The Ruler's Back

Yes: Dallas-Golden state -- thrilling! What can you say? I'm sure I'll think of something. But let's talk about something else. Fourteen points on sixty percent shooting, five rebounds, five blocks, four assists, three steals, and just one turnover. It's as if Houston ran into a well-known semi-automatic rifle of some kind. The re-emergence of AK-47 has potentially enormous implications for the Jazz next season. A little while back, Utah had a bad team led by a fantastic -- but wildly unorthodox -- Russian star.

Then the team became pretty good thanks to the emergence of Williams, and the return of Carlos Boozer, alongside Mehmet Okur and a ton of frontcourt depth. Kirilenko, though, got lost in the mix. If next year we see the Kirlenko we saw in 2002-2006, then this is a very, very, very dangerous team (and also probably a team that should trade some of its frontcourt talent -- really excessive, in some ways -- for a real shooting guard).