Utah Jazz: Out of the Playoffs...As They Should Be

The Utah Jazz don't deserve to be in the Western Conference finals, and thankfully they aren't.

When the series was tied at 2-2, I thought the Jazz maybe had a slight chance of winning this series, despite not really playing that good.

And lets face it, the Lakers were definitely the best team and deserve to be going to the conference finals. The Jazz somehow scrapped together two wins at home, and Jazz fans thought their prayers might be answered.

Wrong.

The Lakers won at home in game 5 and did what few other teams have done this season: win in Utah to take the series.

The stats comparing Utah's regular season and playoffs speak for themselves.

During the regular season which the Jazz won 54 games, they averaged 106.2 points per game on 47% and gave up 99.3 points.

During the playoffs, their shooting percentage dropped to 45%, and as a result only scored 98.4 points per game. They also gave up 98.4 points per game.

Carlos Boozer has to be one of the most disappointing players in the playoffs. He has struggled offensively in nine of the 11 games, but has dominated on the boards.

Getting rebounds just isn't good enough. The Jazz desperately needed him to be there on offense, but he failed to show up. His points per game dropped from 21.1 points during the regular season to 16.4 points during the playoffs.

The main reason for this is his massive drop in his shooting percentage. Throughout the regular season Boozer was shooting 54%, hitting mid-range jump shots and barely missing close to the basket.

The playoffs are a different story.

Missing open jump shots and easy layups, Boozer only shot at 42%. If it wasn't for Deron Williams, the Jazz could quite possibly have been swept by the Lakers.

I was really worried that the Jazz might pull something out and win the series. But at the end of the day, the better team came out on top.