to who the player is.

[westkoast]

Has to be AK-47.....seems like the logical choice to me.  He is the 3rd most important player on this squad and he had a pretty quiet series to say the least.  You know when the Jazz are talking about Okur's defense instead of AK's it is bad news.

[Reality]

I thought AK was great for the most part on D.
Busted finger is definitely affecting him on O.

Does this help?  http://broadband.nba.com/cc/playa.p...z_pg_070530.asx

My guess is Okur, altho a lot of what some may see as loafing i think he was frustrated with many of the foul calls he was getting rung up for.

Concur with Skandery that Giraceck and Milsap should have got more pt.

[westkoast]

I thought AK was great in 3 and 4.
Busted finger is definitely affecting him.

My guess is Okur, altho a lot of what some may see as loafing i think he was frustrated with many of the foul calls he was getting rung up for.

Concur with Skandery that Giraceck and Milsap should have got more pt.

AK was good in 3 but I wouldn't say he was great in any game.  Now Deron Williams, he was great. AK?  Not the same AK you saw at the begging of the season when the Jazz were beating teams left and right.

IMO Okur's shooting was pathetic but he was able to do something really no one has been able to do all year, frustrate Tim Duncan.  I thought in both game's 3 and 4 he did about as good of a job as you can do against Timmy.

[rickortreat]

I thought Utah came up pretty lame in the last 2 games.  No fight in them whatsoever.  Someone is ringing up points driving the lane?  Put them into the bleachers, at least pick a fight or something.  Just don't put your heads down, give up, and start sniping at teamates.

Sloan looked sick on the bench.  His players didn't pick up on his toughness after all.

OK, San Antonio was the better team, hands down, but Utah had more to show than that.  Okur couldn't hit the broadside of a ship, AK, looked like an absentee.  Boozer was ok, but could have been much more agressive under the boards.  Oberto looked much better for much of the series.

For all the gauntlet that San Antonio had to go through, they're sitting pretty right now.  The only thing they have to worry about is rust, and for old guys like Horry and Finley rest is better.

[Laker Fan]

No fight in them whatsoever.  Someone is ringing up points driving the lane?  Put them into the bleachers, at least pick a fight or something.  Just don't put your heads down, give up, and start sniping at teamates.

Is this the same Rick who castigated Horry for putting Nash into the scorers bench? The same Rick who says this kind of conduct (fighting) does not belong in basketball, is not part of the game? Naw, can't be, that would be... hypocritical.

[Lurker]

It's not all peaches and cream, though. Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer, and Derek Fisher all did some pointed questioning of the desire and effort of unnamed teammates (speculated by reporters on the scene to be the imported trio of Gordan Giricek, Andrei Kirilenko, and Mehmet Okur).

Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune reports:

If what Boozer says is true, the Jazz had a player or players who made vacation plans for next week. Not played as if he wanted to go on vacation. Actual plans. Boozer contrasted that with Derek Fisher's supreme effort not to leave the team hanging in Game 5.

"It's sad to say that because where we are, we're in the Western Conference finals," Boozer said, "and we have some guys already having vacation plans.

"On the other side of the spectrum, you see a guy like D-Fish who went across the country to take care of his daughter and fly all the way back just to make it to the game.

"It's sad to have that. You have a couple guys on vacation. One guy having some real life stuff go on and still try to make it back and give everything he has. That's a problem and we need to get that fixed this summer.

"I'll never call out a teammate. I'll never say anything negative directly to a teammate because I love my team and I believe in that code. But we need guys that are always going to give everything they have.

"We need guys that have a championship vision. When you have your vacation plans already, that's not a championship vision."

[rickortreat]

No fight in them whatsoever.  Someone is ringing up points driving the lane?  Put them into the bleachers, at least pick a fight or something.  Just don't put your heads down, give up, and start sniping at teamates.

Is this the same Rick who castigated Horry for putting Nash into the scorers bench? The same Rick who says this kind of conduct (fighting) does not belong in basketball, is not part of the game? Naw, can't be, that would be... hypocritical.

Once again, it's CONTEXT you dope!  When another team disrespects you by driving down the lane, you should foul and foul hard.  That is old-school ball and it is part of the game.  Cheap shots like Horry's are not.  That's why he got suspended for 2 games.

Do you even watch the games and see how physical the play is in the post?  These guys are wrestling out there in an effort to box out the other player or get open for position.  There is clutching and grabbing and sometimes hitting. Don't kid yourself, when people are playing for a title, they will do what they have to, or at least should. Utah didn't, and that was my point.

[Lurker]

Once again, it's CONTEXT you dope!  When another team disrespects you by driving down the lane, you should foul and foul hard.  That is old-school ball and it is part of the game.  Cheap shots like Horry's are not.  That's why he got suspended for 2 games.

Sorry, Rick, but your interpretation goes against the general concensus (outside of Phoenix) not to mention the NBA official response.  Horry was suspended ONE game for the flagrant 2 foul on Nash.  And he was suspended for ONE game for the high elbow directed at Bell.

Also for as "cheap" as you want to call it Nash has said otherwise.  But then we wouldn't want to believe the person who actually got hit would we?

[Laker Fan]

Lurker, Rick simply isn't intelligent enough to understand anything you or I could say to convince him of his double standards.

[msc]

I never realized driving down the lane was a sign of disrespect.  All these years I thought it was a perfectly legimitate and very sound basketball strategy. 

[Laker Fan]

Touche' MSC! Horry was just teaching Nash a lesson for driving down the court so disrespectfully!

[WayOutWest]

Touche' MSC! Horry was just teaching Nash a lesson for driving down the court so disrespectfully!

I thought Nash dribbling with his LEFT hand was totally disrespectful to the Spurs.  Nash is such a show off, he deserved worse than what he got from Horry.

[JoMal]

I can't believe Horry just didn't "Kermit" Nash upside the head. The way Nash was flaunting his team's win, he was WANTING putting into the first row of seats.