‘Rising Up’ (Jonathan Ferrey - NBAE/Getty Images)

On confidence: it’s a necessity for playing in the NBA, and yet too much of it can be devastating. The Jazz seemed confident going into the first home playoff game against the Rockets. Perhaps a little too confident? Tracy McGrady seems to have a lot of confidence (some might call it something else).

I originally intended on writing about the Jazz’s nearly impenetrable fortress–the Energy Solutions Arena. Call it intuition, a sixth sense, or whatever you like, but I wasn’t confident in writing about the Jazz’s sensational home record, just before game three, because my post would have been published the day after the game. I just didn’t feel confident that the Jazz would be the victors.

Like I said, call it intuition or something else, but I think the overall attitude of fans calling into sports talk radio, and maybe even the underlying attitudes of some of the players during interviews leading up to the game, hinted just a little of over-confidence. Maybe I’m all wrong though, the Rockets were fighting for their lives after all. I’m hoping it was just a wake up call for the Jazz. They will play better, they will play smarter, they will make free throws in game four. They will, or they will be the ones fighting for their lives at Houston.

Speaking of over confidence; way to go Josh Howard of the Dallas Mavericks. I guess it’s the great position your team is in (you know, backs against the wall), that led you to talk so casually today on a national broadcast about your use of marijuana during the off season (I’m sure it’s only during the off season). Is there nothing else occupying your mind right now? Not; being down two games to the Hornets, not; trying to find a way to contribute and elevate your team, nothing; else?

Confidence is power. Remember He-man? He had the power, and he used that power to dominate his world of Eternia. In the NBA, world domination is equivalent to winning the Championship. If the Jazz are going to achieve this domination, they need the power (confidence), but they must use it wisely, or be doomed to a life of living dead misery - just ask Skeletor. He always believes that he will outsmart He-man and the rest of them. He brags about it to his cronies, he announces it out loud for all the world to hear, and yet; with all that confidence, he never makes it out of Snake Mountain (the first round of the playoffs). I bet even Skeletor could make a few free throws though—I’m just sayin’.