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Jazz Retreat Home to Re-group

By Tyillere Hansen - 7 May 2008
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The Utah Jazz returned home Sunday evening after the NBA revised the schedule for their second-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Jazz were originally scheduled to play on Tuesday, but with the news of the schedule change the Jazz flew home Sunday.

The NBA originally announced the Jazz and Lakers would play games one and two on Sunday and Tuesday in Los Angeles, but they later announced a change in scheduling. A spokesman from the NBA attributed the change to a "scheduling error," The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

The Jazz would not have come home if they played on Tuesday but because of the change, the team flew home to practice on their own court.

The Jazz's Vice-President of Communications, Linda Luchetti, said coming home during a West coast series is typical.

"If it's not a long flight and there are more than two days [in between games] then they will typically make an effort to come home," Luchetti said.

However, if it were an East coast team, the Jazz would have stayed and practiced in their opponents facilities.

The Jazz had a number of things to work on while at home in their own facility. Two of the most pressing topics for the Jazz were how to stop Kobe Bryant and how to get shots to fall.

A fan poll on the official Jazz Web site on Tuesday asked, "What's the key to winning Game 2?"

According to the poll, 40 percent of fans think the Jazz need to "hit open shots," while 29 percent said "cutting down turnovers" will be crucial and 21 percent said the Jazz need to "slow down Kobe." Other fans thought the Jazz should "limit L.A. fast breaks" and "limit L.A. free throw attempts." Only time will tell what the Jazz worked on and how effective they were during their time at home between games one and two.

Wednesday's game in Los Angeles, Calif. will start at 8:30 p.m. Fans can watch their Utah team on TNT.







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