Pre-Game Jazz 2.0

Well, here we are at yet another potential needle-moving game going into the latter half of the season. I'll have to say our last moral victory game against BKN last week did show some signs of encouragement. No one was expecting us to win and we even kept it pretty close up until the last 2 minutes or so. Let's insert the obligatory Durant wasn't even playing recognition but BKN is playing with fire and they don't realize it. The more Durant sits out, the harder it will be for their Big 3 to sync by the end of the year and into the playoffs. Synergy has been one of our biggest problems due to all the injuries. It will take us through the rest of the season and maybe a round or two into the playoffs before we will be able to sync/synergize with our starting line up and by then it may be too late anyway. BKN is still looking at at least another two week before Durant will come back. Good luck.

The Jazz have been slipping ever so slightly so the time is ripe for us to capitalize. They have been a horrifically embarrassing 5-5 over the last 10 games compared to their crazy, fast start and PHX is now breathing down their necks.

So can the Celtics pull this off and get us started on another streak? Absolutely! I think they will see the importance of knocking this team out relative to the grand scheme of things. Will they? Unfortunately, I can't answer that question as confidently as I would like. If we had Garnett, Pierce and Allen? Bird, Parish and McHale? Russell, Jones and Jones? For sure!!! Unfortunately none of those guys are on our roster and aren't walking through that door! The guys that will be walking through that door are JT, JB, KW, TT, DT and MS. That may be a match!

We've finally seen two games in a row with our original starting line up. Both games looked pretty good for us. It's Showtime!!

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Thank you for getting this started.  

Utah lost on the road to GSW on Sunday, 131-119

Did you know that Gobert had 24 points and GULP!  28 rebounds  That was 8 offensive rebounds and 20 defensive rebounds in 32 minutes.  He also had 3 assists and 3 blocks.

Mike Conley is back so their backcourt is terrific.  

We are at home so hopefully that will translate into a win if we play the right way.

We will have to defend the paint and the perimeter as the Jazz are shooting 39.6% from deep and 40.0% on the road.  They are 3rd in the NBA in 3P shooting percentage.

Brad lost the matchup game last time.  His strategy in game one was to pull Rudy away from the paint.  Theis went 5-6 from deep in that game.   We got beat on the glass 56-43 so we robbed Peter to pay Paul,

There are no easy innings and no easy outs.

In the loss to them TT  (26 M)only had 7 points and 5 boards.  Theis (28 M ) had 15 points but only 5 boards and RW only played 13 minutes and had 6 points and 4 rebounds.  Grant Williams played 28 minutes scoring 9 points  with 4 rebounds 2 steals, a bock and an assist.

Jaylen led the team with 33 points and Kemba was a no show.

I think we need a heavier dose of RW and a little less TT in this game.  But Brad will not do what he has not tried to do.  Start Theis and Williams together.  

Lets cheer for a win tonight.  Boston has won 5-6 so a win tonight will go a long way to reestablished our competitive profile. Marcus should be of service defending Conley and Mitchell and RW could help us play at least even on the glass.

I believe this game will be a lot closer and competitive than Jazz-5, which in my humble but accurate opinion is a borderline route.

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dbrown4 wrote:I believe this game will be a lot closer and competitive than Jazz-5, which in my humble but accurate opinion is a borderline route.

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I definitely agree. The first loss was a very winnable road game with no Marcus and Kemba who was still getting his sea legs under him.

I have already noticed a difference in the way we are playing now because Marcus is a stabilizing influence. The team just looks more confident and assertive.

I'm not ready to put the curse of "no better than 4th place" with a loss here tonight this early in the second half of the season, but I'm seriously going to think about it...

You can't gain on the teams above you that just keep winning while we've kinda screwed around the first 36 game. I've yet to find a mathematical formula that shows teams ahead of you keep winning while we tread water that leads to us moving up the standings. I'll keep looking though!

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