Where Amazing Happens

Last night was a basketball game. It wasn't a blowout or a rout or anything but two of the best teams in the world fighting it out to see who had more points on the board when the final buzzer sounded. Last night was gritty and dirty. Sweat poured from the ten players on the court, the tension in the building rested on the shoulders of the bench players of both teams as the leads swung wildly in each direction until the final minute when the teams on the court traded basket after basket until at the end, it was the team in white left standing.

It was a hard game for both teams. The stars of each struggled with their shots, and it was Kobe who missed the crucial three that would have won the game for the F ...er ... the Lakers. It was D-Wil who, after a rough shooting night of his own, landed the winning shot with 2.2 seconds left in the game. Stars of Jazz eras past John Stockton and Mark Eaton were in the house. And even through the television machine, it was clear that the energy was that of a game seven in the playoffs and not a game three in the first round.

Then again, for the Jazz, every game right now is a game seven in the finals. Fighting for their sports lives at this point, any showing at all earns them brownie points with their karmic cycles, but fans crave a win against the egotistical, media-worshiped Lakers. The Jazz are a blip on the screen to everyone but themselves and their fans. TNT and ESPN want to tell Kobe's story again and again and again. They want to shine the light on Ariza and Brown and Odom. So the Jazz are fighting for honor and pride and something even their hall of famers don't seem to get from the nation at times: respect.

Last night, they could walk off the court heads held high, beaten but not broken, and the proud owners of a 2-1 series that could easily be tied up with another win at home on Saturday. But the moment that meant the most to me as a fan, was what the camera captured after the buzzer sounded - an exhausted Williams who had run a very rough game being grabbed by veteran point guard, and D-Will backup, Brevin Knight. Knight held Williams close, their foreheads touching, and though through the din of the crowd you could not hear what was being said, the message was clear: You did it, Kid. You held it together and you got us through this. Good Work.

And that's how Jazz fans should be feeling today.