Not much time to dwell on last night's loss. UtesFan89 has a good recap up on the game.
The Jazz are off toe Denver tonight in a game that would get them back to within 2 1/2 of the Nuggets with a win. The bad news of course is that the game comes as the second part of a back-to-back where the Jazz are 1-756 on the season.
The good news is that the Jazz have owned the Nuggets over the last three seasons. They're 7-2 against them over that time including a 98-94 win against them in the first game of this season. The Jazz have outscored the Nuggs by an average of 112-105, out-rebounded them 43-38, and have beaten them in pretty much every category. The Jazz also jack up about two more three-pointers a game against Denver than they normally do.
We know the Jazz aren't the best defensive team in the league. They're solid on most nights. But we see how well they play when they run and gun against teams like Denver, GS, and to an extent PHX. Maybe they should just say screw it and run all night. It had suited them well.
As if losing to Cleveland wasn't bad enough Saturday, setting up a must-win game Sunday at Denver if the Jazz want to avoid falling 4 1-2 games back in the Northwest Division, comes word that the team will have to travel Sunday morning.
The Jazz passed along word at 12:35 a.m. that the team spent the night in Salt Lake City "due to airplane issues" and won't fly to Denver until 9 a.m. Sunday.
The Jazz were grounded last month by a snowstorm in Detroit and couldn't fly to Chicago until the morning of their game. For a team that's gone 1-9 in the second game of back-to-back sets this season, any disruption in plans can't be considered good.
And...
The Jazz are calling Andrei Kirilenko a game-time decision with his injured ankle. Deron Williams is expected to play after straining a trapezius muscle. Williams suffered what he described as a stinger when he was drilled by Ben Wallace on a back screen.
Williams had to leave the game for two minutes in the fourth quarter - - he actually called timeout to get himself to the bench - - but said after the game that he didn't think Wallace delivered a cheap shot. He only wished somebody had called out the screen.
Deron has always played well against the Nuggs. We need him to be huge. And as always, as Memo goes... He should change his uniform number to 15 because that seems to be the magic number.
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