After struggling during an abbreviated playoff run last spring - especially in the second round against the athletic, swarming Los Angeles Lakers - Boozer enters his fifth season in Utah with much to prove.

To the fans.

To the rest of the NBA.

Maybe even to himself.

"I didn't play my best basketball in the playoffs," Boozer said. "But I'm looking forward to people seeing the real Booz again - the guy you know and the guy I know."

Boozer's playoff numbers were better than decent. He averaged 16 points and 12 rebounds in 12 games. But he shot 41.5 percent against Houston and the Lakers, who in particular made him a focus of their interior defense.

"That happens to every player, at some point," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan. "When guys are playing, things don't always go right for them. You see that with different guys in different situations. Players just have to adjust and learn from those things as their career goes along. . . . Hopefully, it's something that Booz can use to make himself better."

In his first two years with the Jazz, Boozer missed 80 games because of injury. But over the past two years, when he played in 155 of 164 regular-season games, he averaged 21 points and 11 rebounds and re-emerged as one of the league's best power forwards. Along with point guard Deron Williams, the healthy and productive Boozer brought back memories of the John Stockton-Karl Malone Era in Utah, especially after the Jazz's surprising run to the 2007 Western Conference finals.

"We have a lot of good players on this team, but Carlos is definitely one of the All-Stars," said veteran center Jarron Collins. "When he plays exceptionally well - even when he just plays well - our team is definitely much tougher to beat."

Andrei Kirilenko agrees.

"I would say anybody playing on an All-Star level is important to a team," he said. "But Booz, he is always a great force because he is such a very great teammate. Everybody always says he is Mr. Double-Double. But I would say it's not only about double-doubles.

"Every time he is in the post - every time he has the ball - he is very dangerous. He makes the other team pay more attention to him and that relieves the other guys. It makes the other guys better, just because he is such a great threat."

Behind Boozer and Williams, the Jazz won 54 games last season and captured their second straight Northwest Division title.

After beating Houston in the first round of the playoffs, however, Boozer struggled and the Jazz offense bogged down against the Lakers.

Even though L.A. often was content to leave others open in order to limit his room to maneuver, Boozer got plenty of blame after the Lakers ousted the Jazz in six games.

The result? There is added pressure on the two-time All-Star as a new season of high expectations starts.

"That's who I am," Boozer said. "That's what I want. I want that pressure because that's been pretty much who I've been since I've been here. So, I love that."

The Jazz open tonight against Denver, and Boozer can't wait.

"It's like Christmas morning," he said. "It's like the first day of high school. It's like the first date you get to go on with the girl you've been waiting to go out with for three or four weeks. . . . This is the first chance we get to show what we've got."

Unfortunately for the Jazz, they will battle the Nuggets without Williams, who is sidelined with a sprained ankle.

"Because of who he is, he's a monumental part of this team," Boozer said. "So we have to have guys step up - myself included. We're all going to have to play at a high level until we get him back."

Utah's depth, however, makes Boozer believe Utah will survive until Williams' return.

"This year, we have an even deeper team - a more talented team - than last year," he said. "The guys that were here last year got better over the summer, so we have a very good group of guys and the best thing about it is, we're going to be very good no matter who's out there."

Of course, the Jazz are better off with Williams, just like they are better with a healthy and productive Boozer.

"Carlos does a great job for us," Collins said. "He's our low-post threat and that opens up everything else. When teams are focused on stopping Carlos Boozer, it opens up opportunities for other players.

"We have a lot of different slashers on this team, and we have guys who can knock down shots. When teams are concentrating on one player - when Carlos has it going - it opens up opportunities for those guys. That's what he does a great job of."

luhm@sltrib.com

A CLOSER LOOK

Carlos Boozer's statistics in the 2007 playoffs, when the Jazz went to the Western Conference finals, and 2008, when they were eliminated in the second round:

Gms Min FG% FT% Reb Ast Pts

2007 17 38.5 .536 .738 12.2 2.9 23.5

2008 12 36.8 .415 .714 12.3 2.8 16.0