The Jazz could definitely learn a few lessons from this Celtics team. That killer instinct and confident attitude that Boston seemed to possess this year is something that has been eluding the Utah Jazz since even back in the Stockton and Malone years. On paper, we have a top-three team in the league as far as talent is concerned. Yet for some reason we think we are still the underdogs trying to knock out the big dynasty to steal a title. When we played the Lakers this year in the conference semis, it is obvious that we thought that we would be lucky to win that series. We played desperate and outside of our game throughout the whole series.
To be fair, some players do get it. Obviously Deron, but I would add Harpring and Memo to that list of players who don't play scared. Three isn't enough though. We need an emotional overhaul for the team (not to mention a defensive one as well). I hope that these concerns are also concerns for Kevin O'Conner. Talent alone isn't enough to win (just look at the Knicks) and the Jazz have been great about focusing on good player attitude before adding anyone to the roster, but maybe we need to start adding killer instinct to the list of qualities that they look for in a player.
The Jazz can win the title, but it will take some more pieces and a lot of killer instinct. That is a reversal of fortunes that I could definitely get used to.
