This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
GEORGE KARL Denver coach
"It seems like Utah, for me, would have a little bit of an edge because this team, Houston, has kind of a new team - as far as going into their first playoff series together. . . . It just seems like Utah is more playoff-ready. But it will probably be a long series. Which team has an advantage is a question that probably won't be answered until Game 5 or Game 6."
DEVEAN GEORGE Dallas guard
"That's going to be a good series because of the matchup differences. You know, the Yao Ming thing. He's inside, but [Mehmet] Okur, he goes out. . . . Unless they're going to put Yao on Boozer. That's why it's going to be interesting - seeing how they will match up. But that's a real coin-flip series, if you ask me."
DEVIN HARRIS Dallas guard
"Obviously, you have a team offensively that moves the ball extremely well in Utah. They have great shooters who space the floor. On the other side, you have superstars in Yao and T-Mac, who can pretty much take over games at any point in time. So you have a team effort on one side and more superstars - guys who can go one-on-one - on the other side."
JOSH HOWARD Dallas forward
"The Rockets have Yao down low. They have T-Mac, of course. Houston has great role players, too. And the Jazz, they have Okur and Boozer and Williams. . . . Now that I think about it, though, the upside might be Utah. They have Matt Harpring coming off the bench, and you can't really name one guy who comes off the bench for the Rockets."
RAJA BELL Phoenix guard and former Jazzman
"It should be a pretty interesting series. Both of them are kind of halfcourt teams. They both like to go inside a lot. So those similarities are going to make for an interesting series. Deron is probably the key for Utah. You've got Memo, Yao, Carlos - a lot of bigs who like to do their thing. So Deron is probably the X-factor."
SCOTT PADGETT Memphis forward who played for Utah and Houston
"Houston has two big weapons - Yao and T-Mac - and everybody else plays off them. You know going into that series that you have to stop Yao and T-Mac, whereas Utah has more guys in their rotation that can hurt you. Obviously Carlos and Deron and Mehmet get theirs most nights. But they have five or six other guys that can come in and have big nights, too."
"You know Jeff is going to have Houston prepared. He's going to know every freaking thing the Jazz do. It's going to come down to an execution thing, and if the Jazz execute like they do on most nights, they'll be tough even if [the Rockets] know what's coming because they have a lot of weapons. You can't focus on stopping just one or two guys when you play Utah."