Utah Jazz vs Golden State Warriors : Preview
By Cody Powers
Nov 16, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Utah Jazz forward Derrick Favors (15) looks for room to shoot against the Golden State Warriors in the fourth quarter at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Jazz 102-88. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
Utah Jazz (1-10) vs Golden State Warriors (7-3)
Tip Off @ 7:00 p.m. MST
TV : Root Sports
Projected Starting Lineups
Utah Jazz
PG – Alec Burks
SG – Gordon Hayward
SF – Richard Jefferson
PF – Derrick Favors
C – Enes Kanter
Golden State Warriors
PG – Stephen Curry
SG – Klay Thompson
SF – Andre Iguodala
PF – David Lee
C – Andrew Bogut
Overview
The Jazz will host the Warriors this time around. Both teams met on Saturday night at Golden State where we saw that if you get off to a slow start, the Warriors will bury you. The Jazz came out and shot flat out awful in the 1st quarter, 27.3%. The Jazz would come out strong in the 3rd quarter and show a little fight and got back in the ballgame. The lead was cut to 7 early in the 4th, but the Jazz couldn’t get any closer and the Warriors pulled away late.
The combination of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, a.k.a. the Splash Brothers, is a deadly combination. In Saturday’s matchup, the 2 combined for 40 points. Curry also dished out 11 assists, while Thompson shot 5-8 from 3. On the season, the 2 are combining to shoot 50.5% from the field and 47% from 3. Once they get going, they are a tough combination to stop.
The Warriors come into tonight ranked in the top 10 in points scored (6th, 104.9), assists (4th, 25.0), and points allowed (8th, 97.2). The Jazz are ranked no higher than 19th in the same categories. 30th in points per game at 88.7, 29th in assists at 17.6, and 19th in points allowed at 100.3.
Key Matchup : Andre Iguodala
In Saturday night’s game, the Jazz did something that I didn’t think they would be able to do. They held Steph Curry to 7-20 shooting from the field, and 0-5 from 3. The thing that really hurt the Jazz, besides the poor shooting, was the play of Andre Iguodala. Iggy went 6-8 from the floor, 3-5 from 3, and finished with 16 points. The Jazz seemed to make it a point to try and stay with Curry, but with as quick as Curry is, it left guys like Iguodala wide open and hurt the Jazz.
If the Jazz can contain both Curry and Iguodala, they can have a shot at an upset at home. Thompson is most likely going to get his shots. I think he releases the shot before he even catches it. If you give him even an inch of space, he’s going to knock down the shot. Richard Jefferson is really going to have to stick on Iguodala, but if he contains him, the Jazz could have a chance.
The Bench
Marvin Williams is our only bench player. He is the only one producing and he is playing with a broken nose. Diante Garrett played well in the 1st game against the Pelicans. Since then he has struggled to hit a shot, especially in Saturday’s game. John Lucas III played good in the 2nd half Saturday, drawing 2 charges and going 3-3 from the field. With the defense that Lucas played in the 2nd half, which was good, not stellar, we could possibly see him inserted back into the starting lineup tonight and Alec moved back into the 6th man role. If this does happen, it gives us 2 scorers in Marvin and Alec off the bench.
The bench play is what is key for the Jazz. Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors are playing well right now, but the bench needs to produce to take some of the pressure off of them. Favors is really starting to come around, as he has led the Jazz in scoring the last 2 games. At this point, the Jazz just really need Trey Burke back. That could solve a lot of problems for this team. They also could use Brandon Rush’s 3 point shooting, but who knows what the story is on him.
The Conclusion
After Saturday night’s game was over, staff writer Luke McDermott sent out a tweet that said, “Jazz will beat the Warriors at home, I’m calling it!” I actually think he might be right. The Jazz play better at home then they do on the road. They frustrated Steph Curry into a 0-5 shooting night from 3. In the 2nd half, they came out with a vengeance and cut a huge Warriors lead down to 7 before running out of gas.
The Jazz came out in that 3rd quarter and played extremely physical and the Warriors were not prepared for it. The Warriors don’t like playing physical. They like to get up and run and knock down long range jumpers. The Jazz will come out tonight and play physical from the tip. It’s also very important to try and get this win before the Jazz jump on their 3 game road trip this week.
Jazz 104, Warriors 98