Most players will tell you that they would rather beat a team with everyone healthy than to beat a team that's lost a bunch of players or their superstar player to injury.
Well, I'm sure it's a bit more satisfying for the team to win one like that, but they don't award strength of win points when it comes to the W/L total at the end of the season.
That said, not being able to see Kevin Martin play from a basketball stand point is too bad because he's a great player to watch. I won't miss him killing the Jazz like when he put up 37 against them last season, but it's something to watch. He's averaged almost 23 points a game over the last 11 games against the Jazz. Then again, he is a shooting guard so he should be having some good games against the Jazz.
As a result, it looks like Beno Udrih will get the start tonight. He normally backs up the rookie Tyreke Evans. I don't know for sure, but I imagine they'll move Evans to the 2 in this scenario. That should benefit the Jazz as well because it allows Ronnie B to cover him instead of Deron. At 6' 6", 220, Evans is one of the few that would present a mismatch problem for Deron.
Evans hasn't had a good start so far. He's averaging just 11 & 4 so far and shooting just 35%. Let's hope he doesn't have his career game against the Jazz tonight.
The Jazz should treat this game as taking care of business. They're heavy favorites but shouldn't be looking ahead as the last thing we need is a meltdown heading into the east coast swing next week.
Game Thread coming at 6.